Highway 61 Radio

The King Biscuit Blues Festival returns under its original name; one of the highlights of last year’s event was a surprise announcement that “the biscuit is back” after about five years or so when it had to operate as the less colorful “Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival” due to a copyright issue. Like last year there are major headliners each night — the most prominent act, Buddy Guy, appears on Thursday, while Delbert McClinton tops the bill on Friday, and Keb’ Mo’ on Saturday. And, once again, the once free festival is now charging admission for the seats in front of the main stage — a relative modest $30 for all three days, though that’s also the price for just one night.

Last year I was on a blues symposium at the festival organized by Memphis’ Candace Ivory, and this year there’s a new symposium on Saturday afternoon featuring two panels at the Malco Theater on Cherry Street on the topics of recent milestones in the blues, including the 40th anniversary of Living Blues magazine, and the state of the blues.

Here’s the schedule for the main stages; following this there is information on other events taking place this weekend in the Clarksdale area.

Thursday, October 6^th

Main Stage

11:30 a.m. – 2010 Emerging Artist Winner – The Overtones

12:15 – 2011 SBBS Battle of The Bands Winner

1:00 – IBC Winner Lionel Young Band

2:05 – Sterling Billingsley Band

3:10 – Mike Zito

4:40 – Reba Russell Band

6:15 – Roy Rogers

7:50 – Roomful of Blues with James Cotton

.9:30 – Buddy Guy

Friday, October 7th

Main Stage

11:30 – Sherrie Williams

12:45 – Don Nix

2:00 – Larry Garner w Sam Joyner

3:15 – Hubert Sumlin, The Willie “Big Eyes” Smith band, Bob Margolin

4:40 – Michael Burks

6:10 – Anson Funderburg & The Rockets

7:45 – Paul Thorn

9:30 – Delbert McClinton

Lockwood Stackhouse Stage

12:00  – Andy Coats

1:20 – Lil Biscuit Band featuring Phillip Stackhouse

2:40 – Spoonfed Blues featuring Mississippi Spoonman

4:00 Gwen White

5:30 Wampus Cats

7:00 Don McMinn

8:30 – Dexter Allen

10:00 – Bobby Rush

Saturday, October 8

Main Stage

11:30  – Stacy Mitcheart

12:45 – Kirk Fletcher

2:05 – Hamilton Loomis

3:35 – Matt Schofield

5:05 – Big Bill Morganfield

6:30 – Tommy Castro

8:00 – The Stax Review – Eddie Floyd, Duck Dunn, Steve Cropper

9:35 – Keb’ Mo’

Lockwood Stackhouse Stage

12:00 -T-Model Ford

1:20 – Ben Wiley Payton

2:40 – Lonnie Shields

4:00 – Moreland & Arbuckle

5:30 – Blind Mississippi Morris & The Pocket Rockets

7:00 – Earnest “Guitar” Roy

8:30 – Cedric Burnside

10:00 – Billy Branch & The Sons of Blues

* * * * *

Events in Clarksdale over the weekend, including the Cat Head Mini Blues Fest and the Pinetop Perkins Celebration at Hopson, both on Sunday

Next weekend (Sept. 16-17) the Ponderosa Stomp festival celebrates its 10th anniversary with a two-day, two-stage show at a new venue, the Howlin’ Wolf club in New Orleans’ warehouse district. While the Stomp usually tries to present fresh (vintage) acts each year (and they do this year as well), in honor of the tenth anniversary the organizers are bringing back some favorites from the past. These include several veterans from the first Stomp, including 91-year-old bandleader Dave Bartholomew, whose achievements include producing, playing on, and writing many of Fats Domino’s hits, and sax man Big Jay McNeely, who helped pioneer the honking R&B sax style in the ’40s.

There’s also a tribute to producer Cosimo Matassa featuring many of the acts who recorded in his French Quarter studio from the ’40s to the ’60s, including Bartholomew, Allen Toussaint, Clarence “Frogman” Henry, and Robert “Barefootin’” Parker; a tribute to Excello Records, featuring Lazy Lester, Warren Storm, Classie Ballou, and Carol Fran; and a Memphis soul review featuring the Bo-Keys, Otis Clay, and Stax vets William Bell, Eddie Floyd, and Sir Mack Rice.

