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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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’.
“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.”
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.
Lemuria is very happy to be a part of the Jackson area “We Juke Up in Here” release party.
“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.
Roger’s concise to the point 
When Preston Lauterbach set out to write 
Soon I started to hear a lot about a guy named 
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.
The occasion is the release of Roger Stolle’s new book 
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 