{"id":3756,"date":"2012-09-18T16:29:32","date_gmt":"2012-09-18T21:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=3756"},"modified":"2012-09-18T16:29:32","modified_gmt":"2012-09-18T21:29:32","slug":"bridging-the-blues-arkansas-memphis-mississippi-twelve-days-of-blues-in-the-place-they-were-born","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/bridging-the-blues-arkansas-memphis-mississippi-twelve-days-of-blues-in-the-place-they-were-born\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridging The Blues: Arkansas, Memphis, Mississippi…Twelve Days Of Blues in the Place They Were Born"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Bridging The Blues:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Arkan<\/span>sas \u2022 Memphis \u2022 Mississippi<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

(Part 1 of 2)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Article by Scott Barretta\u00a0\u2022 Photographs by Rebecca Long<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Over the last decade Mississippi\u2019s blues heritage has received unprecedented attention, marked by projects including the state-run Mississippi Blues Trail<\/strong>, now numbering nearly 160 markers, and the state-of-the-art B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center<\/strong> in Indianola. The rise of blues tourism is most notable in Clarksdale, where Morgan Freeman\u2019s Ground Zero Blues Club<\/strong> and the blues-themed Shack-Up Inn<\/strong> have garnered massive international media attention.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"A new effort to help fans finds their way through region\u2019s musical riches is \u201cBridging the Blues,\u201d<\/strong><\/span> a twelve-day series of events in late September and early October in the Mississippi Delta, Arkansas, and Memphis [bridgingtheblues.blogspot.com<\/a>]. The project connects the decade-old Highway 61 Blues Festival in Leland, which takes place on Saturday, September 29, with Helena\u2019s venerable King Biscuit Blues Festival the following Thursday through Saturday, and builds on the success of \u201cthe Biscuit\u201d in attracting blues fans from across the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although structured around two big events, \u201cBridging the Blues\u201d offers blues enthusiasts a broad menu from which they can pick and choose. Participating communities were encouraged to develop special events to fit within the mission of creating an \u201cultimate blues pilgrimage\u201d that focuses on the uniqueness of the Delta region\u2019s art, music, food, and sense of place.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBridging the Blues\u201d was created after several meetings between entities already involved with promoting blues in some capacity, notably the Mississippi Delta Tourism Association, Arkansas Delta Byways, The Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism, The Mississippi Development Authority Office of Tourism, and the Memphis CVB.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Events begin <\/strong><\/span>on<\/span> Thursday, September 27<\/span><\/strong><\/span> when the Vicksburg Blues Society presents Jackson guitarist Stevie J<\/strong> at the Ameristar Casino\u2019s Bottleneck Blues Bar\u2019s \u201cVicksburg\u2019s Got the Blues\u201d series. On Friday, September 28<\/strong><\/span>, Bobby Rush<\/strong> appears at Indianola\u2019s historic Club Ebony<\/strong>, a mainstay since the late 40s of the \u201cchitlin\u2019 circuit.\u201d The following evening the club will feature southern soul star T.K. Soul (Saturday, September 29)<\/span><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

B.B. King<\/strong>, who married the club owner\u2019s daughter in the late 50s, bought the club several years ago, but recently transferred ownership to the nearby B.B. King Museum and Interpretive Center, which is now booking music at the club on a regular basis.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"On Friday there\u2019ll also be a pre-party for the Highway 61 Blues Festival<\/strong> at Bud\u2019s Blues House<\/strong> at 901 North Main Street in Leland, with artists including Albert King<\/strong> acolyte John Horton<\/strong>. Earlier in the evening the Highway 61 Blues Museum<\/strong> in Leland, whose collection includes the folk art sculpture of local bluesman James \u201cSon\u201d Thomas<\/strong>, will feature a book signing, as will the local Hobnob Gallery<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"On Saturday, September 29<\/strong><\/span> the Highway 61 Blues Festival gears up around noon with yet another lineup featuring traditional blues. Acts include nonagenarian T-Model Ford<\/strong>, 86-year-old Eddie Cusic<\/strong>, the mentor of locally bred Little Milton Campbell<\/strong>, south Mississippi multi-instrumentalist L.C. Ulmer<\/strong>, and Bentonia\u2019s Jimmy \u201cDuck\u201d Holmes<\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Representing North Mississippi are Cedric Burnside<\/strong>, Kenny Brown<\/strong>, and Lightnin\u2019 Malcolm<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Other performers include Delta natives Duff Dorrough<\/strong>, Jimmy Phillips<\/strong>, and Eden Brent<\/strong>, and topping the bill is Louisiana\u2019s Dwayne Doopsie & The Zydeco Hellraisers<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"On Sunday, September 30<\/strong><\/span> beginning at 2pm there\u2019s a decidedly informal outdoor blues jam in Holly Ridge, just five miles from Leland. The first Mississippi Blues Trail marker was erected there in 2006 in honor of Charley Patton<\/strong>, who\u2019s buried there. <\/span><\/p>\n

Bring a chair and a cooler to the free event, where scheduled performers including T-Model Ford<\/strong>, Eddie Cusic<\/strong>, Eden Brent<\/strong>, and John Horton<\/strong> will perform on a flatbed truck next to an old general store where Patton is reputed to have performed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"On Monday<\/strong><\/span> (October 1)<\/strong><\/span> visitors are encouraged to visit the E.E. Bass Cultural Arts Center<\/strong> in Greenville, which has a new exhibit of the blues photographs of folklorist and Vicksburg native William Ferris<\/strong>, who founded the Center For the Study of Southern Culture<\/strong> at Ole Miss in 1977. Clarksdale\u2019s Delta Blues Museum<\/strong>, which recently doubled its exhibit space, also has multiple new exhibits on subjects including Son House<\/strong>, Mississippi John Hurt<\/strong>, and the 25th Anniversary of the Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Tuesday, October 2<\/strong><\/span> there are several events in the Cleveland area. From 1-4pm the historic Dockery Farms Plantation<\/strong>, located between Cleveland and Ruleville on Highway 8, will host tours of the recently renovated facility and music by local blues artists Cadillac John and Bill Abel<\/strong>. Dockery was once home to pioneering musicians including Charley Patton, Howlin\u2019 Wolf<\/strong>, and Roebuck \u201cPops\u201d Staples<\/strong>, and a Blues Trail marker there addresses its reputation as a \u201cbirthplace of the blues.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Later that evening there\u2019ll be a \u201cBlues Bash\u201d at Po\u2019 Monkey\u2019s<\/strong> juke joint in nearby Merigold featuring Terry \u201cHarmonica\u201d Bean<\/strong>. One of the last of the rural jukes, it\u2019s presided over by owner Willie \u201cPo Monkey\u201d Seaberry<\/strong>, who farms the fields surrounding the juke and keeps his elaborate wardrobe in his living quarters in the back. Another alternative is the blues jam at L.D.\u2019s Kitchen<\/strong> in Vicksburg featuring the house band from Jackson\u2019s Central Mississippi Blues Society<\/strong>, which usually includes King Edward<\/strong> and Pat Brown<\/strong>, veterans of Jackson\u2019s infamous Subway Lounge<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the next issue of <\/span><\/em>The Local Voice<\/span> we\u2019ll look at the rest of the Bridging the Blues events, focusing on the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena\u2014featuring headliners Bobby Rush, Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal\u2014and the annual Pinetop Perkins Homecoming in Clarksdale. In the meantime visit bridgingtheblues.blogspot.com<\/a> for a full schedule of events.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Bridging The Blues: Arkansas \u2022 Memphis \u2022 Mississippi (Part 1 of 2) Article by Scott Barretta\u00a0\u2022 Photographs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":0,"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":[321,314,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-localfestivals","category-local-history","category-music-shows"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3756","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\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}