The full lineup is listed below.

The Friday and Saturday night concerts will be complemented by the 4th annual Ponderosa Stomp Music Conference on Thursday and Friday, and the “clandestine celluloid” film series on Friday and Saturday, which both take place at the Renaissance Arts Hotel (700 Tchoupitoulas). The hotel’s lobby will also feature the 3rd annual Ponderosa Stomp Record Fair on Friday and Saturday from 11am to 5pm. I’m proud to be participating in the Conference again this year, interviewing Bobby Rush at 1:30pm on Thursday

Thursday, September 15, 2011

11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Booty Green:  Reflections on Bobby Marchan, moderated by Alison Fensterstock, with panelists Wild Wayne and Gerri Hall

12:15 – 1:15 p.m.

There’s Something Fuzzy in the Garage: An Exploration of Louisiana Garage Bands, moderated by Michael Hurtt

1:30 – 2:30 p.m.

Chicken Heads and Bow-Legged Women: A Discussion with Bobby Rush, with moderator Scott Barretta. Sponsored by the Mississippi Development Authority, Department of Tourism

2:45 – 3:45 p.m.

The Things I Used to Do: The Story of Guitar Slim, moderated by David Kunian, with musicians Lawrence Cotton, Charles Fairley, Irving Banister and Gerri Hall

4:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Sirens of the Bayou: Gulf Coast R&B Queens Lavelle White and Carol Fran, moderator Lauren Onkey

6:00 – 7:30 p.m.

Advocating for New Orleans’ Historical Music Treasures, panel including Terry Stewart, President of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,  Deanie Parker, founder of the Stax Museum of American Soul, and Alex Thomas, representing the Mississippi Blues and Country Trails

Friday, September 16, 2011

11:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Fats Domino Concert Film, Live 1962 (35 minutes), followed by a Q&A with Dave Bartholomew

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Heroes of the Stomp (60 minutes) – vintage film clips compiled film archivists Joe Lauro of Stomp artists

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

The Original Soul Men: Sam  & Dave (80 minutes), documentary featuring Al Bell, Duck Dunn, Sam Moore, Paul Schaefer and Dan Akroyd; never broadcast in the U.S.

2:45 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.

The Deacon’s Hop: Big Jay McNeely Blows His Horn

Moderator: Jason Hanley

4:00 – 5:00 p.m.

The Theater on McLemore Street with the Funky Sound: A Look at Stax Records

Moderators: Scott Bomar and Lauren Onkey, panelists William Bell, Eddie Floyd, Deanie Parker and Mack Rice

Saturday, September 17, 2011

CLANDESTINE CELLULOID ALL DAY TRIBUTE TO ARCH HALL JR. – 11:00 a.m – 5:00 p.m.

*  *  *  *  *

PONDEROSA STOMP SCHEDULE.

Go here for a schedule that contains links to bios for each of the performers.

Friday, September 16

Main Stage

7:30 – 7:45 BOBBY ALLLEN with Lil’ Buck & The Top Cats

7:45- 8:00 CLAYTON SAMPY with Lil’ Buck & The Top Cats

EXCELLO TRIBUTE

8:00 – 8:15 CLASSIE BALLOU with Lil’ Buck & The Top Cats

8:15 – 8:30 CAROL FRAN with Lil’ Buck & The Top Cats

8:30 – 9:30 LAZY LESTER, WARREN STORM and JAMES JOHNSON with Lil’ Buck & The Top Cats

COSIMO TRIBUTE

9:45 – 10:55 ALLEN TOUSSAINT AND BAND with DAVE BARTHOLOMEW, CLARENCE “FROGMAN”                                   HENRY, ROBERT PARKER, THE WILD TOUSAN

