Category: Blues (Page 2 of 5)

We Are the Music Makers

About a dozen years ago, my book pal Katherine Walton introduced me to the fine work of Tim Duffy. His first book, Music Makers, was nearing publication and she wanted us to become friends. I loved Tim’s first book so much that Lemuria kept it in our blues section until it went out of print. The effort in that first book was special; and it was my introduction to the music of Willie King of Macon, MS. Willie’s music is inspiring to me personally, and fortunately I was able to develop a friendship with him before he passed in 2009.

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We Are the Music Makers is Tim’s new effort, put together with his lovely wife Denise, to celebrate the last 20 years of the Music Maker Relief Foundation and it’s work. Together they have helped over 300 musicians, arranged over 9.693 grants for artists, and have promoted 4,384 performances. They have produced CD’s and have released 1,996 songs by 365 partner artists. (A companion CD set is included in the new book)

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On October 11 of this year, Music Makers had a fun-filled music weekend in North Caroline to celebrate their 20th year of work. I had the good fortune to attend and hear over 50 Music Makers musicians share their stories and tunes for 2 days.

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Over the years with Music Makers, Tim has helped many Mississippi artists including Othar and Sharde Turner, Jack Owens, Joe Lee Cole, Como Mamas, Ironing Board Sam (of 930 Blues Cafe fame) and Willie King. Music Maker support continues, and two of their new artists are some of my favorites: New Orleans bluesman Ernie Vincent and my pal Willie James Williams, Willie King’s great juke joint drummer.

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Another way Music Makers is celebrating 20 years is in their traveling photo exhibit, which will be stopped at the B.B. King museum in Indianola from October 23 to November 30. I was able to experience this exhibit while in North Carolina and it is reflective of Tim’s amazing contributions to music today.

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On Wednesday, October 14 at 5:00, Tim will be at Lemuria to sign We Are the Music Makers. If you love the blues, come meet Tim and become a friend of Music Makers. I think it would be great fun for Mississippi to have more support for and with this fine organization.

 

We Are the Music Makers: Preserving the Soul of America’s Music                                                               Pictures and stories by Denise and Timothy Duffy                                                                                   Nautilus Press, 2014                                                                                                                                       $38

The “Hemphill Girls” of the Mississippi HIll Country

rosaleehillThese ladies, Rosa Lee Hill, Jessie Mae Hemphill, and Ada Mae Anderson, come from a long line of musicians.  They were all taught to play by their father and or grandfather.  When George Mitchell arrived in Mississippi he was introduced to Rosa Lee and her niece, Jessie Mae at Fred McDowell’s house.  He couldn’t believe he was meeting Rosa Lee Hill and asked if he could record her.  She tells him not tonight but then invites him to her house in a few days and maybe then.

Rosa Lee Hill was born in Panola County in 1911 and her father was Sid Hemphill.  Sid was a popular  jessiemaehemphillbrooksmusician in the Senatobia area.  He played every night to make money for his family and taught all of them to play too.  Rosa Lee began playing guitar at age seven and was  playing parties with other family members by the age of ten.  Jessie Mae was Rosa Lee’s sisters child and as soon as she was old enough was taught to play guitar by her grandfather, Sid.  She soon though started to beat the snare drum with some of the Fife and Drum bands that played at the picnics around the area.  Ada Mae Anderson was the daughter of Sid’s brother, George Hemphill,  she played with the Hemphill clan when she was young but also sang in a female gospel band.  Jessie Mae is probably the most well known of the adamaeanderson“Hemphill Girls” having collaborated on many albums and touring Europe and being featured in the documentary Deep Blues.  There is no doubt that the Hemphill Clan was an important and vital part of the history of the MS Hill Country Music history.

 

 

For your listening pleasure…Rosa Lee Hill singing Bullying Well.  This was recorded in Como, MS in 1967.

 

 

Mississippi Hill Country Blues 1967

In April 1973, a few months before I turned 23 years old, I went to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for the first time.  A highlight, of which there were many, was my baptism by the mystic rhythms of Napoleon Strickland and the Como Fife and Drum Corp. Othar and Bernice Turner on the snare drum and R. L. Boyce on the bass drum.  Boyce was a little man who banged the hell out his big drum resting on his stomach with his back flat on the stage floor.

Como Fife and Drum Corp Jazz Fest 1973 by Michael P. Smith

Como Fife and Drum Corp Jazz Fest 1973 by Michael P. Smith

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In 1967, George Mitchell, at the age of 23 years old, traveled from Minnesota to Como, Mississippi.  George stopped at Stuckeys for gas and asked his gas man, if he knew Fred McDowell.  The gas man replied, “Your looking at him”.  Como’s Stuckeys was owned by the father of Bubba O’Keefe, a blues hound and preservationist of the historic WROX radio station in Clarksdale. Bubba, his brother and I visited last weekend at the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival where they told me many stories about Mississippi Fred McDowell.

