On the Trail of Lum Guffin, Bartlett’s Elusive Bluesman
I grew up in Bartlett, and went to Bartlett High School. A lot of my friends lived in the Black community along Old Brownsville Road, …
Bands
The Hurt Family Celebrating The 4th of July With Fife and Drum
As I have discussed before in this blog, Black fife and drum music is an endangered form of pre-blues that probably played a role in …
Live Blues at Clarksdale’s Ground Zero
Although Clarksdale’s Ground Zero Blues Club is not nearly the blues club it once was, booking a lot more rock and country these days, it …
Authentic Blues at the Fourth Annual Goat Fest in Clarksdale
If Clarksdale’s Juke Joint Festival is sort of a family-friendly approach to the Mississippi Blues, at least during the daytime, the Goat Fest, now in …
Jake and the Pearl Street Jumpers at The Blue Biscuit
After leaving Alligator, we ended up heading down to Drew, and taking Highway 49W through Ruleville, Doddsville and Sunflower into Indianola, to one of my …
Celebrating the Legacy of Junior Kimbrough in Holly Springs
Marshall County, Mississippi is recognized as the home of the Hill Country blues, and the home of its two greatest exponents, Junior Kimbrough and R. …
A Hill Country Blues Yard Party In Como
Como, Mississippi bluesman R. L. Boyce used to be famous for his yard parties, but in recent years he had stopped doing them after some …
Rain Couldn’t Dampen The Enthusiasm At Juke Joint Festival
Each year, Clarksdale becomes the center of attention in the blues world, as fans come from all over the world for the Juke Joint Festival. …
A Reunion of Hill Country Greats at Foxfire Blues Festival
After a debut festival last year in March, this year the Foxfire Blues Festival moved to April, and one of the highlights of this year’s …
Railgarten: Another Austinish Kind of Place With Memphis Sensibilities
A few years ago, the Commercial Appeal newspaper compared Memphis to Austin in an article, a rather strange and forced comparison perhaps, despite the fact …