Hot Sun and Hot Blues at Bentonia
When the Bentonia Blues Festival outgrew its place in front of the Blue Front Cafe in downtown Bentonia, Mississippi, it moved to a former Black …
Sherena Boyce
Late Night Blues and Fun at Wild Bill’s in North Memphis
My friend Sherena Boyce was not ready to go home after the Beale Street Caravan Blowout event came to an end, so I suggested that …
A Busy Night for Live Music in Como, Mississippi
Sherena Boyce, daughter of the great Hill Country bluesman R. L. Boyce had told me that Deandre Walker and his band the Mississippi Boys were …
Together We Stand: Como, Mississippi Celebrates Its Vibrant Legacy
“Can’t One Make One” read the shirts with the iconic image of the Como water tower on the front, and the legend “Together We Stand” …
An Even Bigger Saturday at Coldwater’s GOAT Picnic
Although Saturday, August 25, 2018 was even hotter than the day before, the crowd that gathered in the late afternoon in Coldwater for the second …
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 …
Hill Country Traditions at the Hulette Picnic in Senatobia
Although it was the weekend of the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival in Clarksdale, R. L. Boyce’s daughter Sherena had mentioned something about a …
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 …
Celebrating West Tennessee’s Lost Fife and Drum Tradition
Last summer, the Tennessee Arts Commission began a Folklife Apprenticeship program to preserve endangered folkways in the state, and one of the areas of interest …
Second Annual Kimbrough Cotton Patch Blues Festival in Holly Springs
This is the second year of the Kimbrough Cotton Patch Blues Festival, which celebrates the legacy of Junior Kimbrough and his sons David, Robert and …