A Day in Lauderdale County, Tennessee
Lauderdale County, Tennessee, and its county seat of Ripley have a significant blues tradition. Petey Wheatstraw was from Ripley, and Noah Lewis and John Henry …
Travel
The Forgotten Town of Austin, Mississippi
Tunica County, Mississippi once had dreams of greatness. After all, it bordered the most important navigable stream in North America, and had some raised hills …
Celebrating Mason, Tennessee’s Important Legacy
Mason, Tennessee, located in Tipton County by geography, but more socially and culturally linked to adjacent Fayette County, is the dead center of what might …
The Blues Has A Future
Elsewhere in this blog, I have commented on Clarksdale’s excellent coffee roasting firm Meraki Roasting Company, but on a recent trip to meet with a …
Celebrating The Legacy of Otha Turner at Coldwater
Back in 1950, Othar Turner, of Gravel Springs, a few miles east of Senatobia in Mississippi’s Hill Country region, decided to hold a picnic for …
Celebrating R. L. Boyce’s Birthday at Como, Mississippi
Last year marked the first time we had organized a large outdoor birthday party for Hill Country bluesman R. L. Boyce, and that first picnic, …
Brunch on Full Blast and Murals in the Bywater
Sunday morning, Darren Towns and I headed over to yet another new breakfast spot in New Orleans, this one in a familiar location, 139 South …
Spending A Day with the TBC Brass Band in New Orleans
There are no second-lines during the summer, at least not the large, official ones sponsored by social aid and pleasure clubs, but that doesn’t mean …
A Reception for the Mentors and Apprentices of the Tennessee Folklife Arts Project
After the six months of mentoring under the Tennessee Folklife Arts Program, mentors and apprentices were invited to a reception at the Tennessee Arts Commission …
The Tennessee Delta IV: Tipton County
On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in June, I decided to head out around some of the backroads in Tipton County in search of things to …