Commemorating a Holy Site of the Bentonia Blues
2019 was the 71st anniversary of a community institution in the town of Bentonia, one of the last Mississippi juke joints. Jimmy “Duck” Holmes’ family …
Festivals
The Last Black Fife and Drum Picnic in America
Fife and drum music was once found in Black communities throughout the South, but by 1970, it was found only in Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee, …
Haute Cuisine and Hill Country Blues at Home Place Pastures in Como
Home Place Pastures was originally founded in 1869 or 1871, depending on the source, as a cotton plantation in the wilderness east of the railroad …
A Sunny Afternoon in Memphis
After a breakfast at the Brunswick Kitchen at Brunswick near Lakeland, I decided to spend the afternoon putting up flyers for the R. L. Boyce …
A Hot Evening of Blues for a Mississippi State Senate Candidate in Senatobia
Old habits die hard in Mississippi, and candidates for office still see a value in hiring the old-time blues musicians to play for rallies. With …
Thacker Mountain Radio At the Neshoba County Fair
Sherena Boyce had told me that her father R. L. Boyce was scheduled to perform live on the Thacker Mountain Radio show at the Neshoba …
Honoring Willie “Po Monkey” Seaberry: A Man Whose Juke Joint Helped Define A Town
It was kind of a rough day, actually. David Kimbrough Jr, son of the late Junior Kimbrough had died on July 4th, and was being …
Celebrating The Legacy of the Mississippi Hill Country Blues at Waterford
Last year, the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic took a one-year hiatus, but most years, in June, a large two-day picnic is held at Betty …
An After-Festival Dinner at Kelly Ray’s in Pocahontas
After Eric Deaton left the stage at Bentonia, I wanted something good to eat. Not just fast food. So I had seen a new restaurant …
Hot Sun and Hot Blues at Bentonia
When the Bentonia Blues Festival outgrew its place in front of the Blue Front Cafe in downtown Bentonia, Mississippi, it moved to a former Black …