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Jimbo Mathus’ musical “Mosquitoville” playing this Friday in Sardis, MS

Jimbo Mathus, photo by Scott Barretta

Jimbo Mathus, photo by Scott Barretta

I’m looking forward to seeing Jimbo’s musical (described in the article below) on Friday in Sardis, which just off of I-55 north of Batesville, and a little less than an hour south of Memphis.

For the musical Jimbo has gathered together local musicians including Justin Showah, bass; Eric Carlton, piano and accordion; Austin Marshall, drums; Bill Abel, guitar; Jim Ellis, guitar; Jamie Posey, guitar; and, on vocals, Gin-Gin Abraham, Rosie Posey, and Jennifer Pierce.

Here’s the article I wrote for today’s Clarion Ledger.

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Mathus bringing ‘Mosquitoville’ to Panola Playhouse in Sardis

This Friday Jimbo Mathus is presenting his musical Mosquitoville: Mississippi Songs and Stories at the Panola Playhouse in Sardis. There will be two shows, at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m., and Mathus hopes to soon take the production on the road across the state.

Equally comfortable playing blues, jazz and country, Mathus is the leader of the Tri State Coalition and the owner of the Delta Recording Service in Como. He was a founder of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, and in addition to recording many of his own CDs, played guitar on Buddy Guy’s Grammy-winning CD, Blues Singer.

“Mosquitoville is based on some local history around the 1880s in Quitman County in the early timber industry before the cotton was planted,” explains Mathus. “It’s based on a journal of a guy from Sledge, Miss., named John Parrot. He worked at a camp north of South Lake called Mosquitoviille. We’re basing it on the events in that (journal) and how they’re related to the folk music in the area.”

“I should have a six-piece band and about a six-piece chorus. We’re doing everything from Sid Hemphill, Stephen Foster, Jimmie Rodgers to a lot of indigenous Mississippi music. It’s kind of like the Squirrel Nut Zippers in that it’s conceptualized, but still very Mississippi in its approach.”

For additional information, visit the Panola Playhouse’s website.

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Here’s a “video” of Sid Hemphill, the grandfather of blueswoman Jessie Mae Hemphill, who was recorded by Alan Lomax in Sardis in the early ’40s, and then again in the same area in 1959.

The following is Jimbo performing at a “Music in the Hall” concert in Oxford last year.

Jimbo Mathus - “Who’ll Sop My Gravy” at Music in the Hall: Episode Five from Daniel Morrow on Vimeo.

Opening Thursday for Sandra Murchison’s art exhibit featuring Blues Trail images

Sandra Murchison is an associate professor and chair of the art department at Millsaps College who I met last year in Cleveland, MS, at the dedication of the “Chrisman Street” Mississippi Blues Trail marker.  Her latest project is a series of mixed media prints that include rubbings from Blues Trail markers — like some gravestones, the markers have raised lettering on the front side, and her individual pieces incorporate parts of the text.

On Thursday, March 4 from 5 - 8 p.m. there’ll be an opening reception at the Fischer Galleries in the Fondren neighborhood of Jackson. It will be running through early April. Here’s her statement about the exhibit:

“This series of prints and mixed media pieces features information from the Mississippi Blues Trail historical markers in the Delta region. I began collecting this information and working on this series earlier this year. After capturing the text from the markers, I layer the fragmented stories into collagraphs and painted collages. This work with the Mississippi Blues Trail markers builds on my previous work with historical markers and my general interest in how America remembers its past. I have committed myself to making a rubbing for each marker in the Delta region for this ongoing project. My focus is specifically on the state of Mississippi and the way that the state aims to construct a specific past and identity rooted in music. I am interested in how we memorialize a culture. At the same time, I seek to raise questions about the effectiveness of these markers. Is the trail too little, too late, or exactly what has been needed for some time?”

More of Murchison’s current work can be seen here.