Mississippi Fred was nice to George and introduced him to his other hill country pals: Othar Turner, R.L. Burnside, Johnny Woods, Joe Callicott, Napoleon Strickland, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Rosa Lee Hill and Ada Mae Anderson.  For two weeks, George photographed and interviewed this unique culture of music within the musicians homes.

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George’s photographs speak for themselves, but his book is not just another photography book.  His text is outstanding and compliments the photos in every way.  The reader feels as if these musicians are talking to you personally about their lives and music.  It’s powerful how insightful George was as a young man.  With his honorable reflections he captured the dignity of each individual.

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As far as people who could be a life inspiration for someone, that would be Rosa Lee Hill.  She was as poor as they come.  There was nothing around her house.  No streets, just hills, in the middle of nowhere.  And there was next-to-nothing in her house.  That someone that poor could be that spirited and that full of life….I just liked her.  As a person, she was one of my favorite people. —George Mitchell

ms hill country bluesGeorge Mitchell will be signing North Mississippi Hill Country Blues 1967 (UPM, 2013) at LEMURIA on Wednesday, August 21, at 5:00 and reading at 5:30.

 George Mitchell will also be at the MISSISSIPPI MUSEUM OF ART on Tuesday, August 20. 

At 5:30 there will be a reception and cash bar; At 6:00 the program will begin; A book signing will follow. Click here for more info.

 

Mississippi Fred McDowell

fredmcdowellWhile Fred McDowell was born in Tennessee, he lived most of his life in Como, Mississippi.  He is considered one of the ‘elder statesmen’ of the Hill Country and during the 60’s was the most well known outside of the area.  He began playing guitar at a young age for picnics and house parties and in 1959 Alan Lomax recorded him.  While he did play an electric guitar, McDowell always insisted that “I do not play no rock n’ roll.”  He passed away in 1972 just a few years after meeting George Mitchell.

When George Mitchell decided to make the trip to MS he called some friends for some leads to go about finding these “unknown” blues musicians.  He was given Fred McDowell’s name and told that he lived somewhere around Como.  He and his wife, Cathy, headed south hit I-55 and took Exit 52 and pulled into a Stuckeys to get some gas. George decides to ask the attendant if he knows McDowell and he says yes….

Do you know where I can find him? I ask.

You’re looking at him.

I’m taken aback. The first man we meet in Mississippi is Fred McDowell?! Damn! And he works in a service station?!

Mitchell tells McDowell what they are doing in MS, that they want to interview and record some unkown blues musicians from the area and Fred says that shouldn’t be a problem.  He then invites them to his house where he promises to have some folks for them to meet.  The rest as they say is history.

Mississippi Fred McDowell—Going Down to the River

We Juke Up in Here!

About eight years ago I started going to Clarksdale to hear as much music as possible. On my first trip north I found Roger Stolle’s fine store Cat Head. Cat Head is my favorite store in Mississippi. It is funky in a 100% blues way and Roger shares his knowledge freely which makes a visit to Cat Head a 100 percent blues learning experience. Roger’s inventory is about blues books, blues music, blues arts with live blues inside or outside. This institution is about 10 years old. I caught Roger’s attention because I became a good customer and avid spokesman on his behalf of his work. If you haven’t been to Roger’s store, treat yourself. Go and support his efforts with your purchases.

Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art, Inc.

I also found Red’s Lounge run by Red Peden. Big Jack Johnson was playing his marvelous blues in this blues mecca and I was baptized into Red’s style of Jukin’.

Language of the Blues by Debra DeSalvo explains the origins of the word juke:

“A juke or juke joint  is a funky little bar (and sometimes brothel) that provides dance music whether from a piano player, a band, or a juke box. The word juke has been traced to the Gullah (Georgia Sea Islands) word joog, meaning disorderly. Joog has been traced in turn to the Bambara tribe’s word dzugu, which means ‘wicked.’ There’s also the Wolof word  dzug which means to misbehave or lead a wild life, and the Bantu juka, which means to rise up and do your own thing. In From Juba to Jive: A Dictionary of African-American Slang, Clarence Major wrote that  ‘jook’ is an ‘African word meaning to jab or poke–as in sexual intercourse, and was also used in the Caribbean.”

For me, a white guy, jook means good music and lots of fun.

