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).
  • 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
  • Doctor Espanto

    Doctor Espanto

    One of the slickest hucksters and patent medicine peddlers on the Mississippi River. You’ll meet him in Shantyboats and Roustabouts.

    Gregg Andrews

    November 15, 2022
    Uncategorized
    fortune tellers, Mississippi River, patent medicine, spiritualists, St. Louis history
  • My New Book Is Out

    My New Book Is Out

    It’s now official. In a nice surprise at the mailbox today, I received an advance copy of my new book from LSU Press. Thanks for your support and interest in those who lived and labored on the Mississippi River and its tributaries in the era of Mark Twain and beyond. I believe their voices and…

    Gregg Andrews

    November 12, 2022
    Uncategorized
    LSU Press, Mark Twain, Mississippi River history, Mississippi River music, Shantyboats, St. Louis history, St. Louis levee
  • The River Gives Up Its Dead Slowly

    My mother was deathly afraid of the Mississippi River, but it was my playground as a child in the river village of Ilasco, Missouri. Try as she might, she couldn’t stop me from swimming in the river or fishing from its banks while she was trimming soles at a shoe factory in Hannibal. After all,…

    Gregg Andrews

    October 28, 2022
    Uncategorized
    Allen Veal, Bobby and Elmer Veal, drownings, Hannibal, Ilasco, Louis F. Behl, Mississippi River
  • Evil in the Delta

    “Elaine, Elaine, that river’s deep and wide; the devil’s loose in the Delta tonight here on the Arkansas side.”

    Gregg Andrews

    October 8, 2022
    Uncategorized
    Arkansas Delta, Black sharecroppers, Elaine Massacre
  • Shantyboats in Early Hollywood: The Jack Knife Man

    Shantyboats in Early Hollywood: The Jack Knife Man

    “I’ll be decent. I’ll go straight from now on.”

    Gregg Andrews

    September 2, 2022
    Uncategorized
    ellis parker butler, King Vidor, muscatine, Shantyboats, silent films
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