The Tennessee Delta V: Fayette County
On a Friday evening, after meeting a friend for dinner in Memphis, with nothing in particular to do, I headed out Poplar Avenue through Collierville …
Fife and Drum
An Even Bigger Saturday at Coldwater’s GOAT Picnic
Although Saturday, August 25, 2018 was even hotter than the day before, the crowd that gathered in the late afternoon in Coldwater for the second …
Celebrating The Legacy of Otha Turner at Coldwater
Back in 1950, Othar Turner, of Gravel Springs, a few miles east of Senatobia in Mississippi’s Hill Country region, decided to hold a picnic for …
Celebrating R. L. Boyce’s Birthday at Como, Mississippi
Last year marked the first time we had organized a large outdoor birthday party for Hill Country bluesman R. L. Boyce, and that first picnic, …
Hill Country Traditions at the Hulette Picnic in Senatobia
Although it was the weekend of the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival in Clarksdale, R. L. Boyce’s daughter Sherena had mentioned something about a …
Celebrating the 4th of July and the Legacy of Fife and Drum Music at the Hurt Family Picnic
The Frontline has discussed the legacy of Black fife and drum music at length in the past, but I continue to devote a considerable amount …
The Rising Star JuBallLee Takes Over Cherry Place At Waterford
Since the death of the legendary fife and drum musician Othar Turner, his granddaughter Sharde Thomas has done stellar work in preserving that musical tradition, …
A Reception for the Mentors and Apprentices of the Tennessee Folklife Arts Project
After the six months of mentoring under the Tennessee Folklife Arts Program, mentors and apprentices were invited to a reception at the Tennessee Arts Commission …
Simple, Inexpensive, Outstanding Food at Brownsville’s Mindfield Grill
I had been in Brownsville for the Fife Fest at the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center, which broke up at 8 PM, and I was …
Celebrating West Tennessee’s Lost Fife and Drum Tradition
Last summer, the Tennessee Arts Commission began a Folklife Apprenticeship program to preserve endangered folkways in the state, and one of the areas of interest …