11:10 – 11:25 JEAN KNIGHT with Lil’ Buck & The Top Cats

11:25 – 11:40 LITTLE LEO with Lil’ Buck & The Top Cats

11:45 – 11:55 CP LOVE with Lil’ Buck & The Top Cats

11:55 – 12:00 AL JOHNSON with Lil’ Buck & The Top Cats

12:00 – 12:10 EARL STANLEY with Lil’ Buck & The Top Cats

12:10 – 12:20 GG SHINN with Lil’ Buck & The Top Cats

12:35 – 12:50 FRANKIE FORD with Michael Hurtt and His Haunted Hearts

12:50 – 1:05 JAY CHEVALIER with Michael Hurtt and His Haunted Hearts

1:05 – 1:30 JIVIN’ GENE with Michael Hurtt and His Haunted Hearts

2:00 – 2:30 THE CREOLE ZYDECO FARMERS featuring JOCKEY ETIENNE

Den Stage

7:45 – 8:15 DEKE DICKERSON: ONE-MAN BAND

8:30 – 9:15 AL JOHNSON

9:30 – 10:30 BOBBY RUSH (SOLO)

10:30 – 11:15 JAY CHEVALIER

11:30 – 12:15 WARREN PREJEAN of the Creole Zydeco Farmers

Saturday, September 17

Main Stage

7:30 – 7:45 LITTLE FREDDIE KING

7:55- 8:25 LAVELLE WHITE with Deke Dickerson and the Eccofonics

8:25 – 8:40 CLIFFORD CURRY with Deke Dickerson and the Eccofonics

8:40 – 9:10 BIG JAY NCNEELY with Deke Dickerson and the Eccofonics

9:20 – 9:55 ARCH HALL, JR. & THE ARCHERS featuring ALAN O’DAY and JOEL CHRISTIE with GENE OLIVERI

10:00 – 10:30 BILLY BOY ARNOLD with Deke Dickerson and the Eccofonics

10:30 – 10:40 JOE CLAY with Deke Dickerson and the Eccofonics

10:45 – 11:15 LADY BO with DEKE DICKERSON AND THE ECCOFONICS

11:25 – 1:25 THE BO-KEYS tribute to Stax and Southern Soul featuring: WILLIAM BELL,

EDDIE FLOYD, SIR MACK RICE, OTIS CLAY,  SKIP PITTS, and HOWARD GRIMES

1:35 – 2:05 GUITAR LIGHTNIN’ LEE

2:05 – 2:30 THE SLUTS

Den Stage

7:45 – 8:45 RUDY RICHARD with special guest LAZY LESTER

9:00 – 10:00 LITTLE FREDDIE KING

10:15 – 10:45 JIMMY “DUCK” HOLMES

10:45 – 11:30 LITTLE FREDDIE KING

11:45 – 12:15 JOHNNY LEGEND with DEKE DICKERSON

*  *  *  *  *

On the Sunday following the Stomp, the veterans of Excello Records will be honored with a concert in Crowley, Louisiana, which was the location of the studios of Jay Miller, who recorded Louisiana artists for the Nashville area-based Excello label. Crowley is just west of Lafayette.

On Saturday August 27 Ocean Springs is hosting two special musical events. At 6pm a special edition of the live program Thacker Mountain Radio, which is usually held in Oxford, will take place at the Mary C. O’Keefe Cultural Center of Arts & Education, which is located at 1600 Government Street in Ocean Springs,

The musical guests for the show will be, in addition to house band the Yalobushwhackers, Jimbo Mathus, who is performing solo, and the Creole String Beans, a New Orleans-based group whose mix includes classic New Orleans R&B, swamp pop, and originals. The featured author is Keith Spera, a music writer for the Times Picayune in New Orleans, and the author of the recent book Groove Interrupted, which tells the story of thirteen musical figures in New Orleans in the wake of Katrina. I recently wrote a review of the book in the Clarion Ledger.

Here’s an article about the show from a TV station on the coast. Tickets, which are available at www.themaryc.org or by calling 228.818.2878, are $12 and are reserved seating.

Here’s the Creole String Beans covering Morgus the Magnificent, a tribute to the New Orleans TV host of late night horror films, originally recorded by “The Three Ghouls” (Frankie Ford, Dr. John, and Jerry Byrne).

