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M I S S I S S I P P I ’ S A W A R D - W I N N I N G C O N S U M E R T R AV E L P U B L I C AT I O N W W W. R E A D L E G E N D S . C O M der in
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Holiday Gift Bazaar Sat., Nov. 12 • 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Trinity Presbyterian Church
Merry Meridian Market City of Meridian Sat., Nov. 19 • 9 a.m.-4 p.m. MSU Riley Center
Miss Merry Meridian Pageant Sat., Nov. 19 • 10 a.m. (newborn to age 7); 2 p.m. (ages 8-18) Union Station
48th Annual Trees of Christmas Opening Reception
Tours, Refreshments and Entertainment Sun., Nov. 20 • 1-5 p.m. Merrehope and F. W. Williams Historic Homes
48th Annual Trees of Christmas Mon.-Sat., Nov. 21-Dec. 30 • 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Merrehope and F. W. Williams Historic Homes
Nutcracker Ballet Tues., Nov. 22 • 7 p.m. Temple Theater for Performing Arts
Christmas Tree Lighting City of Meridian Tues., Nov. 29 • 5:30 p.m. City Hall Lawn
It’s a Wonderful Life Dec. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 • 7:30 p.m. Sun., Dec. 4 • 2 p.m. Meridian Little Theatre
2 • DECEMBER 2016
| JANUARY 2017
Belk Holiday Fashion Gala (Benefiting Merrehope) Fashion Show, Silent Auction, Wine and Cheese, Music, and More Fri., Dec. 2 • 5-8 p.m. Bonita Lakes Mall (Goody’s Former Location)
K C S Holiday Express Fri., Dec. 2 • 4 p.m. Union Station
Santa’s Christmas Factory Fri., Dec. 2 and Dec. 15-22 • 4-8 p.m. Soulé Steam Works Special Opening Fri., Dec. 2
Merry Museum Youth Workshop Sat., Dec. 3 • 10-11:30 a.m. Meridian Museum of Art
Christmas Parade City of Meridian Sat., Dec. 3 • 5 p.m. Downtown Meridian
Peppermint Pops Meridian Symphony Orchestra Sat., Dec. 3 • 7 p.m. MSU Riley Center
Christmas Gala MCC Concert Choir & Guitar Ensemble Tues., Dec. 6 • 7 p.m. McCain Theater
Oak Ridge Boys
"Christmas Night Out" Thurs., Dec. 8 • 7:30 p.m. MSU Riley Center
Bethlehem Revisited Fri.-Sun., Dec. 9-11 • 6-8:30 p.m. First Assembly of Meridian
Holiday Gala Sat., Dec. 10 • 6-8 p.m. Meridian Museum of Art
Membership Exhibit Dec. 10-Jan. 27 • 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Meridian Museum of Art
(With the Volunteer of the Year Award presentation and a performance by MPSB)
Santa’ s Christmas Factory
December 15-22 4-8 pm Soulé Steam Feed Works
Home Away from Home
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PUBLISHER AND PRESIDENT ��������������������Marianne Todd LEAD GRAPHIC DESIGNER ��������������������Shayne Garrett WEBSITE DESIGNER �������������������������������Scott Mire
Win a Weekend for Two at Gulf Hills Resort! Enter to win at ReadLegends.com.
