Honeyboy is a wonderfully shot music documentary about one of the few living practitioners of Delta blues music. This film claims that Honeyboy is important to this genre of music because he lived it, picking cotton, hitchhiking, playing the juke joints, and hopping freight cars. "I rode the train 67 years, until I started making enough money to ride the cushion, ya know."

By accounts of some of the music authorities featured, Honey Boy Edwards is a might have been, could have been, should have been a legend blues musician. This documentary is trying to right the wrongs of historical misfortune. If only Honeyboy had got the breaks to make recordings in the 1930's or 40's that would have made him one of the remembered and collected blues legends like Lightnin' Hopkins, Sonny Boy Williamson, or Robert Johnson. And why shouldn't he be highly regarded, after all this is a guy who traded songs with Robert Johnson.

Yet you can't miss the fact that it's music that has kept him going when he confesses that "I like music the best cause there's no dangers in playin' music. Where in gamblin' . . . I had to cheat to eat. If I couldn't cheat, I couldn't eat. But rather than being bitter about lost opportunities, Honeyboy Edwards is gracious when near the end of the film he states: "A lot of people die without having everything they want. I had everything I want. That's true."

This film clearly showcases Honeyboy's versatility, longevity, and facility with the music that he is passing on. It presents him not only as a musician, but as a storyteller and keeper of a music tradition. He is shown playing in a variety of contexts: alone by himself, with Little Walter Jacobs, or with members of a younger generation of blues musicians. This is a fine film that conveys an appreciation for a tradition of blues music that alive, thrivin' and-a-changin'.

Watching Honeyboy is more than a historical music document. It's like listening to a musical storytelling concert. You get the sense that to hear Honeyboy play live is like hearing Sleepy John Estes, or Lightnin' Hopkins play. Each song is a story and event being passed on. This is a thoroughly enjoyable film to watch.