A Day of Community and Fun in Mason, Tennessee
Mason, Tennessee was once known for the Lower End, a collection of juke joints on Front Street, colloquially known as “cafés,” but these days most …
Photography
Celebrating the Legendary Blues Researcher Axel Kustner in West Point, Mississippi
German blues researcher Axel Kustner was one of the last blues field workers to comb the southern United States looking for bluesmen, and he was …
The Blues is Front and Center on Clarksdale’s Biggest Day
Most people’s friends throw them a party on their birthday, but Roger Stolle, the owner of Cat Head Delta Blues and Folk Art throws the …
Garry Burnside Plays The Hill Country Blues at Booneville’s Fall Fest
Most Mississippi towns have some sort of community festival, so when Hill Country bluesman Garry Burnside told me he would be playing the Booneville Fall …
The Fading Ruins of Turrell, Arkansas
Turrell, Arkansas, about ten miles north of Marion, is like a number of East Arkansas Delta towns. Once dependent on agricultural, it is fading away …
A Blues Yard Party in Rosemark’s Chapel Hill Community
Chapel Hill Community is an odd subdivision in far north Shelby County between Rosemark and Arlington. It looks like a piece of Raleigh or Frayser …
Preserving The Black Fife and Drum Culture in Coldwater
For 73 years, people in North Mississippi have been going to the Goat Picnic for goat sandwiches, music, dancing, and one of the rarest and …
Beauty Emerges From Struggle In Memphis
The designation of Memphis as “Grind City” seems fairly well-entrenched at this point. The city’s modern image as a decidedly working-class place synonymous with struggle …
Garry Burnside Organizes A Big Day For The Hill Country in Ripley, Mississippi
Bluesman Garry Burnside, like his brother Duwayne, grew up in the rural areas near Independence, Mississippi, between the larger towns of coldwater and Holly Springs, …
Grooving On A Sunday Afternoon
It was the first really warm Sunday afternoon of the year, and one where I had a rare Sunday afternoon gig with Big Don Valentine …