Hot Weather and Hot Blues at the Mississippi Hill Country’s Biggest Weekend
Each year, on the last weekend in June, blues musician Kenny Brown and his wife Sarah host the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic at Betty …
Barbecue
An Old-Fashioned Political Rally in Slayden, Mississippi
Political rallies used to be a ubiquitous feature of late summer in Southern counties, and the old tradition continues in rural counties like Marshall County, …
Celebrating Sam Mosley’s Legacy in New Albany and Charlie Musselwhite at the Hill Country Picnic
Sam Mosley is arguably the best-known musical performer to come out of New Albany, Mississippi, so this year, the city of New Albany organized a …
Coldwater: A Struggling Town Celebrates Its Legacy
The original town of Coldwater, Mississippi was founded in Tate County, Mississippi in 1872 along the Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad, which ran from Memphis to …
Whistling Past The Graveyard: Helena Celebrates Amidst the Ruins
The annual King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena, Arkansas is one of the United States’ major blues festivals. But time has not been kind to …
Cigars, Wine, Blues and Soul at Chulahoma
If anyone is familiar with Chulahoma, Mississippi at all, it is probably as the location of the late blues great Junior Kimbrough’s long lost juke …
A Welcoming Mardi-Gras Barbecue in New Orleans
For Mardi Gras 2022, I decided to ride the Amtrak train down to New Orleans instead of driving my car. I learned that train travel …
Great Barbecue and a Fun Atmosphere at Oxford’s Lamar Yard
After my final performance at the Oxford Blues Festival with Duwayne Burnside, my friend and I were hungry for barbecue. Although there was a barbecue …
Blues in the Alley in Holly Springs
Each summer, the town of Holly Springs, Mississippi in Marshall County usually has a series of blues concerts on or near the town square. The …
The Mason Family Reunion: Great Weather, Good Food, Fun and Fellowship, But No Musicians
Predominantly-African-American towns in Mississippi have a tradition of annual “days,” named for the towns, in which there are live performances, and in which people from …