Contact LEGENDS 601-604-2963 Editorial/Advertising - 601-604-2963 | Editor@ReadLegends.com Contributing writers: Meghan Holmes, Kara Martinez Bachman, Stephen Corbett, Riley Manning, Julian Rankin Contributing photographers: Tim Isbell, Madge Howell, Blake McCollum, Kenyatta Stewart LEGENDS welcomes your calendar submissions. Submissions are posted free of charge on our website at www.ReadLegends.com. Calendar submissions for consideration in LEGENDS’ print calendar may be sent to
Editor@ReadLegends.com. Copyright 2016/2017. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or reprinted without express permission from the publisher. The opinions and views expressed by our contributors, writers and editors are their own. Various views from other professionals may also be expressed. Neither LEGENDS nor Blue South Publishing Corporation is endorsing or guaranteeing the products or quality of services expressed in advertisements. All advertisers assume liability for all content (including text representation and illustration) of advertisements printed and assume responsibility for any resulting claims against LEGENDS or its affiliates. Materials, photographs and written pieces to be considered for inclusion in LEGENDS may be sent to P.O. Box 3663, Meridian, MS 39303. Unsolicited materials will not be returned. Blue South Publishing Corporation provides thousands of free copies in its coverage area to tourism offices, welcome centers, hotels, restaurants, theaters, museums, galleries, coffee shops, casinos and institutions of higher learning. If your business, agency or industry would like to be considered as a LEGENDS distribution point, please contact us at Editor@ReadLegends.com. For more information, write to Editor@ReadLegends.com. More information, including a comprehensive, up-to-date calendar, may be found at
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CONTENTS DECEMBER 2016 / JANUARY 2017
MUSIC 50 Mississippi Giants
From the cradle of American music
56 The Southern Dudes of Stone Senate Rockin' hard and livin' large
CULTURE 8 Henderson Beach
The luxurious grand seaside manor of yesteryear
10 Picturing Mississippi's Bicentennial An exploration of the state's artistic legacy
16 New Horizons for Jeremy Sande
The Mississippi-born actor talks Deepwater to getting married
24 A Small Town Southern Christmas
Sometimes the best gifts come in small packages
Mississippi
Just as the Mississippi River flows forward and backward – cutting itself off, creating new paths, reconnecting severed ties – so the state of Mississippi made its way through the past 200 years. In this issue, LEGENDS examines 200 years of Mississippi statehood, it's darkest past Vicksburg ars and brightest moments, past, present and ye 0 20 g tin Celebra future. APRIL.MAY
s Worth It You Know She’
ABOUT OUR COVER
AUGUST 15,16 — MS AGRICULTURE WHEN jackson’s jumpin’
& FORESTRY MUSEUM —
LAKELAND DRIVE — JACKSON,
MS
2016
FRIDAY, OCT 3RD 4-10PM 10-10PM SATURDAY, OCT 4TH 11-4PM SUNDAY, OCT 5TH
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38 COVER STORY: Celebrating the Bicentennial
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PROPERTY LAWS INTELLECTUAL NEW RELEASE TO KNOW ����.���..�����..���..�����.��� / GETTING / JIMBO MATHUSʼ IN LELAND DIGITAL AGE? AT VINCEʼS SURVIVE THE HART / DINING ��. ��� � � �BOOKSTORES CAN �LOCAL OF ALVIN YOUNGBLOOD � � � �� . . . ./. � � � � THE MUSIC � � � �� � � . �WILLIAMS � .�CATRON . � �OF / THE �ART � � � . �� � � � � � � � THE � � � � . �COLLECTIVE �� �JULIET
HISTORIC CORINTH,
MISSISSIPPI (662) 287-8300
| www.corinth.net
www.mississippilegends.com
s Worth It You Know She’
M I S S I S S I P P I ’ S A W A R D - W I N N I N G C O N S U M E R T R AV E L P U B L I C AT I O N DEC 2016 / JAN 2017
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4 • DECEMBER 2016
| JANUARY 2017
61 What's Shaking in the Cradle Calendar of Events
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24
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DECEMBER 2016 / JANUARY 2017
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56 READLEGENDS.COM •
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STORY FROM DESTIN, FLA.
Henderson Beach
The luxurious grand seaside manor of yesteryear By KARA MARTINEZ BACHMAN
A
favorite destination of LEGENDS magazine editors and contributors – and most of the Gulf South – is the resort locale of Destin, Florida. The seaside town lures long-weekenders from New Orleans, families from nearby states of Mississippi and Alabama, and even beach-goers from across the country – and occasionally the world – who have heard tell of the area’s pristine sugar white beaches, natural dunes and a myriad of vacation accommodations. The newest luxury option on the Emerald Coast is Destin’s 170room Henderson Beach Resort, which has just opened its doors. Adjacent to Henderson Beach State Park, the upscale property offering sweeping Gulf views is among the few full-scale luxury resorts to open
6 • DECEMBER 2016
| JANUARY 2017
in Destin in many years. The Henderson Beach Resort is owned by Salamander Hotels and Resorts, known for properties such as the golf resort Innisbrook, near Tampa; Orlando’s Reunion Resort; and other vacation options. Billed as “reminiscent of a luxurious grand seaside manor of yesteryear,” the family-friendly home-away-from-home offers guest rooms and suites, panoramic views of the green surf of the Florida Gulf Coast with private beach access, a nature-themed spa, Gulf-totable cuisine, swimming pools, children’s activities, 30,000-squarefeet of indoor/outdoor event space, and more. Guests are offered special complimentary amenities, with just a few examples being valet parking, entrance passes for Henderson
Beach State Park, beach cruiser bicycles, fitness center access, golf bag storage and shuttle and concierge services. “We are thrilled to open our doors to our thoughtfully designed hotel,” said General Manager Douglas Hustard, “and welcome guests to experience our warm hospitality and comfortable luxury in such a vibrant and storied coastal city.” And that, it is: Vibrant. Storied. Destin, formerly a small fishing village that sprouted up along the white sands, is still an excellent spot for fishing, boating and water recreation of all sorts. It has blossomed over the years into a premier upscale travel destination of the Gulf South. Every summer – and throughout all seasons of the year – families enjoy days on the sand, and couples indulge in romantic luxury getaways. The Henderson Beach Resort aims to capture the “romance” of traditional coast architecture with “striking shingles, steep gabled roof lines and a reference to Florida’s nautical history.” The property offers a special Bed and Breakfast package for new bookings for stays between December 7 and March 9. This introduction to Destin’s newest luxury site will include a room with private balcony and a full breakfast for $199 per night. L
Want to go? Regular rates for guest rooms range from $225 to $450 and from $595 to $1,250 for luxury suites. For more information
The family-friendly home-away-from-home offers guest rooms and suites, panoramic views of the green surf of the Florida Gulf Coast with private beach access, a nature-themed spa, Gulf-to-table cuisine, swimming pools, children’s activities, 30,000-square-feet of indoor/ outdoor event space, and more.
or room reservations, call (888) 338-6661 or visit HendersonBeachResort.com.
READLEGENDS.COM •
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STORY FROM JACKSON, MISS.
Dusti Bongé, No Title, ca. 1958. Watercolor on paper.
8 • DECEMBER 2016
| JANUARY 2017
Hale Woodruff, Mississippi Wilderness, ca. 1944. Oil on canvas.
Picturing Mississippi’s Bicentennial An exploration of the state’s artistic legacy By JULIAN RANKIN
M
ississippi has always been a crossroads. The mighty river built economic prosperity in the 1800s just as it brought military destruction during the Civil War. The fertile frontier was a symbol of freedom for some and an engine for the enslavement of others. Civil rights activists on the front lines of social change broke the law here to demand the founding promise of justice and equality nationwide. Perhaps no other place holds in such equal measure the universal stories of trouble and triumph, defeat and victory. The fabric of American identity is laid bare in Mississippi through dynamic paradox. As William Faulkner said, “To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi.” The state turns 200 years old in 2017. As we stand as this bicentennial intersection, the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson embarks on an exploration of the state’s artistic legacy through the centuries to make sense of the lasting impact of Mississippi’s story.
The Museum begins its bicentennial commemorations with an initiative called Art Across Mississippi: Twelve Exhibitions, Twelve Communities. Beginning in May 2017, Art Across Mississippi sends twelve exhibitions from the Museum’s permanent collection to twelve communities across the state. They include photographs of blues musicians and atmospheric juke joints; works in diverse media made by African American artists, both academically trained and self-taught; exciting recent acquisitions of contemporary work; and monographic exhibitions by masters like Marie Hull, William Hollingsworth, and Walter Anderson. The culminating piece of the Museum’s celebration coincides with statehood day in December, 2017. Picturing Mississippi, 1817-2017: Land of Plenty, Pain, and Promise, the latest in The Annie Laurie Swaim Hearin Memorial Exhibition Series, is on view in Jackson from READLEGENDS.COM •
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“Place never really stops informing us, for it is forever astir, alive, changing, reflecting, like the mind of man itself. One place comprehended can make us understand other places better.” – Eudora Welty
December 9, 2017 - July 8, 2018. The exhibition brings together rare and spectacular works made by Mississippians who articulated the meaning of home, by foreigners who imagined Mississippi from afar, and by American artists passing through who were struck by the beauty and complexity of the state. The exhibition is unprecedented, the most ambitious exploration to date of Mississippi visual art’s sprawling trajectory. Sculpture created
Eudora Welty, Mother and Child, Hinds County, 1935-36 negative, printed in 1980.
LEFT TO RIGHT: Hystercine Rankin, Baptism in Crow Creek, 1996. Quilted fabric, with appliqué and embroidery. Caroline Compton, From the Canal, Vicksburg, not dated. Oil on canvas.