“Three Generations of the Blues;” Ben Payton at Berklee

Last week I wrote here about an upcoming performance of a trio billed as “Three Generations of the Blues,” consisting of Honeyboy Edwards, who received a Mississippi Governor’s Award For Excellence in the Arts last Thursday, Jackson blues veteran King Edward (Antoine), and Grady Champion, whose band recently won the International Blues Competition in Memphis. Here’s a photo from their performance at the 930 Blues Cafe, courtesy of Peggy Brown.
From left: King Edward, Grady Champion, and Honeyboy Edwards

From left: King Edward, Grady Champion, and Honeyboy Edwards. Photo by Peggy Brown

Another recent notable event involving a Mississippi blues musician was Ben Payton’s recent visit to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. They flew him in to perform at the “Roots and Reason” concert on February 4 at the Berklee Performance Center, which celebrated traditional roots music from the Mississippi Delta and around the world. As the photo below demonstrates, he also worked with students during his two-day visit.

Ben Payton, right, performing for Berklee students. Photo by Jennifer Shanley

Ben Payton, right, performing for Berklee students. Photo by Jennifer Shanley

Honeyboy Edwards to receive Governor’s Award Thursday, performing in MS on Friday and Saturday

Photo by Steve Mannheim, courtesy Earwig Records

One of the honorees at today’s annual Governor’s Awards For Excellence in the Arts ceremony is Delta bluesman David “Honeyboy” Edwards, who turns 95 later this year. Earlier this month Edwards received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award; several years ago he received his first Grammy for his participation on the CD Last of the Delta Bluesmen.

On Friday he’ll be performing at the 930 Blues Cafe in Jackson on a program called “Three Generations of the Blues,” which also features Jackson’s King Edward (Antoine) and Canton’s Grady Champion. The latter recently won the band segment of the International Blues Competition in Memphis. Tickets are $15, and Edwards’ performance is being underwritten by the Central MS Blues Society and the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame.

On Saturday Edwards will be performing at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, which is hosting “Happy Hour with Honeyboy” at 6pm. Admission is $5 for members and $10 for visitors, with complimentary beer.

A native of Shaw, Edwards set out on the road to play music in his teens together with Big Joe Williams, and he’s never stopped rambling. In the 1930s he played with artists including Sonny Boy Williamson II and Robert Johnson; Edwards recalls that they were all three at the same juke joint in Greenwood the 1938 evening when Johnson was reputedly fatally poisoned by a jealous man.

In 1942 Edwards made his first recordings for Alan Lomax of the Library of Congress in Clarksdale, an experience that Lomax described at length in his book The Land Where the Blues Began. Edwards began recording commercially after WWII, and recorded at both Sun and Chess, though the recording weren’t immediately issued. In the early ’70s Edwards recorded with Fleetwood Mac, and started his long relationship with his manager (and occasional harmonica player) Michael Frank, who has recorded multiple albums of Edwards on his Earwig Records label.

Edwards is known for his great skills as a storyteller, and his fascinating life was captured in the documentary Honeyboy and his autobiography The World Don’t Owe Me Nothing, which I think is essential to every blues library. He’ll be returning to Mississippi on April 17 to perform once again at the annual Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale.

Here’s a clip of him performing “Gambling Man” and talking about being a hustler, from the documentary Lightning in a Bottle.

Funeral Thursday for Memphis bluesman Wilroy Sanders

Wilroy (or Will Roy) Sanders, who was a leading figure in Memphis’ largely underground blues scene for decades, died on Tuesday, February 16 at age 76. An obituary from the Memphis Flyer is here; another from the Commercial Appeal is here. His funeral will take place on Thursday, Feb. 25 at the Parkway Gardens United Presbyterian Church, which is located at 1005 East Shelby Drive. Viewing will start at 9 a.m., and the service at 11 a.m.

