[theme song plays]
♪ Demons come from every side ♪
♪ In the darkness is the light ♪
♪ Out of the shadows of my life ♪
♪ In the darkness is the light ♪
♪ Surrender will win the fight ♪
♪ This girl's walked on fire and ice ♪
♪ But I come out ♪
♪ On the other side of paradise ♪
♪ Paradise ♪
You're in a court, not in Classy's Pool Room. Sit down!
[Fi] Back in the ancient days, they didn't have such a thing as cable TV.
you had to use an antenna.
Ned says the antennas were called "rabbit ears"
because, well, that's what they looked like.
But these ears could hear and see things nobody else could.
They say certain people can do the same thing,
and guess what it's called? Channelling.
It's like these people have an antenna inside of them
that can pick up voices the rest of us can't hear.
The most famous is probably a woman named JZ Knight.
In 1977, she started channelling a being named Ramtha,
who says she originally lived in a place called Lemuria
35,000 years ago.
But for every famous Lemurian,
how many other unknown voices are floating around out there
waiting to be heard?
[woman] Your suite's the one with the big four-poster bed and kitchenette.
[Ned] Whoa. Beautiful.
Now, if you need anything, just dial 29.
That's me, Alice.
Or you can come up and knock on the door that says "Foster."
My son and I live up on the third floor.
-Do you own this place? -Oh, no. No, I just work here.
That's cool.
It was a thrill meeting your mom. Is this hers?
-No. -Oh, no, that's mine. Sorry.
My grandfather used to play.
Well, that's what I hear, anyway.
[Jack] I don't get it, Mr. B...
how does grocery shopping fit into history class?
This is Mississippi. You can't separate the history of the south
from the history of southern cooking.
Crawfish, corn pone,
okra, mock cooter.
Sounds like the history of indigestion.
Hey, anybody know how hush puppies got their name?
They weren't made from actual dogs, were they?
No. The cooks on the plantations used to toss them to the dogs
to make them be quiet. "Hush, puppies."
See? History. -[Carey playing guitar]
Huh.
Another piece of Mississippi history...
The blues.
Yeah, that club mom's playing at, that used to be a blues club, right?
The Yale? One of the first.
A lot of famous blues musicians played that club:
Son House, Natty Bookman, Robert Johnson...
Succotash.
Wait, Succotash was a famous blues musician?
No, succotash is what I forgot to buy.
Fi, could you, uh, start the corn pone?
[Fi] Sure.
Let's go. We'll be right back.
Corn pone.
What are you doing?
-Um... getting an open tuning. -Why?
I want to play some slide.
Carey, that totally rocks. Did you just make that up?
Yeah... I think so.
Moll? You coming in?
Mrs. Clemens wants to meet you.
Oh, yeah. [chuckles] I'm sorry.
Found her. Mrs. Clemens...
I'd like you to meet Molly Phillips.
How do you do?
It's an honor to be playing your club. I only hope I can live up to its history.
History doesn't sell tickets, Ms. Phillips.
This is a pop venue now. That's why I booked you.
Of course.
The blues had its time, but that time is long past.
-I'm very pleased to have you. -Thank you.
Now, uh, can I get your signature on a couple of things?
Mm-hm.
-May I have a look around? -Of course.
[vocalizing]
♪ Eleanor, come and wipe my brow ♪
♪ Only you can soothe my fevered brow ♪
♪ Your tender touch Is all that comforts me now ♪
[Irene] We're all set.
Sudden burst of inspiration?
Yeah, it must be this place,
because this is not like my usual stuff at all.
What's it about?
Well, it's a man singing to a woman, but then he starts talking about a devil.
You've already got a melody for it?
♪ Eleanor, the devil is near to my door ♪
♪ Soon he will be Coming through that door ♪
♪ And when he gone I fear I'll be no more ♪
What are you doing?
What...? It's a... it's a song. It just came to me.
-Came to you. -Yes.
I guess I've been inspired by all the blues musicians
that have played here.
Perhaps I wasn't clear enough, Ms. Phillips.
We do not play the blues in this club anymore.
Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to close up early today.
[groans]
Well, honey, I still don't know what mock cooter is,
but it's some of the best I've ever had.
Really good, Ned.
-The okra's slimy. -It's supposed to be slimy.
OK, the first one to complain has to do the dishes.
