Lost River Stories

Invisibles of the Mississippi Valley.

South of Mark Twain Cave near Ilasco, Mo., ca. mid-1980s. Photo by Kevin Andrews.

php

  • About Lost River Stories
  • Books, Articles, and Music Albums by Gregg Andrews
  • River Music & History with Doctor G & the Mudcats
  • Shop at the Monkey Run Store (No additional sales tax or shipping & handling costs. Domestic sales only).
  • John Lyman Book Award

    Yesterday, I learned that my new book, Shantyboats and Roustabouts: The River Poor of St. Louis, 1875-1930 (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2023), has won the North American Society for Oceanic History’s John Lyman Book Award in the category of US Maritime History. On behalf of the thousands of shantyboat wayfarers and roustabouts who…

    Gregg Andrews

    May 31, 2023
    Uncategorized
    John Lyman Book Award. LSU Press
  • Double Murder Mystery on the Mississippi: Part 1

    The little terrier crouched by the corpse and howled and wailed.

    Gregg Andrews

    May 23, 2023
    Uncategorized
    crime mysteries, Mississippi River, Murder, St. Louis levee
  • When Raggers Were All the Rage

    When Raggers Were All the Rage

    “The ‘ragger’ is a local type. . . He is to St. Louis what the Bowery Boy is to New York.”

    Gregg Andrews

    May 2, 2023
    Uncategorized
    dance craze, gang culture, ragtime era, shantyboat communities, St. Louis levee.
  • What the Mississippi River Means to Me

    What the Mississippi River Means to Me

    I left the Mississippi as an adult, but it never left me.

    Gregg Andrews

    April 11, 2023
    Uncategorized
    Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library, James V. Swift Medal 2023, Mississippi River music, Shantyboats
  • Portrait of a Steamboat Riverfront (LSU Press Blog)

    Gregg Andrews

    March 28, 2023
    Uncategorized
  • Shantyboats and Roustabouts Wins James V. Swift Medal

    Shantyboats and Roustabouts Wins James V. Swift Medal

    Perhaps no one contributed more to preserving the history of life on the rivers than James V. Swift, a longtime columnist of the Waterways Journal who wrote the “Old Boat Column” for many years. As the Journal’s Vice-President and business and advertising manager, he supported a number of river organizations, and he indexed the Waterways…

    Gregg Andrews

    March 21, 2023
    Uncategorized
    Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library, James V. Swift Medal 2023, LSU Press, waterways history
  • “Heaven on Earth”: Shantyboats Go to Hollywood Again

    “Heaven on Earth”: Shantyboats Go to Hollywood Again

    Film director Russell Mack’s Heaven on Earth (Universal Studios, December 1, 1931), based on Ben Lucien Burman’s 1929 novel, Mississippi, reintroduced American moviegoers to the world of the Mississippi River poor. The movie was released eleven years after King Vidor’s silent shantyboat film, The Jack-Knife Man. When Mack scouted filming locations, Harry Pollard, director of…

    Gregg Andrews

    February 7, 2023
    Uncategorized
    Anita Louise, Ben Lucien Burman, Harry Beresford, John Carradine, Lew Ayres, Madame Sul-Te-Wan, Roustabouts, Russell Mack, Shantyboats, Tennessee Belle
  • The Music Story Behind “Jones County Jubilee” and the “Free State of Jones”

    The Music Story Behind “Jones County Jubilee” and the “Free State of Jones”

    I recall vividly how chills ran up and down my spine when I read the tombstone inscription, “They were summarily executed by the Confederate Cavalry During the War Between the States for their honest convictions, April 14, 1864.” Looking back, I think it was the starting point for my song, “Jones County Jubilee,” even though…

    Gregg Andrews

    January 30, 2023
    Uncategorized
    Cary Hudson, Doctor G and the Mudcats, Free State of Jones, Jones County Mississippi, Leaf River, Lucinda Williams, Newt Knight, Rachel Knight, Victoria E. Bynum
  • LSU Press Facebook Live Author Event

    Please join us tomorrow (Jan. 25) afternoon at 2pm when LSU Press hosts an online Facebook presentation and Q & A session on my new book. LSU Press Facebook Live Author Series on “Shantyboats and Roustabouts” | Facebook

    Gregg Andrews

    January 24, 2023
    Uncategorized
  • Shantyboats and Roustabouts Author Interviewed on Bookmarked, Jan. 3, 2023

    On January 3, 2023, I appeared on Priscilla Vance Leder’s Bookmarked program on KZSM Radio in San Marcos, Texas. We covered a wide range of engaging issues raised by my new book, Shantyboats and Roustabouts: The River Poor of St. Louis, 1875-1930. Click on the start button if you’d like to listen to the conversation.

    Gregg Andrews

    January 19, 2023
    Uncategorized
    Shantyboats
1 2 3
Next Page→

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Lost River Stories
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Lost River Stories
    • Edit Site
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar