Wilson: The Jewel of the Arkansas Delta
The Arkansas Delta has definitely seen better days. The decline of the cotton economy, the loss of industry in the 1980s, and a declining population …
Travel
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 …
The Blues is Front and Center on Clarksdale’s Biggest Day
Most people’s friends throw them a party on their birthday, but Roger Stolle, the owner of Cat Head Delta Blues and Folk Art throws the …
Easter Afternoon at a Blues Juke in the Hill Country
Holly Springs, Mississippi is home to one of the state’s youngest juke joints, the Burnside Bar and Grill, which belongs to Hill Country bluesman Duwayne …
Celebrating Freedom in Benton County on the Fourth of July
Benton County, Mississippi has always been a rough place. Formed out of part of Marshall and Tippah counties, it sits in the middle of the …
Celebrating Sam Mosley’s Legacy in New Albany and Charlie Musselwhite at the Hill Country Picnic
Sam Mosley is arguably the best-known musical performer to come out of New Albany, Mississippi, so this year, the city of New Albany organized a …
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 …
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 …
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, …
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 …