I Am the Blues + Robert Connely Farr Live

Robert Connely Farr is a songwriter from Bolton Mississippi (hometown of blues legends like Charley Patton, Sam Chatmon, Bo Carter & Walter Vinson) he currently resides in Vancouver, Canada.

Since 2017, cherished elder Mississippi blues man Jimmy “Duck” Holmes has been mentoring Farr in the Bentonia Style of the Delta Blues. He’s also learned directly from Mississippi Bluesmen RL Boyce & Terry Harmonica Bean. In 2019 Farr was nominated for New Artist of the Year & Songwriter of the Year by Canada’s prestigious Maple Blues Awards for his album Dirty South Blues (Prod. Leeroy Stagger).

Immediately following in 2020, he was met with a cancer diagnosis during which he recorded and released his Country Supper, Gasoline & Live In EastVan albums. In 2022 he released Ain’t Enough & Shake It with the Cherry Ball and Pandora Sessions following in 2023. His songs having been used on Netflix, Lifetime & SYFY on shows like Snowpiercer, Resident Alien & Reacher.

For this special performance at VIFF, he’ll be performing classic Delta Blues songs as well as his own originals. He’ll be joined by Tyler McLeod on drums.

About the Film: I Am the Blues (Daniel Cross, Canada, 2016) 106 min.

A musical journey through the swamps of the Louisiana Bayou, the juke joints of the Mississippi Delta and Moonshine soaked BBQs in the North Mississippi Hill Country. Visiting the last original blues devils, many in their 80s, still living in the deep south, working without management and touring the Chitlin’ Circuit. Let Bobby Rush, Barbara Lynn, Henry Gray, Carol Fran, Lazy Lester, Bilbo Walker, RL Boyce, Jimmy ’Duck’ Holmes, Lil Buck Sinegal, LC Ulmer and their friends awaken the blues in all of us.

Q&A with I Am the Blues director Daniel Cross

I was quietly blown away by Daniel Cross’s new documentary I Am the Blues… There is something miraculous in this patient little film, which lends an ear to weathered old musicians, going about their lives in the backwaters of the Louisiana Bayou and the Mississippi Delta. The director leaves ample room for the music, and it will take your breath away. I Am the Blues seeks and finds incredible artists who have been overlooked or forgotten, and gives them their due before they’re gone.

T’Cha Dunlevy, Montreal Gazette

A lovely film, made with a light, respectful touch. For aficionados, this is a must see. For those who at least like the blues, it’s also highly recommendable.

Marc Glassman, POV magazine

Co-Presented with