“Voices of Mississippi – Artists and Musicians Documented By William Ferris” was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Historical Album. The accompanying 120-page book, which was also a Grammy winner for best album notes, received the same Grammy. The box set “Voices of Mississippi” includes two discs of Ferris’s gospel and blues recordings from the 1960s to 1970s, as well as one disc of stories and a DVD of documentaries that he created in the 1970s and 1980s. Ferris, who was raised on his family’s Warren County farm in Mississippi, started recording gospel music and blues as a teenager using a slow reel-to-reel tape machine. He said that what has driven him to keep recording for six decades is “following his heart”. Ferris, who is white, said that gospel music was a major part of his life from the age of four to five. This was when he began attending Sunday services at a black church. He said that he first noticed there were no hymnals in the church when he was older. Ferris stated that if the singers were not there, it was “like the music would disappear”. So Ferris felt a personal responsibility for preserving those services. Ferris began by recording audio and taking photographs. Later, he moved on to filming these services. His work with gospel music led to the recording of blues singers as well as storytellers. Ferris stated that recording voices of untold stories is a political act. I tell my students an African proverb that a library is destroyed when an elderly woman or man dies. It’s with this sense of urgency that i have worked to make these recordings.” “Voices of Mississippi,” covers three decades of Ferris’s work and, as such, he stated, connects the voices of the many musicians, artists, and storytellers that he has worked with over the years. It’s important because it connects black and white people and women, people without formal education and those with formal education like Alice Walker and Eudora Welty. King and Parchman prisoners. Ferris stated that there is a wide range of voices with rich musical expressions of language. Ferris said that the Grammy is important as it exposes these voices to a wider audience. It’s the highest recognition in the music industry. It’s particularly important that Grammy-winning Grammy winners from Mississippi, which represent the roots and origins of American music, are recognized. Ferris stated that it helps us to understand the Mississippi roots of blues, rock ‘n roll, gospel, and country music. Ferris is the associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. He has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his work in southern folklore. Ferris was tapped by Quincy Jones in the 1980s to compose the music for “The Color Purple”. Ferris has also written and edited 10 books, and 15 documentaries, many of which focus on African-American music and folklore. Ferris was a former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He also established the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. Ferris taught there for 18 years. Cedric Burnside (a Mississippi native) was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Traditional Blues Category for his album “Benton County Blues.” Buddy Guy won that award.