Sanders recorded both under his own name and as a member of the Fieldstones, a very funky, downhome band who played at venues including Green’s Lounge. In 1999 Sanders was was the subject a documentary film, CD, and small book, all entitled “The Last Living Bluesman.” Shangri-La Records, whose then owner Sherman Wilmott produced the documentary, has set up a charity fund for Sanders, and anyone who donates $25 or more will receive a copy of the CD, book, or video.

Sanders’ first recording was a 1963 single by “Willie Sanders and the Binghamton Blues Boys” on the East Side label featuring his version of the song “Crosscut Saw,” which had been recorded decades earlier by Mississippi bluesman Tommy McClennan. Albert King’s cover of the song for Stax several years later credited the songwriters on Sanders’ single. The Fieldstones came to broader attention when they were recorded by Dr. David Evans for the High Water label as part of his efforts to document the downhome Memphis blues scene. Their album “Memphis Blues Today!” is a modern-day blues classic, and like the first album by Clarksdale’s Jelly Roll Kings alerted many blues fans to the lively electric blues scene down South.

I have many great memories of seeing the Fieldstones and Sanders performing both with and without the band at the sadly departed Blue Worm juke joint in Memphis. He was a real character, and will be greatly missed.

According to the Commerical Appeal obit, he is survived by over two dozen children!

Lil’ Dave Thompson fundraiser Thursday, funeral Saturday

A fundraiser for the family of Little Dave Thompson will be held at the Walnut Street Blues Bar in Greenville on Thursday night beginning at 7pm, and lasting until late into the nights. Artists who are listed as performing include Eden Brent, the Walnut Street Allstars, Mississippi Slim, Mickey Rogers, Jessie Clay, Billy Smiley, and Young Guns.

Thompson’s funeral will be held at 2:00pm this Saturday at the Bell Grove Missionary Baptist Church at 1301 B.B. King Road in Indianola

A support fund has been set up by Thompson’s family; he left behind his wife of fifteen years, Susan, and five children ranging in age from 13 to 20.  Contributions to the family can be mailed to:

Community Bank, PO Box 28, Indianola, MS 38751, or by sending a wire transfer to routing # 084204301

Direct mail to the family can be sent to John Thompson, PO Box 512, Moorhead, MS 38761. John Thompson’s e-mail is: thomp964@bellsouth.net

Lil’ Dave Thompson 1969 - 2010

I received the terrible news today that Delta blues guitarist and vocalist Lil’ Dave Thompson died early this morning in an automobile wreck. According to a news report, he died in Aiken County, SC when the van in which he was traveling lost control on I-20 around 6am.

Lil’ Dave was one of the most talented of the younger blues artists in Mississippi. His father was a bluesman, and as a teenager he began working with Greenville’s Roosevelt “Booba” Barnes. He recorded his first CD for the Fat Possum label when he was in his ’20s, and I recall seeing him on one of their early Fat Possum Caravan tours along with R.L. Burnside. For the last decade Dave spent most of his time out on the road, both across the nation and abroad. Looking over his schedule at his website, it appears as though he played over 200 dates a year, and he was scheduled to tour for a week in Romania next week.

As a result we didn’t see him here in MS too often, though he did seem to keep a busy schedule when he was at home. He was a regular performer at the annual Highway 61 Blues Festival in Leland as well as at informal event in Holly Ridge the following day. I always enjoyed talking to Dave about his travels, and had fully expected that he would have been an integral part of the Delta scene for decades to come.

I’ll keep the site updated with information about memorial services.

Béla Fleck and African musicians at the Lyric Thursday night

This Thursday banjo master Béla Fleck will be visiting Oxford’s Lyric Theater together with a group of top-notch African musicians as part of a 30-stop national tour. This kind of show simply doesn’t come to Oxford too often, and I think it will be one of the highlights of the year.

It appears as though his backing band is N’goni Ba from Mali, featuring Bassekou Kouyate, a master of the n’goni, a small, stringed instrument, and Kouyate’s wife, vocalist Amy Sacko. The show will also feature Tanzanian thumb piano master Anania Ngoliga, accompanied by guitarist John Kitime. Ngoliga, who is blind, was one of the highlights of Fleck’s recent documentary Throw Down Your Heart, which followed him across five African nations.