As my friendship with Clarksdale and Roger developed I met Jeff Konkel and began stocking Jeff’s fine broke and hungry recordings. Roger and Jeff’s new collaboration is We Juke Up in Here! The DVD is the story of Red, his lounge and the shape of the Delta Jukin’ in the present. Viewing this fine work is a Delta Blues fan’s must.

As my son Austin and his pal Richard became fans of Clarksdale, they also realized the specialness of Roger’s Cat Head Store and its efforts. Austin and Richard were driven to launch their dreams of creating the first legal distillery in Mississippi. They believe in live music and wanted to donate part of their proceeds in support of musician causes. They were tumbling around name brands and took their business proposal to Roger to get his take. Roger was taken back but gave the idea a chance. After a while, Roger graced their project by voicing no objection and Cathead Vodka was born.

Lemuria is very happy to be a part of the Jackson area “We Juke Up in Here” release party.

Jackson’s screening will be held at Cathead Vodka Distillery.

Everyone is welcome!

Join filmmakers Damien Blaylock, Jeff Konkel and Roger Stolle for a screening of their latest film “We Juke Up in Here” at the Cathead Vodka Distillery in Gluckstadt, Mississippi.

Friday, October 26

Food & Drink at 7:00

Screening of “We Juke Up in Here” at 8:00

644 Church Rd Suite 1, Madison, Mississippi 39110

Click here for a map on the Facebook Event Page.

“We Juke Up in Here” is available in a deluxe two-disc collection (DVD with CD soundtrack) at Lemuria. You can purchase in store or order on our website for $29.99 + shipping.

Roger Stolle will also be at Lemuria to sign his book Hidden History of the Mississippi Blues at 5:00. Click here for more info.

We Juke Up in Here!

(Clarksdale, MS) – Since its world premiere in April, the new blues documentary “We Juke Up in Here” has earned rave reviews from audiences and critics alike. In the coming weeks, the film will enjoy an even higher profile as its filmmakers and featured musicians embark on a series of high-profile screenings and public performances in the United States and abroad. “We Juke Up in Here” tells the story of Mississippi’s once-thriving culture of down-home blues clubs known as juke joints. It is available in a deluxe two-disc collection (DVD with CD soundtrack). “We Juke Up in Here” is a joint production of Broke & Hungry Records and Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art.

“We Juke Up In Here” follows music producers Konkel and Stolle as they explore what remains of Mississippi’s once-thriving juke joint culture. The film is told largely from the vantage point of Red Paden, proprietor of the legendary Red’s Lounge in historic Clarksdale, Mississippi. Featured artists include Terry “Harmonica” Bean, Big George Brock, Hezekiah Early, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, Anthony “Big A” Sherrod, Robert Lee “Lil’ Poochie” Watson, Elmo Williams and Louis “Gearshifter” Youngblood.

“We Juke Up in Here” is a follow-up to the award-winning film “M For Mississippi.” The new movie reunites Konkel and Stolle with Damien Blaylock, their cinematographer and co-producer from the earlier film. Joining the production team for “We Juke Up in Here” was cinematographer and co-producer Lou Bopp.

Jackson’s screening will be held at Cathead Vodka Distillery.

Join filmmakers Damien Blaylock, Jeff Konkel and Roger Stolle for a screening of their latest film “We Juke Up in Here” at the Cathead Vodka Distillery in Gluckstadt, Mississippi on Friday, October 26!

Food & Drink at 7:00

Screening of “We Juke Up in Here” at 8:00

644 Church Rd Suite 1, Madison, Mississippi 39110

Click here for a map on the Facebook Event Page.

“We Juke Up in Here” is available in a deluxe two-disc collection (DVD with CD soundtrack) at Lemuria. You can purchase in store or order on our website for $29.99 + shipping.

Time for Mississippi Blues

Roger Stolle talking about his book and the state of Mississippi blues, May 2011. (Photo: Lou Bopp)

Roger’s concise to the point Hidden History of Mississippi Blues is condensed in a way that’s appealing to the blues fan and the novice. Interesting facts presented with Lou Bopp‘s fine photos are just enough for this little book. Most importantly Roger’s interviews with current Delta Blues musicians prove that this art form isn’t dying but thriving.

More living proof exists in Clarksdale this weekend when the crossroads celebrates the 24th Sunflower Blues Festival. It’s a favorite I try to make every year. Performers from Roger’s book will be playing as you can get authentic in the Delta heat. Porchin’ at Ground Zero, sweatin’ in Red’s (we will miss Big Jack) and attendin’ Cathead’s Mini Fest on Sunday are all treats. I always learn about some new music makers on Sunflower weekends.

Johnny Rawls, Sunflower Blues Fest

Get your folding chairs and head up to Clarksdale. It will be hot so plan on a cool beverage and street grilled meat, smoking over sidewalk blues.