10 • DECEMBER 2016
| JANUARY 2017
before European arrival by native peoples shares a space with idyllic depictions of the antebellum South. Art made in the aftermath of the Civil War tracks the social and economic shifts in Mississippi, revealing a state in the search for identity. In Depression and Civil Rights era work, a nuanced authenticity emerges as women and African American artists break into the artistic milieu as never before. A contemporary section of the exhibition yields the floor to important homegrown creators; Mississippi articulated in its own multifaceted voices. Among the works in Picturing Mississippi are high profile loans from the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas; Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minnesota; National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; and many others. Many of these artworks have not returned to the state in decades or, in some cases, centuries. They left with the artists who made them or were acquired by museums and private collectors. A portrait of Eudora Welty by Mississippian Mildred Wolfe is a prime example; it was painted for the National Portrait Gallery to immortalize her as an American genius, but it has never been shared publicly in her home state until now. The bicentennial moment brings this art back to illustrate to the world how and why Mississippi retains such deep cultural resonance. “Place never really stops informing us,” Welty wrote of Mississippi, “for it is forever astir, alive, changing, reflecting, like the mind of man itself. One place comprehended can make us understand other places better.” The Museum’s bicentennial exhibitions embrace the role of the artist in continuing to shape Mississippi’s fluid history, and honors the state’s place as a wellspring of creative inspiration that knows no borders. L
LEFT: Robert Brammer, Mississippi Panorama, circa 1842-1853. Oil on canvas. BELOW: William Hollingsworth, Jane in Pink, 1939. Oil on canvas.
BELOW LEFT TO RIGHT: Walter Anderson, Young White Herons, not dated. Watercolor on paper. Ke Francis, Untitled from The Tornado Series, not dated. Gelatin silver print.
“To understand the world, you must first understand a place like Mississippi.” – William Faulkner
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STORY FROM NEW ORLEANS, LA.
NEW HORIZONS FOR JEREMY SANDE By KARA MARTINEZ BACHMAN
2016 was a stellar year for actor Jeremy Sande.
But all that eventually happened to the little boy, who turned 35 this year – and it’s been a mighty fine year. The ball started rolling many years ago, when Sande unintentionally
here’s no way the young boy from Meridian, Mississippi – who indulged a passion for theater – could have guessed that someday, he’d be onstage at a Chris Daughtry concert, proposing marriage to his longtime girlfriend with help of his rocker friend. He couldn’t have guessed he’d be playing Simon the Zealot in Tyler Perry’s “The Passion,” an elaborate live television show broadcast from the streets of New Orleans during the Easter season. And there’s no way and could have known he’d be chillin’ on set with stars such as John Malkovich, or that he’d play a meaningful role as one of the men lost in the infamous accident depicted in the film “Deepwater Horizon.”
jumped head-first into performance. “I started doing theater when I was 15,” he said. “It was a dare.” His friends had challenged him to audition for a role as Prince Charming in a local “Cinderella” production. What started as a goof, though, ended up igniting a fuse. “It started this primal passion for theater,” he said. “I just knew that’s what I wanted to do.” After majoring in Musical Theatre at the University of Southern Mississippi and performing in more than 30 shows on community stages, Sande reached the inevitable crossroads all actors face: how to make a career of this.
T
14 • DECEMBER 2016
| JANUARY 2017
LEFT: Sande takes notes from Caleb Holloway, who survived the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Holloway had been good friends with Adam Weise, whom Sande portrayed in the film. THIS PAGE: Sande on a break between films in his hometown of Meridian.
Photograph by Marianne Todd
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That’s when he started attending film acting workshops, signed with a talent agency and began being cast in film shorts, on the television series “Nashville,” and in bit parts in feature films. Then, he auditioned for Hollywood’s 2016 depiction of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and resulting oil spill that occurred off the Louisiana coast in 2010, leading to the deaths of 11 oil platform workers, the injury of 17 others, and the polluting of large portions of the waters off the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coasts and well beyond. The film was released in October and is now appearing on the on-demand platform. DVD release is scheduled for this month. Sande said he auditioned for a minor role as a character called “Roughneck No. 2,” but ended up being offered a much better role, as the real-life worker, Adam Weise, who perished in the accident. Not only was the film a huge opportunity professionally, but it allowed Sande to give voice to one of the 11 hard-working, honorable men unnecessarily lost that day. Sande said he felt those men weren’t sufficiently honored throughout the media’s coverage of the disaster. “It’s surreal to … be solely responsible for the story of someone who is no longer here to tell. It has been really, really humbling,” he said. Sande said he met and became acquaintances with Weise’s family members, and that those relationships have hit home in his understanding of the losses suffered during those dark days in the Gulf. When Sande describes it, he sounds a bit amazed. “They built an 85 percent to scale rig out at the old Six Flags,” he said, of the eastern New Orleans theme park, abandoned since it was flooded by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “We went on a week-long roughneck boot camp,” he said, explaining the actors were taught to understand what life was like on the oil platform. They used styrofoam movie props, but also handled the real deal, so they’d understand how the real tools felt in their hands. “Attention to detail was so extreme,” he said. One of the coolest moments was when Sande first encountered some of his fellow actors who are well-known celebs, such as Kurt Russell and John Malkovich, both of whom he describes as “abnormally cool.” It didn’t matter that they were big names; they were just people. “Thank you for not stepping on my inner child’s toes,” he joked, about first meeting them. Sande has definite opinions about the tragic events of the BP oil spill. “Now, I am an advocate for the people working in the oil field. These guys are rock stars. It cost BP a lot of money, but money doesn’t replace human life,” he said, lamenting safety violations he said he believes were driven by “corporate greed.” The effects on the Gulf waters weren’t lost on Sande, but his focus remained on Weise’s death, which was lost in the event’s media coverage. “Are we screwing up the environment? Completely,” he said. “But nothing should ever overshadow loss of life. The media used that (the environment) as their main driving point, instead of the loss of life,” Sande said.