*****

Also on Saturday, the Shed BBQ & Blues Joint in Ocean Springs is hosting the 8th annual Shedhed Blues Festival. The festival begins already at 4pm, and Thacker will be over just in time to get over there and see headliners Bobby “Blue” Bland and Percy Sledge. The event also marks the tenth anniversary of the Shed, which was started in Ocean Springs and has since has expanded to multiple location. The Ocean Springs restaurant regularly features blues and roots acts, as do the newer Shed restaurants in Hattiesburg, Gulfport, Mobile, Destin, Fl, and Scott, LA. Here’s the schedule:

Gates open at 3pm

4pm – Honey Island Swamp Band

5pm – Emerald Coast Blues Brothers

6pm – Little Freddie King

7pm – Bobby “Blue” Bland

8;30 – Eric Lindell

9:30 – Percy Sledge

11:00pm – Radio Moscow

On September 2, the Friday of Labor Day weekend, the 16th annual Howlin’ Wolf Memorial Blues Festival will take place in Wolf’s hometown, West Point, MS.  The city has also celebrated their favorite son through the establishment of a Howlin’ Wolf Museum and a statue based on an image taken by the great Memphis photographer Ernest Withers. The existence of all these tributes largely reflects the hard work of Richard Ramsey, though he’s assisted by many others in the community in putting on the festival.

Below is the poster for this year’s event, which as usual is held inside at the Civic (the Clay County Civic Center), so no worries about heat or mosquitos.  It’s a nice lineup, and I’m particularly glad to see that they’re featuring Marquise Knox, who is an amazing young talent from St. Louis. He was born in 1991, and just won for best debut CD in the Living Blues Awards.

Here’s Marquise Knox, still in his teens, doing a cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s Highway 49

- Tonight (Monday the 15th) at 5pm Lemuria Books in Jackson is hosting book signings with Charles Firley, author of the new biography Soul of the Man: Bobby “Blue” Bland [Click for the book's website], and Phillip R. Ratcliffe, author of Mississippi John Hurt: His Life, His Times, His Blues [click for Ratcliff'e's website]. Bluesman Ben Payton will be entertaining, there’ll be free wine and dollar beers, and you’ll be supporting a great independent bookstore. both books are published by the University Press of Mississippi.

- On Saturday the Clarion Ledger (Jackson, MS) ran a really nice, long profile of bluesman Jesse Robinson, who’s been a staple of the Jackson blues and jazz scene since the early ’60s. Here’s a biography I wrote about Jesse for the MS Arts Commission a couple years back. Thanks to Larry Morissey for the tip!

- On Sunday MPB’s Mississippi Arts Hour broadcast a really nice interview Larry conducted with Preston Lauterbach about his new book, The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock’n'Roll. You can go here to listen — also scroll down to look for recent shows featuring Shelley Ritter of the Delta Blues Museum, Roger Stolle of Cat Head in Clarksdale,  blues musician/songwriter Sam Mosely from New Albany, saxophonist Alphonso Saunders, gospel bluesman John Wilkins, and photographer Ken Murphy and myself talking about Mississippi: State of Blues.

- This Saturday, the Bright Lights Belhaven Nights Street Festival takes place in Jackson’s Belhaven neighborhood (just off of Fortification near I-55) at the intersection of Carlisle Street and Kenwood Place. The event takes place between 5:30 – 9:30pm, and admission for adults is $6. There are five music stages, with a  blues stage  added this year

• Blues Stage (in the McDade’s Market parking lot facing Carlisle) – Safari Knights,  5:20-6:00; The Amazin’ Lazy Boi Band, 6:00-7:00; Virgil Brawley and the Juvenators, 7:10-8:15, Jesse Robinson, 8:25-9:30
• Celtic Stage (inside New Stage Theatre) – Jackson Irish Dancers, 6:00-7:00; Legacy, 7:10-8:15; and St. Brigids, 8:25-9:30
• Acoustic Stage (at Carlisle and Kenwood) – Rounders, 5:30-6:40; Anna Kline and the Grits & Soul Band, 6:55-8:05; and Bill and Temperance, 8:20-9:30
• Jazz Stage (on Carlisle) – Howard Jones Jazz, 5:30-7:15; and Rhonda Richmond, 7:30-9:00
• Belhaven Park Stage (on Poplar) – Swamp Babies, 6:00-7:00; Taylor Hildebrand, 7:10-8:15; and The Weeks, 8:25-9:30
• Poplar at Belhaven Park (on the street) – Lazy Jane,  5:20-6:00

