Remembering Como Bluesman R. L. Boyce in Como Park
Como, Mississippi bluesman R. L. Boyce knew Fred McDowell, Otha Turner and Rainey Burnett personally, and was the last of a generation of bluesmen. Like …
musicology
Celebrating Junior Kimbrough’s Birthday With His Sons Robert and Kinney at Graceland Too in Holly Springs
Graceland Too was one of those off-the-wall quirky places I had heard of but never been to. I’m not particularly an Elvis Presley fan (although …
A Blues Yard Party in Memphis’s Castalia Neighborhood
Memphis gets a bad reputation from news sources that choose to amplify every crime and violent incident, no matter how trivial. The actual culture of …
The Field Is Empty, The Drums Silent
A friend of mine in Senatobia had heard that there might be fife and drum going on at a party on the Compress Road between …
Bull Day in Covington’s Frazier Park-A Day of Peace and Community
Orlandus “Bull” Cobbins of Covington, Tennessee was only 29 years old when he was senselessly murdered at a relative’s home by two men who wanted …
Terry Wright Throws A Party on the Backroad in Fayette County
West Tennessee southern soul artist Terry Wright has sung a lot about backroads and backyard parties, so it is only appropriate that he set up …
Como Revisited
The small Mississippi town of Como in Panola County is a most unlikely dining destination. Traditionally a cotton and market town, Como came by its …
Boots on the Muddy Ground, But A Good Time
It has been my goal this year to go to a trail ride, and while the Michigan City Blues Festival in Benton County, Mississippi wasn’t …
The Marianna Cut-Off: Singing the Blues in Hughes
The St. Francis County, Arkansas town of Hughes looms large in the blues world. Alan Lomax visited in 1959, recording musicians like William Brown, Roland …
Iyuana Patrice and Jonathan Ellis Bring the Blues to Broadway in West Memphis
Blues Off Broadway is a weekly blues concert every Thursday evening in the month of May in West Memphis, Arkansas, usually held on a portable …