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 …
musicology
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 …
Como Revisited
The small Mississippi town of Como in Panola County is a most unlikely dining destination. Traditionally a cotton and market town, Como came by its …
Boots on the Muddy Ground, But A Good Time
It has been my goal this year to go to a trail ride, and while the Michigan City Blues Festival in Benton County, Mississippi wasn’t …
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 …
Iyuana Patrice and Jonathan Ellis Bring the Blues to Broadway in West Memphis
Blues Off Broadway is a weekly blues concert every Thursday evening in the month of May in West Memphis, Arkansas, usually held on a portable …
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 …
A Day of Blues at Fordyce’s Cotton Belt Festival
It is often hard to be a journalist or observer and also a working musician within the scene I am trying to document. But I …