- On September 4 there’ll be an 89th birthday  celebration for Charles Evers at The Plant (the old Coca Cola Plant), 1421 Highway 80 West, in Jackson, from 1-11pm.For more information call 601-874-4939. Evers is the older brother of Medgar Evers, and has for many years been the manager of the blues/gospel station WMPR in Jackson. He began working as a blues deejay in Philadelphia, MS, in the early ’50s, and in 1973 he started the Medgar Evers Homecoming Festival, which is still going and until recently always featured B.B. King as the headliner. There’s a MS Blues trail marker in Charles Evers’s honor in Fayette, where he served as mayor — he was the first African American mayor in Mississippi since Reconstruction.

- Groove in the Gulf

Free festival in Gulfport, Saturday, October 8. For more info go here.

The 24th annual Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival takes place this weekend, August 12-14, though related events begin earlier. Here‘s a preview article I wrote for the Clarion Ledger.

As you can see on the poster below, this year’s festival is dedicated to a number of people in the local blues scene who died over the last several years — Big Jack Johnson, Wiley “Mr. Tater” Foster, Wesley James, Michael “Dr. Mike” James, James Alford, and Mrs. Sarah Moore of Sarah’s Kitchen

Tonight (Thursday the 11th) at the Den at 220 Yazoo, a new venue opened by Rock & Blues Museum owner Theo Dasbach, is holding a fundraiser with many local acts. Here’s the schedule:

Pre-Fest Blues Jam 7 pm to 12 Midnight
7pm – 7:20pm Heather Cross
7:35pm – 8:00pm Southern Halos
8:15pm – 8:35pm Bill “Howl-N- Madd” Perry
8:50pm – 9:15pm Bill Abel
9:30pm -9:50pm David “Big Dave” Donavent
10:05pm -10:25pm “Watermelon Slim”
10:40pm -11:05pm Anthony “Big A” Sherrod
11:30pm -12pm All Night Long Blues Band
$10 @ Door: All Proceeds go to Paula Thompson scholarship Fund organized by Maie Smith

Friday morning at 10am a Mississippi Blues Trail marker will be dedicated to honor the historic “New World District,” which was at the center of African American cultural and political life for many years. The ceremony will take place at  133 Martin Luther King Drive, near the intersection with Issaquena.

Also on Friday, a Walk of Fame Marker ceremony will take place in front of Red’s Lounge at 2pm to honor Big Jack Johnson. I was through Clarksdale last week and saw that the sidewalk in front of Red’s was being replaced, which I suppose was done with the marker in mind

Here’s the official schedule for the festival. Below it is the schedule for music in the clubs during the weekend, plus the Cat Head Mini Blues Festival on Sunday

SUNFLOWER RIVER BLUES FESTIVAL

Friday, August 12

Main Stage

4:15pm – 4:45pm Delta Blues Museum Band
5:00pm – 5:45pm Richard ‘Daddy Rich’ Crisman
6:00pm – 6:45pm Deuce & Quarter Band
7:00pm – 7:45pm TCB Blues Band
8:00pm – 8:45pm Joshua ‘Razorblade’ Stewart
9:00pm – 10:00pm David Brinston
10:00pm – 11:00pm Nathaniel Kimble

Saturday, August 13

Main Stage

1:00pm – 1:30pm Neicy Kayinessa
1:45pm – 2:30pm Terry ‘Harmonica’ Bean
2:45pm – 3:30pm All Night Long Band
3:45pm – 4:30pm Dr. Feelgood Potts
4:45pm – 5:30pm Terry ‘Big T’ Williams & Family Band
5:45pm – 6:00pm Tribute to Blues Legends
6:15pm – 7:00pm Bill ‘Howl-N-Madd’ Perry
7:15pm – 8:00pm Earnest ‘Guitar’ Roy
8:00pm – 8:15pm Presentation of Early Wright Blues Heritage Award and
Julius Guy Gospel Heritage Awards
8:15pm – 9:15pm Johnny Rawls
9:30pm – 10:30pm Dorothy Moore

