Louisiana
‘Sinners’ shines light on blues legends from Louisiana. See who, how they contributed.
Hopefully Ryan Coogler has a U-Haul on standby. The 39-year-old movie director may need a moving van March 15 to bring the Oscars home for his horror film, “Sinners.”
The movie, which grossed $369 million in worldwide box office receipts, is up for a record 16 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Original Song.
This image released by CBS Broadcasting shows Ryan Coogler, center, accepting the award for cinematic and box office achievement for “Sinners” during the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif.
“Sinners” is already a winner for putting the spotlight on the blues and at least three Louisiana musicians who shaped the sound. Much of the vampire thriller is set in Southern juke joints of the 1930s, makeshift dancehalls that shook with sounds that poured the foundation for rock ‘n’ roll, soul, R&B, rap, country and more.
Coogler illustrates that past and future in a scene with the original song, “I Lied to You.” The 1930s scene drifts to visions of the coming decades of rock, rap, break dancing and funk.
Buddy Guy uses a drum stick to play a Jimi Hendrix tune at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on May 4, 2023.
Buddy Guy, an 89-year-old native of Pointe Coupee Parish, appears briefly in the movie as an aging version of the character Sammie “Preacher Boy” Moore. Born in 1936 in Lettsworth, Guy was a product of this “Sinners” era with skills that heavily influenced Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and others considered guitar gods.
A Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner and Kennedy Center honoree, Guy is still going strong with a tour of Australia set for April.
Fellow blues senior and Homer native Bobby Rush has also enjoyed “Sinners” notoriety, along with the late harmonica legend Little Walter of Marksville. Rush, 92, wasn’t seen in the movie, but his harmonica was used for the character “Delta Slim.”
Bluesman Bobby Rush, 92, right, performs with Kenny Wayne Shepherd in the Blues Tent during the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (Staff photo by Scott Threlkeld, The Times-Picayune)
Guy and actor Miles Caton performed the Little Walter original, “Juke.” The song has more than 2.2 million streams on Spotify and nearly 750,000 plays on YouTube.
Like Guy, Rush is not resting in his senior years. Between now and end of May, Rush has gigs stretching from the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans to the Ribs & Blues Festival in the Netherlands.
Similar to Guy, Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs in 1930, left Louisiana for Chicago, where he recorded “Juke,” “My Babe” and more groundbreaking harmonica blues. Renowned as an alcoholic with a short fuse and numerous fight injuries, Walter only lived to the age of 37.
Art director Tim Davis helped create the church in “Sinners,” and fans have analyzed its design. Miles Caton plays preacher boy Sammie in the film.
Yet the blues of Walter, Rush and Guy live on, thanks to “Sinners,” introducing a new generation to the foundation of American music.
Herman Fuselier is executive director of the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission. A longtime journalist covering Louisiana music and culture, he lives in Opelousas. His “Zydeco Stomp” show airs at noon Saturdays on KRVS Public Media.