A Day of Gospel Music in West Tennessee at Mason’s Zodiac Park
Black baseball fields were tremendously important in rural Black communities into the early 1970s. Every community had baseball teams and softball teams, but the ballfields …
musicians
A Big Mother’s Day Weekend Southern Soul Extravaganza in Holly Springs
The Mothers’ Day Weekend is a traditional time for a lot of blues and Southern Soul festivals in the Holly Springs, Mississippi area, and this …
Celebrating the Blues Culture of Brownsville and the Memory of Tina Turner
The death of soul and pop icon Tina Turner, who was a Haywood County, Tennessee native, hung heavy over this year’s Exit 56 Blues Festival …
The Beginning and End of All Music
Marshall County, Mississippi in the part of Northeast Mississippi known as the Hill Country, is home to two of the state’s best-known blues families, the …
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 …
A Recollection of Memphis’ Black Majorette and Drummer Tradition
Black majorettes and majorette drummers were a unique part of the culture of Memphis’ Black neighborhoods from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. Most …
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 …
A Great Burger And A Taste of Shreveport’s Musical History
It was my last day in Shreveport, and I wanted a hamburger. I resisted the thought of Twisted Root Burger Company at first, because I …
Blues at Nightfall: How Dr. David Evans and High Water Records Tried to Secure A Future For The Blues
High Water Records was founded in 1980 by Dean Richard Ranta and Dr. David Evans, an eminent folklorist who was brought to what was then …