10th anniversary Highway 61 Blues Fest, B.B. King back in Mississippi, and more

This Saturday marks the 10th anniversary of the Highway 61 Blues Festival in Leland, an event that I’ve attended most years, including its debut. It was started by Leland’s Billy Johnson, who is also the driving force behind the Highway 61 Blues Museum in downtown Leland as well as the various murals around town that honor local musicians. It’s been a struggle for Billy, but he’s remarkably resilient and it’s wonderful to see the festival reach this milestone.

Another way that Leland’s musical heritage will be recognized is via a Mississippi Blues Trail marker honoring local legend James “Son” Thomas. It will be dedicated on Friday at 2pm in downtown Leland.

Billy is really committed to promoting blues from the mid-Delta region, and he’s once again got a great lineup of traditional blues. It’s sad, though, to see festival stalwart Willie King, whose Freedom Creek festival was staged in his honor last weekend, missing from the lineup. Willie recognized what Billy was doing, and often performed on both the big stage as a closing act and in as well as in the acoustic/traditional tent in the back of the big park in downtown Leland where the festival is staged. He’ll be missed.

The festival starts at noon and runs into the late evening. Here’s the lineup:

David “Honeyboy” Edwards with Michael Frank, Eddie Shaw and the Wolf Gang, Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm, Rocky Lawrence, Lil’ Dave Thompson, T Model Ford, The John Horton Band, Mississippi Slim, Eddie Cusic, Pat Thomas, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, Bill “Howlin’ Madd” Perry, Alphonso Sanders, Mickey Rogers and the Soulmasters, Mike’s Blue Groove (Sweden), The Mayhem String Band, Rob Mortimer Band, Pokey Lafarge, Lazy Bone

Update: The festival will be preceded by a Walnut Street Kick-Off Street Party in Greenville on Thursday night, from 6pm until: artists include T-Model Ford, Eden Brent, Lil Dave Thompson, and the Rob Mortimer Band

As usual, on Sunday afternoon there will be an informal gathering at the Holly Ridge store, near the cemetery in Holly Ridge that contains the graves of Charley Patton, Willie Foster, and Asie Payton. There’s no schedule, but it’s a good bet that local artists including T-Model Ford, Eddie Cusic, Lil Dave Thompson, and John Horton will be there. It usually starts a bit after noon. Holly Ridge is located on the north side of Highway 82 between Indianola and Leland.

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B.B. King back in Mississippi this week

The Highway 61 Festival is usually staged the day after the 20th Annual B.B. King Homecoming Festival in Indianola, just about 20 minutes from Leland. The festival is staged in Fletcher Park, which is just east of the new B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center.

On Thursday at 6:30pm Honeyboy Edwards will be at the B.B. King museum for a public interview, conducted by his manager/playing partner Michael Frank and blues/jazz artist Dr. Alphonso Sanders, who is the Chair of Fine Arts and Director of the the B.B. King Recording Studio at Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU) in Itta Bena. 

On Friday morning at 9am at MVSU there’ll be a panel discussion about blues history and B.B. King featuring Sanders, photographer/booking agent Dick Waterman, Bobby Rush, arranger Joe Campbell, and Bill “Howlin’ Madd” Perry. It will be moderated by Dr. Marvin Haire and is in the business auditorium.  At 10:30 Sanders there’ll be a blues workshop with Rush, Greenville blues pianist/vocalist Eden Brent, Jesse Robinson and the youth band from the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale. B.B. is scheduled to lead a workshop at 2pm. The music events will take place in the Carpenter Auditorium. For more information, contact the Delta Research & Cultural Institute at 662.254.3854

The Homecoming starts at 5pm on Friday night, and in addition to B.B.’s closing set, there will be performances by Honeyboy Edwards, the Mayhem String Band, the Stax Music Academy, and soul blues singer Vickie Baker.

Updated info:  As usual, B.B. will be playing at the Club Ebony in Indianola late Friday night. Tickets are $50 for this rare chance to see B.B. in a vintage chitlin’ circuit club (which B.B. now owns!). For more information call Betty Fowler at 662-887-5436.

On Saturday B.B. will be performing at another homecoming show in Jackson that he has headlined annually since the mid-1960s. The Medgar Evers/B.B. King Homecoming Festival, arranged by Evers’ brother Charles, will take place on Saturday beginning at 3pm at 1770 Ellis Ave., which was formerly occupied by a Big Lots store. Other artists on the bill include Bobby “Blue” Bland, Chick Willis, Clarence Carter, Rev. Joe A. Washington, Katrina Jefferson, and John Haley. For more information about this show and a week of events celebrating the slain civil rights leader Evers, visit WMPR’s website.

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This Saturday Habitat For Humanity is holding a 20th Anniversary House Party at the Singing Brakeman Park in Meridian. Artists performing at the event include Super Chikan, the Houserockers, and the Young People of Praise. Here’s an article about the celebration from the Meridian Star.