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 …
Bars
Late Night Eats at Momma’s in Memphis
Since the COVID pandemic, Memphis has gradually lost all of its late-night places to eat, and really almost nothing is left. One of the casualties …
Juke Joint Love in Whitehaven at the VIP
Memphis, Tennessee is a fairly common destination for tourists, and Beale Street is the usual attraction that many want to see. Memphis does a considerable …
In Search of Harlem Alley
In the spring of 1983, I was going to Central Baptist School in the Bartlett area, and I rode with our basketball team to Forrest …
Out in Memphis on a Friday Night
What does the music fan do in Memphis on a Friday night? On one particular December Friday, I headed down to the lobby of the …
A Veteran Memphis Drummer Celebrates His Birthday With A Concert
Memphis drummer Danny Peterson has played with any number of bands in both gospel and rhythm and blues music. Starting out with quartets like the …
Earl the Pearl’s Authentic Blues on Historic Beale Street
Memphis bills itself as the Home of the Blues, and markets Beale Street as “the street where blues was born.” But since the street’s redevelopment …
Dining With Ghosts: Dinner Is Served Again at Tennessee Williams’ Old Haunt on Moon Lake
Moon Lake, in northern Coahoma County, Mississippi is not actually a lake in the normal sense. It is a wide expanse of water that was …
Duwayne Burnside at The Lamplighter in Midtown Memphis
The Lamplighter Lounge is one of Memphis’s classic dive bars, but it is not a place I had ever been. As a bar and not …
Southern Haute Cuisine Around The Kitchen Table in Arlington
Fans of the late lamented Vinegar Jim’s were likely thrilled to see that The Kitchen Table has taken over the space on Arlington, Tennessee’s town …