Celebrating Freedom in Benton County on the Fourth of July
Benton County, Mississippi has always been a rough place. Formed out of part of Marshall and Tippah counties, it sits in the middle of the …
Garry Burnside
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, …
Clarksdale Celebrates The Blues And The Juke Joint Culture That Gave It Birth
Most people throw themselves a party on their birthday, but Cat Head Delta Blues owner Roger Stolle throws one for his whole adopted hometown on …
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 …
Food and Fun at New Albany’s Big Annual Day
New Albany, Mississippi is one of the Hill Country region’s more prosperous towns, and that was true even before the construction of the Toyota plant …
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 …
Keeping the Hill Country Blues Tradition Alive at Burnside Bar and Grill in Holly Springs
The Hill Country blues scene has always been a music of juke joints. Although the music is occasionally heard at large festivals and big city …
Preserving the Legacy of the Hill Country and Cotton Patch Soul Blues in North Mississippi
After an interruption caused by COVID-19, the annual Hill Country Picnic returned to Betty Davis’ Ponderosa near Waterford, Mississippi in Marshall County, with two days …
Celebrating the Blues and Juke Joint Culture in its Birthplace
Saturday April 23 was the main day of Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, a bright and sunny day, but extremely windy. In fact, the wind …
An Upbeat Breakfast in Little Rock At The Corner Diner
I was in Little Rock on a Saturday morning for a gig with Hill Country bluesman Garry Burnside, and it was downright chilly after my …