Acoustic Stage #1 – tentatively located on the main stage

9:00am Arthneice ‘Gas Man’ Jones
9:45am Robert Belfour
10:35am Eddie Cusic
11:20am Pat Thomas
12:00 noon T-Model Ford
12:45pm Sharde Thomas & Rising Star Fife and Drum Band

Acoustic Stage #2 – located on Sunflower Avenue

1:00pm Mellow Blues
1:35pm Charles Fowler
2:10pm Anthony ‘Big A’ Sherrod
2:45pm Lucious Spiller
3:15pm Bill Abel & Cadillac John
3:50pm Kenny Brown
4:30pm Jimmy “Duck” Holmes
5:05pm Johnny Lowe Bow

Sunday, August 14

Gospel Festival – Clarksdale Civic Auditorium

5:00 – 5:30 pm Chris Coleman
5:45 – 6:30 pm Chapel Hill Male Chorus
6:45 – 7:30 pm The Myles Family
7:45 – 8:45 pm TBA

OTHER EVENTS – FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY (list compiled by Roger Stolle)

RED’S LOUNGE
Fri., 8/12 - We Juke Up In Here filming w/Elmo Williams, Hezekiah Early & Lil Poochie, 7pm [These are all Natchez blues veterans, and it's a rare chance to see them outside of the Natchez area. I profiled all three last year in a special Natchez issue of Living Blues magazine]; Terry “Harmonica” Bean & The Cornlickers, 10:30pm
Sat., 8/13 – Tullie Brae & The Medicine Men, 7pm; Terry “Harmonica” Bean & The Cornlickers, 9pm
Sun., 8/14 – Blues Jam with The Cornlickers, 8pm
Mon., 8/15 – Chill Down Party with The Cornlickers, 8pm

CAT HEAD DELTA BLUES & FOLK ART
Sat., 8/13:
10am – Piano Red performs
12 noon – Black Mountain Moan performs
1pm - Mississippi John Hurt book signing
2pm - Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland book signing
3pm - Hidden History of Mississippi Blues book signing
4pm - I’m Feeling the Blues About Now book signing

Sunday ., 8/14 from 10am till… Cat Head Mini Blues Fest with Sean “Bad” Apple, Robert Belfour, Big George Brock, Bilbo Walker & more!

GROUND ZERO BLUES CLUB
Fri., 8/12 – Stacy Mitchhart Blues Band, 9pm
Sat., 8/13 – Super Chikan & The Fighting Cocks, 9pm
Sun., 8/14 – Blues Brunch with Heavy Suga, noon
Wed., 8/17 – Bill “Howl-N-Madd” Perry, 8pm
Thurs., 8/18 – Blues Jam with La La, 8pm

DELTA BLUES MUSEUM
Fri. & Sat. - Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland book signings, 2pm (8/12) & 11am (8/13)

BLUESBERRY CAFE
Fri., 8/12 – Open Jam, 2pm; Watermelon Slim Art Show, 3pm; Brandon Santini Trio, 7pm
Sat., 8/13 – Open Jam, 2pm; Watermelon Slim Art Show, 3pm; Watermelon Slim, 7pm
Mondays – Sean “Bad” Apple, 7pm

HOPSON COMMISSARY
Fri., 8/12 – Jimbo Mathus, 10pm
Sat., 8/13 – Big George Brock, 10pm
Mondays - Ronnie Drew, 6pm

JUKE JOINT CHAPEL @ SHACKUP
Thurs., 8/11 – Anthony “Big A” Sherrod, 8pm
Fri., 8/12 – Kenny Brown, 10pm
Sat., 8/13 – Lightnin’ Malcolm & Cameron Kimbrough, 10pm
Sun., 8/14 – Lightnin’ Malcolm & Cameron Kimbrough, 3pm

CLUB 2000
Fri. & Sat., 8/12-13 – Big A & All Stars with Space Cowboy, 8pm

CHANNEL ZILTCH
Sat., 8/13 – Bill Abel Blues Band, 7pm & 10pm

DELTA BLUES ROOM
Sun., 8/14 – Sunday Evening Brunch w/Luther Lackey, 6:30pm

HAMBONE GALLERY
Fri., 8/12 – Stan Street, Rev. Robert & Ray Cashman, 7pm
Sat.-Sun., 8/13-14 – tba
Tues., 8/16 – Jeff Norwood, 8pm.

