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juke joints
juke joints

Celebrating Unity And An Effort To Save A Dying Town

On a weekday afternoon, I had driven up to Mason, Tennessee after work to eat at Bozo’s Bar-B-Que, and had noticed signs around the little …

Albert King Jr and the Final Touch Band at @GroundZero; Bill Howl-N-Madd Perry and Terry Big T Williams at Red’s Lounge

When I left the Delta Blues Alley Cafe, I walked across the street to Ground Zero Blues Club where the Final Touch Band was playing …

The Lower End, Front Street, Mason TN, Summer 1991

001 The Lower End002 The Lower End003 Chilling In Front of the Green Hut004 The Lower End005 Purple Rain Lounge006 The Black Hut007 The Black Hut008 Still The Real Deal009 Godfather Lounge, Brown Hut & Real Deal010 The Lower End

Mason, Tennessee, Front Street, The Lower End, Summer 1991. 

This was the summer that I was spending a lot of time in and around Mason and Gainesville, Tennessee. I had gotten some black and white film, and was having fun with my camera, and I was always fascinated by the “cafes” in Mason, as juke joints were called in those days. Of course, I had no idea back then that most of these buildings would be torn down and destroyed, so the pictures are maybe a little more important now than I had imagined.

4/15/10: Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale

I drove down to Clarksdale last Thursday to meet up with Justin Showah, the owner of Hill Country Records, who was playing the opening night …

A Requiem for Lee Street and the Death of Port Arthur

Al Kapone had arranged for me to get access to the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, where he was performing this year, so …