Stories From The Back Woods Of Mississippi
Welcome!
This quick page was put together by Del Simmons in October of 2008 as a tool for the distribution of some wonderful audio files I have recently digitized. You see, on August 16th, 1975, my mother, Tricia Simmons, had the foresight to ask my paternal grandfather, Delmar Leon Simmons, to participate in an exercise to record a bit of Simmons family history on a cassette recorder. I have only the most vague recollection of this event, but I am so thankful that we are all able to relive it now, thanks to my mom's insistence that we record the story telling session on a small cassette recorder. Thanks, Mom!
When I was growing up my paternal grandparents, Delmar and Verna Simmons (pictured here in a photo from 1969, the year I was born), owned a lake house on Lake Cavalier in Mississippi, as well as a beautiful home in Jackson. My annual visits to the lake house every summer are some of my fondest memories. I always loved seeing my family, playing with my cousins, and occasionally even catching and eating some good fish. The lake house had a beautiful screened in back porch with lots of rocking chairs where we could sit and enjoy the great fellowship and conversations together. This audio was recorded on that back porch. If you listen closely you can hear the crickets chirping in the background.
The stories recorded in this collection focus on my grandfather's life as a boy growing up in the home of his father, a country doctor living near McBride, MS, and include a description of the first time he saw an automobile and an electric lightbulb. He also discusses many of his adventures hunting with his friends at night in the woods, as well as many experiences helping his father treat various medical emergencies. The recordings wrap up with stories of Granddad's adventures playing football for Mississippi College and Ole Miss, and his determination to move out and "See the world".
Instead of attempting any further analysis of the collection myself, I'm just going to let Granddaddy Simmons tell you his wonderful stories himself. I hope you enjoy hearing these audio treasures as much as I do. Please feel free to share the site with anyone you think might enjoy them as well. All of the contents are of course the property of my family and formal permission should be requested for any use other than your own personal enjoyment.
PS - I would like to enhance this web page with any and all pictures and details about my family and our history in south Mississippi. I am creating this website to distribute this audio to my family and friends, so if you have any pictures or additions you would like me to add here, please email me and let me know! Thanks!
Download the whole collection..
If you have a portable MP3 player, like an iPod, you can right click here and save a copy of this large zip file that contains the whole collection. It is a rather large file, almost 115MB, so be aware that the download might take a little while.
Or listen right here...
If you'd rather just get straight to the stories, then you can simply click the links below for the individual tracks and listen online now..