Come on, kid.
You're off duty, babe. The sofa's all yours.
Ahh. A great meal. Now it's time to relax.
Whoa.
[playing blues harmonica]
What?
That... that's the song I was playing earlier.
Where'd you hear that?
I... I didn't.
No, no, we must have heard it somewhere. Come on, look.
Here, play it again.
[vocalizing]
♪ Eleanor, that devil Tried to steal you away ♪
♪ He tried in vain To take your heart away ♪
♪ But his gold and silver Could not make you betray ♪
♪ Eleanor, remember what I said ♪
♪ Don't forget These last words that I said ♪
♪ He can't have you ♪
♪ So he aim to have my soul instead ♪
Wow, you guys really know how to jam.
-Channelling? -Sure, it happens all the time.
People pick up vibrations, sound waves, and they--
Fiona, there's got to be a simpler explanation for this.
Really, Fiona, you heard what Carey said.
Even he thinks that you guys all heard that same song
on the radio somewhere and just forgot about it.
Forgot about it? Listen...
"Eleanor, the devil's near my door
soon he will be coming through that door
and when he gone I fear I'll be no more."
You really think you'd forget where you heard lyrics like that?
Hey, at my age, I'm lucky I can even remember my own lyrics.
OK, let's go.
-[Jack] Bye, Mom. -Bye, baby.
[Molly] Catch me a fish.
Hey, maybe you could try channelling your algebra homework.
-Einstein's out there somewhere. -Ha-ha.
Let's go.
[Carey] See? I told you it was closed on Mondays.
What's the big deal anyway?
[Fi] I don't know, I just thought
maybe the song is coming from in there somehow.
From the club?
OK, Fi, look, even if we all were tuned in to the same cosmic wave or whatever,
I wasn't even at the club when I thought of the song.
-Neither was my dad. -There's got to be some connection.
I just wish I could get the rest of the lyrics somehow.
Well, I don't think we're going to find it tonight.
[guitar playing]
Open it.
Wait, somebody's definitely been messing with my guitar.
I don't use capos.
You had it in an open "G" tuning, didn't you?
Well, who sings in "A?"
Me.
All right.
This is the part your mom sang.
♪ He can't have you ♪
♪ So, he aim to have my soul instead ♪
♪ I will not strike back in anger ♪
♪ I will turn the other cheek ♪
♪ And if I die before I wake ♪
♪ Let the earth inherit the meek, yeah ♪
♪ Let the earth inherit the meek ♪
Heavy.
It's true.
He was waiting to die, waiting for someone to come kill him.
This is creeping me out, Fi. Can we go now?
Yeah.
Let's go.
The rest of the lyrics?
-They came to me last night. -They came to you?
I got the bridge outside the club.
Then the last two verses just came out of my fingers
-while I was typing up the rest. -You went to the club?
Carey went with me. But, Mom, look at the last verse.
"Oh, Eleanor, tell them what's mine is mine
don't let that devil take what's rightly mine."
Whoever wrote the song knew that someone was going to come kill him
and steal something from him.
I think the song wants us to find out who the killer was and what he stole.
The song wants us to, Fi... No, no.
See, Fi, I don't know whether you remembered these lyrics
or you made them up, but that doesn't make it a reality.
You write about real things that happen in your life, don't you?
Yes, of course I do, but--
Then what's the big deal with someone else doing the same thing?
Hey, Ned, you got the harmonica part, right?
Now, do you think this is just some old song we all heard somewhere?
Look, I've got this old musician friend.
He runs a used record store near here.
He's got a huge collection of blues tunes.
If this song already exists, he'd know about it.
Can we go?
Uh, Ned, doesn't Fi have, like, some homework to do or something?
[whispers] No.
Field trip?
[Molly Frank, this is an amazing collection.
[Ned] Yeah, I told you.
[coughing]
Got mostly everything committed to vinyl, wax, and acetate.
Hey, uh, this song you're looking for, why don't you sing a little bit of it.
That'll give me something to work on, OK?
♪ Eleanor, come and wipe my brow ♪
♪ Only you can soothe my fevered brow ♪
♪ Your tender touch Is all that comforts me now ♪
Are you OK, Frank?
Natty Bookman. He's one of the Delta blues' greatest singers.
His first record was his best. Ain't many around now.