As Fleck explains in the trailer for the documentary below, his trip to Africa focussed on finding the ancestral roots of the American banjo, but he also simply played with a wide variety of master musicians.

Here’s a video of Bassekou Kouyate’s band N’goni Ba from the Womex festival in 2008:


Bassekou Kouyaté & N Goni Ba concert au Womex 2008

Here’s some recordings from Throw Down Your Heart, courtesy of Fleck’s website

Harmonica workshop in north Mississippi in May

Yesterday I received an e-mail from Oxford’s Adam Gussow, who is both a professor of English at Ole Miss and a seasoned blues harmonica player. He played for many years in the New York City-based duo Satan and Adam. I’m reprinting here his announcement about a blues harmonica workshop that will be held in May at the Foxfire Ranch, the Sunday night blues venue just north of Oxford.
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Hill Country Harmonica:  A North Mississippi Blues Harp Homecoming [will] take place on May 22-23 at Foxfire Ranch in Waterford, Mississippi, about 20 miles north of Oxford, where I’ve lived since 2002.  It is an intensive retreat/festival aimed at blues harmonica students of all levels, and people who love blues harmonica.  Our performer/teachers include the following:
Adam Gussow (with special guest Charlie Hilbert)
Some of these names will surely be familiar to you; others probably won’t.  But if you want to know what is really going on in the world of blues harmonica–from traditional to contemporary, from Mississippi to Memphis to Chicago and back–then this lineup, framed by the spectacular late spring countryside near Holly Springs, is one you won’t want to miss.  If you don’t believe me, please check out the videos toward the bottom of this page, and the more detailed performer pages hyperlinked at the top:
Here’s the website:
One of the things I’ve tried to do with the website is offer a quick course on Mississippi hill country blues.  Here’s that page:
For more information contact Gussow at asgussow@aol.com

Documentary on Seattle’s ’60s & ’70s soul scene at the Oxford Film Festival

The documentary Wheedle’s Groove, directed by Jennifer Maas, addresses both the overlooked soul scene in Seattle in the ’60s and ’70s and recent efforts to draw attention to its musical legacy and veteran musicians from the scene. It’s playing at the Oxford Film Festival (held at the Malco Theater) on Friday at 7pm, and on Sunday at 3pm; here’s the festival page. It’s paired with the short documentary “I Am A Man: From Memphis, A Lesson In Life,” which focuses on a veteran of the sanitation workers strike that was taking place when Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.

Here’s a trailer:


Here’s a synopsis from the documentary’s website:

Thirty years before grunge music put Seattle on the map, late 1960’s groups like Black on White Affair, The Soul Swingers, and Cold, Bold & Together filled airwaves and packed clubs every night of the week. Many groups started to receive widespread attention with invitations to perform on national television and collaborate with mainstream acts. Just as many of the groups were on the verge of breaking out, the fickle public turned its ear to disco, and Seattle’s soul scene slipped into obscurity.

In 2001, local collector DJ Mr. Supreme started uncovering Seattle’s soulful past after finding a dusty Black on White Affair 45 called ‘Bold Soul Sister’ in a 99 cent bin at a Seattle Center record show. By 2003 he had a rough impression of a once-thriving scene and a hefty collection of Seattle soul and funk 45s, some of which were fetching upwards of $5,000 on the collector circuit. Supreme approached local record label Light In The Attic with the idea of releasing a Seattle soul and funk compilation. Light In The Attic spent twelve months tracking down artists and fleshing out the story of Seattle’s funky past, and the result was a CD compilation entitled Wheedle’s Groove. At the CD release party in August of 2004, a line of nostalgic 60-somethings and funk-hungry 20-somethings wrapped around the building as the musicians inside, now janitors, graphic designers, and truck drivers, look back at careers derailed and prepare to perform together for the first time in 30 years.