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 19th 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.
---
* Photos by Phillip Smith
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| Big Train & the Loco Motives @ King Biscuit Time |
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| Steve Kolbus & Walt Busby at Ground Zero Blues Club |
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| Sean 'Bad' Apple |
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| Stan Street & The Hokum Cats |
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| Lala Craig @ Ground Zero w/ Mississippi Marshal |
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| Lala Craig & Ground Zero w/ Kyle & Kevin Patrick |
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| Ray Cashman @ Hambone |
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| Ray Cashman @ Hambone |
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| Sean 'Bad' Apple at Bad Apple Blues Club |
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| Big Train & the Loco Motives @ Ground Zero |
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| Big Train & the Loco Motives @ Ground Zero |
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| Terry "Big T" Williams @ Ground Zero |
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| Heather Crosse : Heavy Suga & The Sweet Tones |
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| Heather Crosse: Heavy Suga & The Sweet Tones |
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Heather Crosse: Heavy Suga & The Sweet Tones
|
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| David Dunavant |
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| David Dunavant |
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| David Dunavant |
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| Super Chikan & the Fighting Cocks |
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Super Chikan & the Fighting Cocks
(Lala Craig) |
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| Super Chikan & the Fighting Cocks |
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| Super Chikan & the Fighting Cocks |
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| Lucious Spiller |
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| Lucious Spiller |
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Lucious Spiller
(Guitar Frenchie) |
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| Lucious Spiller |
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Anthony 'Big A' Sherrod & Allstars @ Reds Juke Joint
(Heather Crosse) |
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| Anthony 'Big A' Sherrod & Allstars @ Reds Juke Joint |
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| 19th Steet Red @ Cat Head |
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| 19th Steet Red @ Cat Head |
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| Kenny Brown |
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| Kenny Brown |
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| Bill Abel @ Ground Zero Blues Club |
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| Bill Abel @ Ground Zero Blues Club |
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| Bill Abel @ Ground Zero Blues Club |
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| Libby Rae Watson |
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Libby Rae Watson
(Washboard Chaz) |
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| Libby Rae Watson |
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Libby Rae Watson
(Rambling Steve Gardner and Bill Steber) |
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| Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes |
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| Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes |
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| Space Cowboy |
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| Space Cowboy |
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| 19th Street Red @ Studio 305 |
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| Terry "Big T" Williams & The Family Band |
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| Terry "Big T" Williams & The Family Band |
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| Terry "Big T" Williams & The Family Band |
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| Terry "Big T" Williams & The Family Band |
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| Mark "Mule Man" Massey |
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| Mark "Mule Man" Massey |
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| Mark "Mule Man" Massey |
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| Anthony "Big A" Sherrod |
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| Anthony "Big A" Sherrod |
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Anthony "Big A" Sherrod
(Heather Crosse) |
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| Anthony "Big A" Sherrod |
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| Anthony "Big A" Sherrod |
Previous PhillyCheeze blogs for Sunflower River Blues:
https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=Sunflower+River
Websites of places
mentioned:
Delta Cultural Center -
www.arkansasheritage.com/delta-cultural-center/delta-cultural-center-home
Shack Up Inn –
shackupinn.com
Ground Zero Blues Club –
groundzerobluesclub.com
Cat Head Delta Blues &
Folk Art – www.cathead.biz
Stan Street Hambone Gallery
- https://stanstreet.com/gallery/
Bear @ Marty’s Barber Shop -
https://www.bearthebarber.com/
Websites of artists
mentioned:
Big Train & the Loco
Motives – bigtrainsblues.com
Steve Kolbus and the
Clarksdale Blues Review – www.stevekolbus.com
19th Street Red – https://19thstreetred.com/
Bear Ryan -
https://www.bearryanmusic.com/