Read Roger’s book, check out blues markers (MS Blues Trail) and hear the real stuff that’s alive today. Roger’s Cathead Music Store and Shelly’s Delta Blues Museum are Mississippi institutions.

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For those who don’t know yet, our Pal Roger is working on a new DVD about saving the Juke Joint experience called We Juke Up in Here! Surely a great effort to support. Check out his project here and see if you want to join in and help with his efforts.

M for Mississippi DVDs and CDs are excellent examples if you want to know about his work first hand.

 

Mississippi’s Secret History – The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock ‘N’ Roll

When Preston Lauterbach set out to write The Chitlin’ Circuit I’m sure he never intended for it to be a “secret history” of Mississippi, but that’s what it feels like to me. As the dust jacket marketing says, The Chitlin’ Circuit is “The first history of the network of black nightclubs that created Rock ‘N’ Roll through an unholy alliance between vice and entertainment.” Lauterbach succeeds in writing the history he intended to write, but in doing so he fills in a blank space in Mississippi history for those of us who having been living here for years along side this interesting music and culture that is Chitlin’ Circuit music.

Sometime after moving to Mississippi in 1999 I began to notice some pretty interesting music on the radio. First I noticed a station that played classic soul music in the Stax vein. Then I noticed WMPR – a great station that plays blues, gospel, and talk shows. But the blues on WMPR didn’t sound a whole lot like the blues I know – very little Muddy Waters and very little John Lee Hooker. No, this music sounds more like a soul/blues fusion. In fact to my East Tennessee ears it sounded like a throw back to 1980s soul music, but it became apparent that this is not throw back music at all, but a vibrant and alive music culture.

Soon I started to hear a lot about a guy named Bobby Rush (find some of his CDs here) – a man who refers to himself as the King of the Chitlin’ Circuit. I did think, “what is the Chitlin’ Circuit” but I also thought, “wow, I like this”. If you’re in Lemuria late on a Friday afternoon Marvin Sease, Latimore, Ronnie Lovejoy, and Ms. Jody are just a few of the sounds you’ll hear. All of this led to Bobby Rush eventually playing a live show in our dot com building in 2007.

Now after all of these years of enjoying the music and the culture Preston Lauterbach gives us a wonderfully well written history of the Chitlin’ Circuit that explains how all of this came to be and fills a gap in American music history. To me this book fits perfectly between Robert Gordon’s Can’t Be Satisfied and Peter Guralnick’s Sweet Soul Music. So you can see why, to me, this feels like a “secret history”. The music is right here all around us in Jackson, MS, but for the first time the history has been researched and brought to light.

Join us Tuesday evening at 5.00 for a signing and reading with Preston Lauterbach, author of The Chitlin’ Circuit and the Road to Rock ‘N’ Roll.

Jukin’ at Lemuria

“A juke house was where anything goes.” – Jimmy “Duck” Holmes

There was a time when we went to a juke joint. And we used to go hear live blues and dance until the wee hours. In fact a few pictures of such activities have appeared on this blog. Now days we have little ones and if we’re up in the middle of the night it’s because someone has to go potty or because someone else is sick. Instead of juke joint pictures on the blog you get lots of pictures of cute kids.

And they are cute. And we don’t regret any of that. It’s ok. Really.

But wouldn’t it be nice if you could bring the kids to the juke joint? Or if you could have that same experience only not late at night?

This Friday Lemuria’s juke joint will be in effect. Always wanted to go over to Bentonia to Jimmy “Duck” Holmes’ Blue Front Cafe, but never been able to? Well, Duck Holmes will be playing for free on Friday at our juke joint (dotcom building) starting at 5:00.

The occasion is the release of Roger Stolle’s new book Hidden History of Mississippi Blues. Roger is also one of Mississippi’s hidden secrets. (not so hidden actually) He is the owner of the Cat Head Delta Blues and Folk Art store in Clarksdale and an avid spokesperson for the blues. In his words:

I moved to Clarksdale to circle the wagons, to mount a defense, to help the last generation of cotton-farming, mule-driving, juke-joint playing bluesmen deeply inhale the final breath of this amazing tradition we call Delta blues. My idea was to help other like-minded individuals and entities organize and promote this uniquely American art form from within and by all means necessary.

So, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes will be playing, Roger will talk about his books, Duck will play some more, we’ll have beer for a buck, and to top it all off the event is co-sponsored by Mississippi’s own Cathead Vodka. We’ll see you Friday the 13th at 5:00, right?

Yes, this happened at a booksigning…


Bobby Rush showed up unannounced. Yes he did. You should have been there.

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