-Can we hear it? -Sure, I'll run it over for you.
[humming]
[blues music plays]
♪ Oh, Chicago, you're a young man's town ♪
♪ But this old man Is going to shake you down ♪
That's it! That's the same melody.
Yeah, the words are different, but--
-Yeah. They stink. -Fi.
It's OK, ma'am. Your daughter's right.
-The words do stink. -[laughs]
Natty was what we call a meteor,
burns bright for a while and then burns out.
He was around for years before they made this first record.
Nobody took notice of him, and suddenly, he had this weird burst of creativity.
It happened right here in Clarksdale.
One night in 1936, he came on stage, and it was like something happened.
He'd found his style, and... and nobody could believe it.
He was a real innovator.
The lyrics... always did stink.
[laughing]
The lyrics you sang, did you make them up?
Uh, I guess you could call it a family effort.
Well, I'm here to tell you that your family's got
what we call a sweet, solid case of the blues.
-Can I buy that record? -Sure.
Since you're a friend of Ned's, I'm going to give it to you.
-Thanks! -Yeah, for 20 bucks.
[laughs]
-Uh, advance on allowance? -Sure.
-Thanks, sir. -Mmm, yeah.
-You want a bag? -Yeah.
-I ain't got none. -OK.
Papa bear.
Any stories about unsolved murders?
Addison Foster?
Was he a musician?
Eleanor.
Eleanor...
♪ This is the new math ♪
♪ It's a shame That we multiply and divide ♪
Mom. Mom, I've got to talk to you.
Fiona, I'm right in the middle of rehearsal.
-Mom, it's important! -OK.
Everybody take a short break.
Mom, I think I know why the guy who wrote that song was murdered.
Fiona, it's just a song.
Natty Bookman got his burst of creativity in 1936, right?
Well, that's the same year this guy named Addison Foster was killed
right outside this club.
[Molly] Fiona, I don't think this is the best time.
Mom, Addison Foster was married to a woman named Eleanor.
They never found the killer.
-What if Natty Bookman-- -That's enough!
You're right, Mrs. Clemens. I'm so sorry.
-What are you people trying to do? -We'll just finish our rehearsal--
I've had enough of you, of all of you.
What happened in the past in this club is in the past,
and I want it to stay that way.
Perhaps, it's best for all concerned if you and your band
would just find another place to play.
Goodbye, Ms. Phillips.
-Ouch! -Fi!
I... I didn't do it, I swear! It just flew out.
Mrs. Clemens, I'm so...
Addison Foster.
You know about this?
I was only six years old.
We lived about a half mile from here.
That night, my father came back late.
He was dragging a big trunk behind him.
There was this look in his eyes.
I knew he'd done something terrible.
He saw me looking at him, and got his face real close to mine,
and he told me to never say anything about what I saw.
Nobody.
Natty Bookman was your father?
That's what Foster meant when he said they were stealing his soul.
He meant his music.
It wasn't till later on when I realized
that my father was passing off Foster's music as his own,
that he'd actually killed a man to take it.
I... I moved away.
I never spoke to my father again.
-But you came back. -After he died.
I took my life savings and came back here to buy this place.
I wanted to wipe the slate clean and... start over.
Change the music, change the look, make believe nothing ever happened.
But it never really went away, what happened that night,
and there's no way I could ever make it right.
I think there is.
[people chattering]
So, her family never moved away.
It took me a while to realize that it all started after we met her.
Alice, hi. Thanks for coming.
This is Mrs. Clemens. She owns the Yale.
I'm so glad you could come.
I appreciate the invitation, but what is this all about?
I have something that belonged to your grandmother, Eleanor,
something that belonged to your family.
But first, there's something I think you should hear.
Thank you, and welcome to the Yale.
I've invited a few of my friends to sit in with me tonight,
and we're going to do a very special song called "Last Night Blues."
It was written by a man named Addison Foster.
[blues music playing]
[vocalizing]
There's much more to tell, honey.
[vocalizing]
♪ Eleanor, come and wipe my brow ♪
♪ Only you can soothe my fevered brow ♪
♪ Your tender touch ♪
♪ Is all that comforts me now ♪
♪ Eleanor, the devil's near to my door ♪
♪ Soon he'll be coming through that door ♪
♪ When he gone I fear ♪
♪ I'll be no more ♪
[vocalizing]