quarry an excavation pit from which ore is mined.
iridescent brilliantly glowing.
water moccasins a type of water snake.
tee double you ay a vulgarized pronunciation of TWA, or Trans World Airline, a major United States airline carrier.
ocher an orangish yellow color.
Algonquins a Native-American people who lived in the Ottawa River area, in southern east-central Canada, around 1600. Driven from their homeland by the Iroquois, eventually they were absorbed into other Canadian tribes.
Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (b. 1915), famous blues singer.
Jelly Roll Ferdinand Joseph "Jelly Roll" Morton (1885–1941), renowned jazz composer.
Fats a reference either to pianist and composer Thomas "Fats" Waller (1904–43), or to Antoine "Fats" Domino (b. 1928), renowned pianist and rhythm-and-blues singer.
Lead-belly Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter (1885–1949), a folk singer.
Bo Diddley Otha "Bo Diddley" McDaniels (b. 1928), renowned rock-and-roll singer.
B. B. Riley "B. B." King (b. 1925), a famous blues singer.
Lemon "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (1897–1930), the most influential African-American blues singer and guitarist of his time.
Tampa Red Whittaker Hudson (1903–81), a blues singer also known as "the Guitar Wizard."
Shine a black folk hero who — like Stagolee, John Henry, and High John the Conqueror — epitomizes the "bad nigger," or outlaw trickster.
Staggerlee The story of Stagolee (also known as "Stackolee" or "Staggerlee") originated in a black folk ballad about two gamblers, Stagolee and Billy. When Stagolee catches Billy cheating, he shoots him dead, then brags about his deed and steals Billy's wife.
Katherine Hepburn (b. 1909) gravelly voiced American film actress best known for her starring role in The African Queen (1951), with Humphrey Bogart, and her long-term love affair with Spencer Tracy, with whom she starred in nine films.
lodestar a star by which one directs one's course; a guiding principle or ideal.
