PhillyCheeze's Rock & Blues Reviews: Sunflower River Blues

Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival - 2024

Clarksdale, Mississippi

August 8-10, 2024

By Phillip Smith; August 30, 2024

I was so happy to make it back down to Clarksdale, Mississippi again to partake in the festivities of The Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival. This was my fourth visit down for this event, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to enjoy it with. Between the Iowans and the Oklahomans, there were nearly thirty of us. Usually, it’s hotter than hell this time of year in Mississippi, but the festival gods were smiling upon us all and gave us a break with clear skies and cool temperatures.

Before pulling into Clarksdale to check into my abode at the Shack Up Inn on Thursday, a detour was made to Helena, Arkansas to catch my friends Big Train and the Loco Motives play a live set at the Delta Cultural Center for the King Biscuit Time show hosted by Thomas Jacques. The studio was packed with friends who wanted to support the band and witness the broadcast. The band absolutely shined. Afterward we wrangled as many as we could to descend on the legendary Burger Shack to eat lunch and snag up some of that “Best Coke in Town”. It wasn’t long before we landed at the Shack Up Inn’s Gin/Bar to celebrate our arrival to Mississippi by drinking copious amounts of Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan Beer Nut Brown Ale. After wiping out the bar’s supply of pecan beer, we caravaned downtown to the Grits, Greens & BBQ welcome party. The food was excellent and the music by provided by Sean “Bad” Apple, Stan Street & the Hokum Cats, and Terry ‘Big T’ Williams made for a relaxing evening. The night was capped with a trip to Ground Zero Blues Club to catch the world-class keyboardist Lala Craig for a couple of sets. I’m always amazed when watching her perform.

Friday, before pushing off to see Big Train and the Loco Motives at Ground Zero, we stopped off at Stan Steet’s Hambone Gallery to catch a performance by Ray Cashman. Then, a visit to Sean ‘Bad’ Apple’s Blues Club was in order. I loved that I had an opportunity to catch him play in his fabulously curated blues wonderland. That evening we made it back to the main stage to see Heavy Suga & the Sweet Tones, David Dunavant, Super Chikan & the Fighting Cocks, and Lucious Spiller. I was thrilled to make it to Red’s Juke Joint later that night. It was a rippin’ good time seeing Anthony ‘Big A’ Sherrod and The Allstars.

I always seem to meet some of the coolest folk on these trips. While trying to sort out a lodging issue, I ducked into Marty’s Barber Shop and met Bear Ryan and Ryan Robertson who were very kind and helpful. Bear, the owner and barber of the establishment, along with Ryan are a music duo who play music together. As Bear explained, they play “Country Mud Snake Bit Blues”. I didn’t get to catch them play this time around, but I found their songs online and found it to be rather captivating. I’m definitely going to try to catch one of their shows next time I am in Clarksdale.

Saturday, I stopped to hear 19^th Street Red busking in front of Cat Head. I made a point to stop at his Studio 305 later in the day to hear him some more. I hit as many blues acts as I could that day, making sure to see Kenny Brown, Bill Abel, Libby Rae Watson, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, Space Cowboy, Terry “Big T” Williams, Mark “Mule Man” Massey, and Anthony “Big A” Sherrod.

Special thanks go out to the Patrick brothers: Kevin, Gaylon, and Kyle, who introduced me to Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival. You are all great friends. This is a one-of-a-kind festival which started in 1988 which I highly recommend to every blues fan.