MADIDI
Wednesdays – Alphonso Sanders, 7pm

RUST RESTAURANT
Sat., 8/13, Brunch with Kenny Brown, 11am
Thurs., 8/18, Justin Zamm, 7pm

THE DEN
Fri., 8/12 – Mellow Blues Duo, 8pm
Sat., 8/13 – Jam with Daddy Rich & Theo D “The Boogieman”, 7pm

STONE PONY
Thurs., 8/18 – Marshall Drew, 7pm

Below is an official press release from The Mount Zion Memorial Fund, which has been assisting the family of Tommy Johnson in trying to resolve the issue of gaining public access to the Warm Springs graveyard, located just north of Crystal Springs, MS, where Johnson (c. 1896-1956) is buried. I’ve written more about the backstory below the press release.

Congratulations are in order particularly for Johnson’s niece, Vera Johnson-Collins, who has worked tirelessly for over a decade in celebrating the legacy of her uncle. She runs the Tommy Johnson Foundation, which puts on an annual festival, this year on Sept. 2-3 in Terry:

PRESS RELEASE

AT LAST – The Copiah County Board of Supervisors Votes in Favor of Building a Road to Warm Springs Cemetery

August 11, 2011

CONTACT: The Mount Zion Memorial Fund – T. DeWayne Moore, 615-663-7858

Hazlehurst, MS – At 9:55 am on August 10, 2011, after T. DeWayne Moore presented an appeal for assistance in opening the road to the grave site of blues legend Tommy Johnson, the Board of Supervisors in Copiah County voted in favor of constructing a road along the easement to Warm Springs Cemetery, where the seminal blues musician was buried in late 1956.

Several family members of those interred at the cemetery also attended the board meeting. Vera Johnson Collins, the niece of Tommy Johnson and daughter of Mager Johnson, advised the board to take care not to disturb any of the existing grave markers during the construction; Rosie Taylor Martin, the daughter of “44” Charlie Taylor, spoke about the significance on the Warm Springs community in blues history. Additionally, Jackson-born blues singer Dorothy Moore also relayed the significance of blues musicians from Crystal Springs in the history of American popular music.

After almost ten years, the Tommy Johnson Foundation and the Mount Zion Memorial Fund presented the legal agreement, which was signed and filed at the Copiah County Chancery Court on June 24, to the board that established a permanent easement along the road “historically” used to access the site, a road evident on local maps of the Terry Quadrangle into the 1970s. The re-opening of the road to the cemetery will facilitate the relocation of Johnson’s 500-pound headstone from the Biggs Memorial Library in Crystal Springs to his burial site in the cemetery. According to fifth district supervisor Jimmy Phillips, the county road manager will begin working on the project in the next couple of weeks, and construction of the road should be completed by the middle of September. Currently, we plan on relocating and rededicating the headstone in early November, the tenth anniversary of its original unveiling in 2001.

-T. DeWayne Moore

Ph.D. Candidate, Graduate Assistant, and Graduate Student Council Senator – History, University of Mississippi

ADDENDUM (written by Scott Barretta)

The basic issue at hand is that over the years the original road to the graveyard was covered via natural processes, resulting in a situation where it was deemed to be trespassing to reach the gravesite. The original church was abandoned in the 1960s, and in 1988 the two-acre site was turned over to two adjacent landowners in accordance with a reversionary clause in the original deed held by the church.

In November of 2001 a new tombstone was dedicated to Johnson at a ceremony in Crystal Springs, but the family was unable to place it in the cemetery because of the legal issues noted above, and the headstone has sat in the local library for nearly a decade. In 2001, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History deemed the Warm Springs cemetery to be historically significant, which provided the Copiah County Board of Supervisors with the legal right to maintain the site.

The landowners, however, were not cooperative, and, without going into detail, earlier “solutions” to the issue would have placed an excessive financial burden on the Johnson family. The current solution recognizes the landowners’ right to the property, but they must act in accordance with laws respecting the integrity of the graveyard. Copiah County will now take responsibility for creating and maintaining the easement road.

