The MAC awarded a total of $1.7 million of funding to artists and arts programs across the state for Fiscal Year 2025, and recipients are able to benefit in a variety of ways, but mainly to further nurture their exceptional talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Effie grew up in the Orwood<\/strong> community, outside of Taylor<\/strong>, Mississippi, near the Panola County line. She was part of the first desegregated class at Lafayette High School<\/strong> and has some stark recollections of those days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She vividly recalls the school policy against wearing afros, supposedly on account of hindering students in the rear of the class from viewing the chalkboard. In cahoots with her mother, Effie went to school one day with a long blonde wig that ran down her back, in order to make light of the harsh measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After a couple of days, the school principal eventually conceded and allowed Effie to wear her hair how she wanted\u2014which she described as in the style of political activist Angela Davis<\/strong> or members of the band Sly & the Family Stone<\/strong>\u2014under the condition that she leave the blonde wig at home. Afros were eventually allowed but none longer than three inches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Effie credits her father for having the resilience to keep bringing her back to school after she would get suspended, for minor things like donning an African dashiki which was also frowned upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Along with another talented local musician, acoustic guitarist and songwriter, Wendy Jean Garrison<\/strong>, Effie learned early this summer about being awarded the four-figure grant, which she intends to use to further pursue her career in \u201cblues-gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She acknowledges legendary vocalists Big Mama Thornton<\/strong>, Etta James<\/strong>, and Koko Taylor<\/strong>\u2014who she describes as \u201craw\u201d and \u201cjust having a conversation-music\u201d\u2014as her main influences. Effie not only celebrates these songstresses but likes reimagining their songs with her own personal touch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, Effie enjoys singing Koko\u2019s rendition of the blues\/R&B classic \u201cBorn Under a Bad Sign,\u201d but replaces the tag line, \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for bad luck I wouldn\u2019t have no luck at all,\u201d with, \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for God\u2019s love<\/em> I wouldn\u2019t have no love<\/em> at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She said, \u201cMy father told me as long as I am respectful with what I sing, I can sing it in church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Effie admits there is a line that some gospel singers don\u2019t want to cross, because it\u2019s been ingrained in their minds that they \u201ccan\u2019t serve two gods\u201d at once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf they are truly Christian, they can keep it gospel and still talk about their life, or their experiences, or their pain,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A major goal is to collaborate with some young, talented, like-minded musicians who grew up playing in church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur young people today need to find as many positive messages as they can,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently she\u2019s been working with Nashville-based Silas Caldwell<\/strong> (son of Tony) on her gospel-blues endeavor and hopes to record some of his original compositions in that line of music, as well as some of her own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSilas is an upcoming star,\u201d Effie said of the former North Mississippian. \u201cMy dream is to carry somebody along that way, as I do blues, and he does what he does, and we can be separate but together. He\u2019s already polished and ready to go\u2014and very focused.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Setting the naysayers aside, Effie insists that \u201cblues and gospel do go together,\u201d because \u201ceverybody\u2019s gonna experience some blues at some time in their life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She feels confident that her relationship with God is strong enough that whether she sings blues or gospel, it will be equally celebrating His gifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As she has throughout her entire life, Effie intends to continue expressing activism in her craft. She\u2019s been involved with the Living Legacy Project<\/strong>, whose mission is to provide education about the American Civil Rights Movement<\/strong>, and regularly embarks on \u201cpilgrimages\u201d to places like Selma, Alabama<\/strong>, to walk over the Edmund Pettus Bridge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She fondly recalled singing \u201cAin\u2019t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around\u201d while walking over the much revered bridge. Also, Effie has spoken on occasion with well-known civil rights activists, the Freedom Riders<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But Effie\u2019s main goal is to let young folks know exactly what a grant can do for an artist. \u201cI tell them, \u2018go on their site, see what\u2019s available for you.\u2019 I want to share that these grants are available. No matter who you are, there\u2019s something positive you can do with your music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although Effie spent 27 years in Iowa<\/strong> working for John Deere<\/strong> before returning to Lafayette County\u2014where her family still owns over a hundred acres\u2014she’s managed to build an impressive list of musical accolades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These include performing for President Obama<\/strong> on two occasions while he was still a senator in Illinois<\/strong>, and writing \u201cI’ll Make Me a World in Iowa,\u201d which was the theme song for the 2000 statewide \u201cMake Me a World in Iowa\u201d festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Later in 2006, in a historic moment, her song\u2014which she describes as \u201cjazzy\u201d\u2014was unanimously adopted by the Iowa Legislature as a State Song for Iowa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI want to walk in the steps of Koko Taylor,\u201d said the powerful and often robust 70-year-old singer, who has goals of international touring\u2014although doesn\u2019t exactly plan on \u201cthumping all around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After a chuckle, she said \u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit. And if everything goes right\u2014and God says the same\u2014I believe I can walk in those steps, and bring back her music.\u201dEffie has also performed multiple times at the Oxford Blues Festival<\/strong>, including most recently in 2022, and had a role in the 2019 independent film Two Headed Woman<\/em><\/strong>, (written and directed by her Soultones<\/strong> bandmate, Damein Wash<\/strong>), which premiered at the Oxford Film Festival<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n by Davis Coen Lafayette County native and vocalist extraordinaire Effie Burt was recently awarded a prestigious grant from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123909,"featured_media":142533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20899,7887,307,21323],"tags":[30095,30089,1013,4640,8978,30098,532,30093,14527,23055,4713,125,30096,5,2662,15,30088,4,3271,137,30097,14456,30090,4639,78,30100,30091],"class_list":["post-142435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","category-local-music","category-local-people","category-songwriters","tag-american-civil-rights-movement","tag-angela-davis","tag-barack-obama","tag-damein-wash","tag-davis-coen","tag-edmund-pettus-bridge","tag-effie-burt","tag-etta-james","tag-folk-arts-fellowship","tag-freedom-riders","tag-iowa","tag-lafayette-high-school","tag-living-legacy-project","tag-mississippi","tag-mississippi-arts-commission","tag-newt-rayburn","tag-orwood","tag-oxford","tag-oxford-blues-festival","tag-oxford-film-festival","tag-selma-alabama","tag-silas-caldwell","tag-sly-the-family-stone","tag-soultones","tag-taylor","tag-two-headed-woman","tag-vocalist"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_6336-750.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123909"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142435"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142536,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142435\/revisions\/142536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/TheLocalVoiceLigature-25web.jpg\")
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