The Blues’s Last Outpost in an Out of the Way North Memphis Bar
Visitors to Memphis’s Beale Street are usually disappointed. Although the street is famous for blues, blues is rarely heard there these days; the street’s fate …
Blues
A Beautiful Day and Great Fun at Coldwater Day
The phenomenon of “town days” is fairly unique to the state of Mississippi, and occurs mainly in predominantly-Black towns. It is possible that they began …
Two Night of Jam Band Fun at the inaugural Duwayne Burnside Festival in Marshall County
Over the last decade or so, Hill Country bluesman Duwayne Burnside has sponsored a fall picnic, usually in September. It was usually called the R. …
75 Years of Hollering “Goat” in Tate County, Mississippi: Blues and Fife and Drum
For 75 years, there has been a Labor Day picnic in Tate County, Mississippi, featuring barbecued goat and fife and drum music. The tradition was …
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 …
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 …