The North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic will be held June 24-25, 2011 at Foxfire ranch at Waterford, Mississippi. This is in Marshall County, between Holly Springs and Oxford, just off Highway 7. Many of the living legends of the Hill Country blues style will be performing, as well as the young generation of artists influenced by legends like Otha Turner, R. L. Burnside or Junior Kimbrough.
Checking out Baha Burger in Birmingham on my way to Florida.
The Traffic Jam Band on stage at Dan McGuinness Irish Pub in Southaven.
The overwhelming supremacy of South Park Mexican has at times threatened to eclipse the other talent on the Dope House label out of Houston, but with Dope City, the other talented artists on the roster get an opportunity to be heard, and fans of SPM will be pleased with new tracks from their favorite artist as well. Producers such as Nathan Happy Perez, Jaime Pain Ortiz and Shadow provide the funk-laden foundations for rhymes by SPM, Juan Gotti, Lil Rob, Low G, Lucky Luciano, Grimm and Rasheed, and soulful vocals by Carolyn Rodriguez. Dope City runs the gamut from R & B anthems like “Gangsta Girl” to tributes to the homeboys in prison like “For My People”, to the pleading for a better life in “Help Me Find A Way.” The album is consistently high-quality throughout, and it’s not just the SPM tracks that stand out.
Just as Devin the Dude has always been slightly different than the “typical” Texas rap artist (if there’s even such a thing as a typical Texas rap artist), his group the Coughee Brothaz have also been decidedly different. And with their latest release, Fresh Brew, the difference is starkly evident. You’ll hear no brags about drug dealing, cars, clothes or jewelry. The overriding emphasis is funk, and if a lot of the lyrics deal with the joys of marijuana, others are truly motivational, such as “No Such Thang as I Can’t” and “Backstrokin’”, the latter dealing with the importance of money. There is an all-star cast of guests, too, including the other two Odd Squad members Rob Quest and Jugg Mugg, as well as Slim Thug and South Park Coalition founder K-Rino. All in all, Fresh Brew is a release of exquisite quality and lasting importance.
After blogging on the near-ghost-town status of Earle, Arkansas a few days ago, I did some digging online and came upon this old Federal court decision that gives some interesting details about how bad things got in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s in Earle during the civil rights movement. It doesn’t seem that Earle was particularly eager to join the modern era.
At the Tate Avenue Block Party in South Memphis, June 4, 2011
At the Tate Avenue Block Party in South Memphis, June 4, 2011
