Intended as a companion piece to Mugge’s 1991 film DEEP BLUES, which explored Mississippi Delta and North Mississippi Hill Country blues traditions, DEEP ROOTS examines the life and work of artist/photographer/musician Bill Steber, while showcasing Black and white musical traditions of the nineteen-twenties and nineteen-thirties, and rural music scenes of Mississippi and Tennessee. The film's first half takes place in Steber’s home base of Murfreesboro, TN, and its second half in the Mississippi Delta, long a major focus of his work. Included are interviews conducted at a Murfreesboro gallery exhibit of Steber’s art and photography; visits to Clarksdale, Mississippi’s Juke Joint Festival and Leland, Mississippi’s Highway 61 Blues Museum; and public performances by three of Steber’s groups: Jake Leg Stompers, Stoop Down Rounders, and Hoodoo Men.