Food, Fun, Blues, Soul and Fellowship at the Mason Jubilee Fall Festival
Mason, Tennessee is a unique town in the middle of Tennessee’s most Delta-like region, close to the junction of Fayette, Tipton and Haywood Counties. Its …
Photography
Some Wholesome Rap and Traditional Blues at the Hatchie River Fest in Brownsville
Memphis bluesman Big Don Valentine had been called at the last minute to a fill a gap in the schedule of the Hatchie River Festival …
A Renaissance For South Eighth in West Memphis
Beale Street is one of the most storied streets in African-American history and folklore, but its sibling across the river, West Memphis’s Eighth Street has …
Old Highway 61 from Marion to Turrell
Since the building of I-55, most folks breeze on their way from West Memphis to Blytheville without seeing any of the old East Arkansas towns …
Celebrating Fayette County’s Blues Legacy in Moscow, Tennessee at the Inaugural Ghost River Blues Festival
Fayette County, Tennessee is historically a twin of Marshall County, Mississippi which lies to its south, both demographically and geographically. Both counties had Black majorities, …
Remembering the Late R. L. Boyce in His Hometown of Como
Bluesman R. L. Boyce was a native of Como, Mississippi in Panola County, the town which Mississippi Fred McDowell called home for much of his …
The Covington Community Comes Together For Bull Day
Orlandus Cobbins Sr. was known to his friends as “Bull,” and was a positive influence on young people on the westside of Covington, Tennessee, until …
West Memphis Kicks Off its Annual May Celebration of the Blues with Ra’Shad the Blues Kid
The city of West Memphis, Arkansas is a youngster as American cities go, having been founded really about the time of World War I, and …
Grind City Brewing Gives Memphis A New Amphitheatre and Kicks It Off With Great Music
Anyone familiar with Memphis’s Grind City Brewing Company knows that their beers are named for various aspects of the city’s music scene, particularly its soul …
Memphis’ South Main District on a Friday Afternoon
On what was really the first warm Friday afternoon of the year in Memphis, I headed downtown to the South Main Arts District. Memphis gets …