Since the dawn of the 20th century, one of America’s best loved and most enduring forms of popular music has been the blues. It’s a style of music that emerged from the South during the shameful era of slavery and racism that permeated the region in the early 1900’s, and from those humble beginnings its persistent, guitar backed rhythms and passionate lyrics would soon become the basis for modern rock ’n roll.

It’s also music that has contributed to the soundtracks of countless movies and TV series, and in the upcoming sci-fi web series DELTA BLUE, the Deep South, the blues and the seedy culture that surrounded it in its infancy provides the backbone for a thriller set in a mythical world tainted by greedy profiteers; one that three disparate individuals band together to save.

Created, written, produced and directed by Cameron J. Smith, DELTA BLUE’s Kickstarter campaign began on Thursday, May 1st, and is seeking to raise $6,000 to produce the first three episodes of its 12 episode first season.

The deadline for the campaign is May 31st, and if successful, production on DELTA BLUE will begin later this summer, with a tentative premiere date sometime later this year. An introductory trailer is also viewable via the show’s Kickstarter and Youtube pages, and the series will air both on Youtube and its own official web site upon its launch.

DELTA BLUE focuses on the exploits of three people whose personalities and outlooks on life could not be more different, but whose goals become very much the same after a series of bizarre, unexplained events occur on the planet Delta. It’s a planet that has an abundance of new technologies, and it’s those that the group tries to grab from the clutches of the shadowy Capitol Corporation, an outfit that uses Delta’s residents as slave labor in producing its products while depriving them of the right to use them.

Though not taking place in any particular point in time, DELTA BLUE is heavily rooted in the deep South, the early beginnings of blues music and the often turbulent heritage it grew out of. In fact, DELTA BLUE is based heavily in  “bluespunk”, a storytelling genre that combines sci-fi with tales of the dark, dangerous world of the depression-era South.

DELTA BLUE stars Rebekah Lynn Bruflodt as Annie, a burlesque dancer who serves as the owner of a local speakeasy called Delta Blue. While Annie’s beauty and outer charm wows the male patrons of the bar, she’s got a no-nonsense attitude when it comes to running her business.

The cast also features actor/musician Collin Hauser (who also serves as the series’ composer) as Delta Blue’s in house musician Willie Ray Marmalade, a man who sees the real world as a complex and unclear place, and whose past is just as hard to figure out.

Yet, one thing is certain: he’s head over heels in love with Annie. In contrast to Willie’s personality, Delta Blue’s barkeep Hoot Ryker (Benjamin Dennis) tends to see the world as a battle between the forces of good and evil. Described by Smith as “a cross between the intensity of Liam Neeson and the attitude of Teddy Roosevelt,” Hoot chooses to settle disputes by duking it out rather than talking it out, and it’s those qualities that often land him in some sticky situations. Together, they join forces to save Delta from greed, abuse and the people who try to take advantage of the planet itself.

A longtime fan of sci-fi and the blues, Smith combined both influences into what would soon become DELTA BLUE.

“I grew up on the blues so I’ve always been interested in the myth and ideas in some of the classic songs. Then I was watching Ken Burns’ JAZZ program. The first episode featured a lovely assortment of blues music which got me in the right mood. I was re-watching FIREFLY at the time, so I figured it’d be cool to sort of meld the two energies,” he recalls.

Along with the deep history and tradition of blues music, Smith found another source of inspiration from the place where that genre originated – the South, where some of the earliest blues songs focused on issues that differed from the social and economic difficulties of that period. “I really like to read into the mythos of the deep southern culture from the 1910’s to 30’s. Some of the blues music from that era borders on tales of magic and other sorts of supernatural depravity. That’s all very interesting to me.”

The sights and sounds of the region also contributed heavily to DELTA BLUE’s visual element. “I’m inspired by it all, man. Anything I see around me. I love seeing old factories. I love looking at a lovely farmhouse. The open fields. The arid landscapes. I really want the viewer to be immersed in the moment, as I am,” Smith adds.

While Smith has already written the first 12 episodes that constitute DELTA BLUE’s first season, he has taken full advantage of the creative possibilities and opportunities provided by the web series format.

“One of the interesting things about the web is that our episodes can be as long or as short as they need to be so long as it stays interesting. It’s been a real treat not having to fit into any specific genre, time frame, or creative constraint.”

DELTA BLUE is different from many sci-fi/supernatural based shows in that not everything is as black and white as it seems, from the world the characters inhabit to the moral dilemmas and inner personal ambiguities they possess. “There are several elements in the show that all point to a bigger theme. That is; everyone is complex. Everyone has something deeper inside them. Every bad guy has a family, has a story, and in essence isn’t a bad guy. And if they are truly evil, why is that?”

Because of those complexities, DELTA BLUE will bring viewers characters that don’t fit the typical hero/villain mold. Despite the extraordinary situation Annie, Hoot, Willie and the people of the planet Delta find themselves in, they’re still people just like us. As Smith says, the depth of DELTA BLUE’s characters is just one factor that sets it apart from most sci-fi movies and TV series.

“I hate cardboard characters. It does a disservice to the art and to the audience when you create a character that only serves a single purpose, so, I like to give as many characters as I can a reason to exist. The world of DELTA BLUE has a lot of depth and hopefully the audience won’t mind jumping in.”

Another element that makes DELTA BLUE unique and dramatically different from other sci-fi thrillers is that it de-emphasizes on-screen violence, while demonstrating just how hard it can be for the show’s characters to evolve as people.

“I’m taking a lot of science fiction tropes and cliches and trying to throw them on their head. I’ll be brave and come out against the act of killing. I hate that on TV shows, (where) the good guys who are always moral and upright are killing bad guys left and right without consequence. A lot of what interests me are certain characters’ resistance to change and growth. That’s true in life. I wanted to explore that aspect and the situations that would force a certain mindset to think differently,” Smith adds.

Along with suspenseful and compelling drama, action and characters, the musical element of DELTA BLUE is also on full display throughout each episode and further compliments the visual aspects of the series. “While I have a ton of inspirations as a filmmaker, most of my vision quests are initiated by a great album or song. Most of my day-to-day career revolves around making documentaries or music videos for bands that I love (most notably the indie symphonic pop/rock group The Polyphonic Spree). So I’m trying to push film and music together even closer. DELTA BLUE will be a very music heavy show mixed with whatever cool visuals I can throw in there,” Smith says.

Those elements combine to make DELTA BLUE a sci-fi/supernatural web series thriller unlike any ever attempted, and despite its limited budget Smith hopes that the series will instantly strike a chord with audiences and avid fans of sci-fi and the blues alike. “..This an extremely big scale/small scale show. As in, we are trying to pull off something huge. There’s a lot more action than I initially planned. But that’s a good thing. There’s a lot of drama revolving around the relationships between the characters. And there’s lots of comedy between the occasional eccentricities. Hopefully everyone will dig it.”

(Note: The show will be closed-captioned, according to Smith.)

To donate to the series’ Kickstarter campaign, please visit:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cameronsmith/delta-blue-pilot-episodes

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/user/DeltaBlueSeries

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/DeltaBlueSeries

The official Kickstarter video for DELTA BLUE is embedded below: