Clarksdale, Mississippi
August 12-15, 2021
By Phillip Smith; August 21, 2021
After my first trip down to Clarksdale, Mississippi
for the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival in
2019, I knew I would want to go again.
Last year the festival was cancelled due to Covid-19, but this year it
returned, with one slight difference. The
daytime acts on Saturday performed outdoors on an acoustic stage under the VIP tent,
as opposed to being scattered around the downtown area in assorted bars,
restaurants, and galleries. Ground Zero Blues Club also held a steady
continuance of live music throughout the weekend as well.
The journey from Iowa to Clarksdale included a one-night
stop in Memphis for a night out on Beale Street. The group I was travelling with held steady
at King Jerry Lawler’s Hall of Fame Bar & Grille
on Beale, for an evening of live music from The Beale Street All-Stars. Those guys put on a dazzling show and provided
an enjoyable evening of entertainment.
On the way to Clarksdale Thursday morning, we made a
stop at the Delta Cultural Center
in Helena, Arkansas to catch the live broadcast of the legendary King Biscuit Time radio show.
King Biscuit Time
is the longest running blues radio program in the world, logging over 18,490 episodes
since its inception in 1941, and can still be heard each weekday from 12:15pm –
12:45pm on KFFA
out of Helena, or by streaming through the Delta Cultural
Center’s Facebook page. Originally hosted by “Sunshine” Sonny Payne until 2018, the show is
now hosted by my friend Thomas Jacques. It was great to catch up with Thomas as he gave us a tour and filled us in on the
history of the show.
After checking in at the Shack Up Inn, we
all headed to the Delta Blues Museum,
where the festival is held, to enjoy an evening of blues accompanied by a delicious,
down-home dinner of grits, greens, and barbeque. It was great to finally hear Lucious Spiller, Sean “Bad” Apple,
and Terry “Big” T Williams
live in person. There’s something special
about the way Lucious
sings “A Change is Gonna Come”. He digs
deep as he sings it with raw emotion. With
accompaniment from a harp player called Freight Train, Sean Apple’s cover of Skip Jame’s “Hard
Times” was really nice. Lady Trucker made a guest appearance during Sean’s set to sit in on “Sitting on Top of the World”. Her voice has a lot of power in it and is
quite impressive. Following the Grits
& Greens dinner, we headed over to Ground Zero
Blues Club, and caught Heather Crosse, “Rockin” Johnny Burgin, and Jaxx Nassar hosting the weekly blues jam. That was a big ball of fun to be present for
that. The camaraderie among the musicians
exudes a sense of family.
Before the festivities began on Friday, we ventured
out to visit a few blues sites. We
stopped by Tutwiler first
to see where W.C. Handy heard
his first slide guitar performance, then visited Sonny Boy
Williamson II’s gravesite.
We had lunch at The Cozy Corner
in Indianola, a place which sits a couple of blocks away from the new B.B. King
Museum. Their ribs really hit the spot,
and the fried okra was cooked perfectly.
This was definitely a one-of-a-kind place to stop. Just around the corner from the Cozy Corner, sits Club Ebony,
a nightclub which has earned its own Mississippi Blues
Trail marker for showcasing such artists as Ray Charles, B.B. King, Bobby Bland, Albert King, Little Milton, Count Basie,
and many others. We pushed off from
there and visited Dockery Farms,
and a possible locations of the famed crossroads nearby, which legend tells us Robert Johnson made his deal with Ol’ Scratch.
The first band to play on Friday was the Delta Museum Student Band. It is through this program that many blues
artists in the area, such as Christone “Kingfish” Ingram got
their start. Heavy Suga and
the Sweet Tones with Heather Crosse
and Johnny Burgin took the stage next. They sound absolutely fabulous together. I was so happy to hear a couple of my
favorites from Heather’s Groovin’ at the Crosse Roads album: “My Man Called
Me” and “Why Does a Woman Play a Bass Guitar”.
Lightnin’ Malcolm was
an absolute force to be reckoned with.
His guitar performance was sizzling. James “Super Chikan” Johnson followed with his flashy
home-made guitars. I couldn't help but smile when he hit the stage .
His band comprised of his daughter Jamiesa Turner
on drums, Heather Falduto
on bass, and Lala Craig are
impeccable.
Early Saturday afternoon, I made it my number one
priority to go listen to the legendary Jimmy “Duck”
Holmes. This recent
Grammy nominee and owner of the oldest still-active juke joint in Mississippi The Blue Front Cafe, is the current king of the Bentonia Blues. It was truly an amazing experience to hear him
play “Catfish Blues” and “Roll Me”. The
rest of the afternoon was spent back at Ground Zero for
more blues from Steve Kolbus, Lucious
Spiller, Jaxx Nassar, Big Train and the Loco Motives, Heavy Suga and the Sweet Tones, and Johnny Burgin.
With a setlist which included Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black”, “Sweet Home Chicago”, Susan Tedeschi’s “Hurts So Bad”, and Cindy Lauper’s “Time After Time”, and “Whipping Post” it was
a great pleasure to hear Jaxx Nassar. She is a multi-instrumentalist who has an amazing
voice, and killer chops on the guitar. She
even brought out her cigar box guitar made by my friend Kevin Patrick, and gave us a solid dose of “Catfish Blues”. I can’t wait
to hear her first album, whenever it may come out. I’ll definitely be among the first to buy a
copy.
Jim “Big Train” Madsen, another
friend of mine from the group I was with, took the stage with his band Big Train and the Loco Motives. With Madsen on
guitar and lead vocals, the rest of the band was comprised of Bill “Top Dog” Cummins on harp, Mason “Thumper” Cullen on bass, and Mike “Pine Box” Lander on percussion. They delivered an outstanding set of delta
blues, covering greats such as “Got My Mojo Working”, “Built for Comfort”, “Bang
Bang Bang Bang”, “Before You Accuse Me”, and “Hoochie Coochie Man”. They also performed a new original blues tune
written by Madsen called
“I Ain’t Skinny No More”. That one definitely
needs to be released as a single sometime soon.
Heather Crosse
and Johnny Burgin had sounded so good
together the previous two times I caught them, I had to hang around and hear
them once more. It was cool to hear Burgin break out his cover L.V. Bank’s “Teddy Bear”.
Several acts were delayed due to rain Saturday
evening, but once it cleared, I was front-and-center for Jimbo Mathus with special guest Charlie Musselwhite. That
was the main event as far as I was concerned, and no way was I going to miss
this show. It was still sprinkling a
little bit, but I managed to get the camera out for a few shots. Jimbo started out with “Shake Your Money Maker”, and a
most fitting “Ain’t Gonna Rain No More”.
He played Canned Heat’s “On
the Road Again”, and Al Green’s “Let’s
Stay Together”. Musselwhite took the stage and stayed until the end. Together they performed several songs
including “Louisiana Blues”, and “Ode to Billy Joe”.
I had a such a fun time, trying to cram as much live
music into my vacation as I possibly could.
Sunday morning, we checked out of the Shack Up Inn
and began the eleven-hour trek back to Iowa along Highway 61. Now, it’s just a treasured memory.
---
*All photos by Phillip Smith except the one credited otherwise
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| The Beale Street All Stars at King Jerry Lawler's |
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| Thomas Jacques hosting King Biscuit Time |
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| Thomas Jacques |
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| Delta Cultural Center at Helena,Arkansas |
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Legend Shack at The Shack Up Inn
|
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| at The Shack Up Inn |
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| Lucious Spiller |
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| Sean "Bad" Apple |
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| Terry "Big T" Williams |
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| Jaxx Nassar & Heather Crosse |
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| Jaxx Nassar & Johnny Burgin |
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| Jaxx Nassar & Jim "Big Train" Madsen |
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| Johnny Burgin |
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| Heather Crosse & Johnny Burgin |
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| Tutwiler, Mississippi |
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| Kevin, Terri, Jim, Bill, Joyce, Galen, Pam, Kyle, & Aaron |
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| The Cozy Corner Cafe in Indianola, Mississippi |
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| Club Ebony in Indianola, Mississippi |
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| Crossroads * photo by Terri Munch (Thanks Terri!) |
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| Crossroads : Jim, Terri, Joyce, Bill, Kyle, & Pam |
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| Dockery Farms |
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| Heather Crosse & Johnny Burgin |
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| Heather Crosse |
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| Lee Andrew "Juice" Williams |
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| Lightnin' Malcolm |
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James "Super Chikan" Johnson
|
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| Lala Craig |
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| James "Super Chikan" Johnson |
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| Heather Falduto |
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| Jimmy "Duck" Holmes |
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| Steve Kolbus and Jaxx Nassar |
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| Lucious Spiller |
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| Jaxx Nassar |
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| Big Train & the Loco Motives |
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| Jimbo Mathus |
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| Charlie Musselwhite |
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| Charlie Musselwhite & Jimbo Mathus |
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| Charlie Musselwhite & Jimbo Mathus |
Websites of places mentioned:
King Jerry Lawler’s Hall of
Fame Bar & Grille – www.lawlersonbeale.com
Delta Cultural Center -
www.arkansasheritage.com/delta-cultural-center/delta-cultural-center-home
Shack Up Inn –
shackupinn.com
Ground Zero Blues Club –
groundzerobluesclub.com
Delta Blues Museum –
deltabluesmuseum.org
Hooker Grocery --
www.hookergrocer.com
Websites of artists mentioned:
Johnny Burgin -
johnnyburgin.com
Steve “Lightnin’” Malcolm -
www.lightninmalcolm.com
Big Train & the Loco
Motives – bigtrainsblues.com
Jimbo Mathus -
www.therealjimbomathus.com
Charlie Musselwhite -
www.charliemusselwhite.com
For more information about the festival, visit this
website - www.sunflowerfest.org