The Oxford Blues Festival debuted quietly last summer, but I was impressed and frankly a bit surprised by the turnout, particularly the attentive large crowd that turned out for an all afternoon show at Rooster’s Blues House (usually a frat-boy hangout) and a full-house for a show by Robert Belfour. The promoter/organizer of the event is Daryl Parker, a native of Oxford who lived for many years in Chicago, where he organized blues tours.

This year’s multi-venue event is considerably expanded, featuring even more venues and appearance by Chicago blues veterans Eddie C. Campbell and Magic Slim and the Teardrops, who are in my mind some of the best living Chicago blues artists [Slim, aka Morris Holt, will be receiving a Mississippi Blues Trail in his honor on Wednesday the 27th]. The festival also will feature North Mississippi hill country blues artists including Afrissippi, Kenny Brown, and Duwayne Burnside, and I’m glad to see Jackson represented by the young Jarekus Singleton and local legend King Edward, who’ll be featuring vocalist Dennis Fountain.

On Friday and Saturday shows will take place at venues on the Square including the Lyric, Proud Larry’s, the Library, the Levee, Rooster’s Blues House, Irie, Frank and Marlee’s, Parrish, Ajax and Soulshine Pizza. On Sunday all the performances will take place at the Foxfire Ranch in Waterford, where acts will include Chicago blues vocalist Nellie “Tiger” Travis and Lightnin’ Malcolm. Contrary to earlier listings and the schedule graphic below, Jimbo Mathus and the Tri-State Coalition will not be performing on Sunday–they are on a national tour, and will be in Chicago that evening.

On Friday at 4pm the festival opens with a panel at the University Museum featuring bluesman Ben Payton from Jackson (who will also be performing on Saturday), photographer Dick Waterman, and Shelley Ritter, director of the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale.

Although it’s not on the official schedule, at 5pm on Friday there’ll be a book signing/reading at Off Square Books by Preston Lauterbach, author of the new book The Chitlin Circuit and the Road to Rock’n'Roll; Preston’s a good friend and my former assistant at Living Blues, and the book has been getting great reviews, including in the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

Below  is an overview of who is playing what day; the festival website has a more detailed schedule that includes information on how much event costs. You can buy a pass for all three days, for just one day, or pay for individual events; many shows do not charge admission. I’d really recommend that you make sure you see Magic Slim, who plays for just an hour on Friday (at the Lyric beginning at 7:50pm), and Eddie C. Campbell, who plays at the Library both Friday and Saturday. Again, Jimbo Mathus will not be playing on Sunday.

King Edward

Eddie C. Campbell

Magic Slim – “Going to Mississippi”

Tiny Duck Hill is just south of Grenada, and for the past eight years has hosted one of the most downhome blues events in the state, the Grassroots Blues Festival. The festival site is located in a hilly pasture just off of Highway 404, between I-55 (exit 195) and Highway 51, and the festival is run by a local non-profit, ACER, which offers (among other things) blues instruction to local youth.

The festival usually features traditional acts during the day, and later at night stars of the chitlin circuit — this year the headliner is Clarksdale’s O.B. Buchana, who’ll be preceded on the stage by Jackson’s Pat Brown. Here she is singing her duet “Equal Opportunity” with Willie Clayton at the Chicago Blues Festival back in the 1990s.

SCHEDULE

12:00 – 12:30         Bud “Leo” Welch

12:35 – 1:20            Big Joe Shelton

1:25 – 1:45               Train Wreck Willy

1:50 – 2:35             Louis “Gearshifter” Youngblood

2:40 – 3:25             Danny Lancaster & Band

3:30 – 4:30             Bill “Howl-n-Madd” Perry and Alphonso Sanders

4:35 – 5:35             Terry “Big T” Williams

5:40 – 6:40             Jerry (Fair) and the Delta Blues Crew

6:45 – 7:45             Little Willie Farmer

7:50 – 8:10             Columbus Toy

8:15 – 9:15             Pat Brown

9:20 – 10:20          O.B. Buchana and Total Control Band