16 • DECEMBER 2016
| JANUARY 2017
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Following “Deepwater Horizon” – which earned him a respectable paycheck after four months on set – Sande decided to take the plunge and move from Meridian to the epicenter of Hollywood South, the suburbs just outside New Orleans. “Deepwater was my chance to jump. I said, “If you’re going to do it, now’s the time.’” Sande jumped again into the deep end when he proposed to his longtime girlfriend in October. Sherri Eakin, a fellow actor whom he’d met at his first film acting workshop years earlier, accepted his proposal in front of cheering fans. “I’d gotten to be really good friends with Chris Daughtry,” Sande said, of his celebrity cast mate from “The Passion.” “The guy’s a rock star, but he’s a really, really sweet guy.” He asked the singer if, at an upcoming show held in Biloxi at the end of October, he’d help Sande propose to Eakin in a dramatic way. “Abso-frickin-loutely,” Daughtry said. A quick Google search will find the video of the entire event, where Sande pretends to accidentally wander onstage between songs on Daughtry’s set, is introduced by the singer, and begins to read a poem that ends with a moment any couple could only dream of. Eakin climbs onstage to accept, and the audience applauds these veritable “rock stars” among the newly-betrothed. “2016 has been like a dream,” Sande said, and rightfully so. L CLOCKWISE: Sande with longtime girlfriend Sherri Eakin at the opening of “Deepwater Horizon”; on the set of Hayride 2 opposite actor Adam Cardon; and as Col. Custer on the set of “Union.”
18 • DECEMBER 2016
| JANUARY 2017
READLEGENDS.COM •
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Come This
Celebrate With Us Holiday Season!
FOR A FULL CALENDAR OF EVENTS:
CHRISTMASINNATCHEZ.COM 20 • DECEMBER 2016
| JANUARY 2017
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STORY FROM MISSISSIPPI
LEFT: St. Mary’s Basilica in Natchez is adorned for Christmas as is The Towers, the South’s largest collection of vintage costumed jewelry in a single setting. OPPOSITE: Residents and visitors come together to celebrate Christmas in downtown Natchez.
A Small Town Southern Christmas Sometimes, the Best Gifts Come in Small Packages By KARA MARTINEZ BACHMAN
A
cross most of the world, families celebrate the warmth and pleasures of the holiday season. Here in the South, though, nothing compares to this most special time of year, when the temperatures have finally dropped and the live oaks and piney woods of Mississippi landscapes – from the Delta to the coast – are illuminated with light. Mississippi has its share of quaint, walkable small towns with celebrations, shopping, warm rum-drizzled bread puddings, tasty Southern cocktails, and the family get-togethers all containing traces of local Southern hospitality and heritage.
Natchez
The elegant belle of the river is an ideal place to spend the holidays. Throughout the month, events and tours of antebellum homes – decorated in Christmas finery – are too numerous to list.
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Included are the “Jeweled Christmas Tour” at The Towers mansion, Christmas at Linden, and even live concerts at the incomparable Stanton Hall. Jeweled Christmas is perhaps the most unusual and unique event in the city with literally thousands of costumed vintage jewelry pieces adorning The Towers, one of the city’s most impressive homes. A visit to Jeweled Christmas yields champagne, singing and other delights. Other tours and event options when visiting Natchez during the holidays are many. In addition to tours of some of America’s most beautiful homes, Natchez events include everything from holiday walking tours and gingerbread decorating to Christmas Carols at St. Mary’s Basilica. Amanda Hargrove, marketing coordinator for the Natchez Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the river city is also a great niche shopping destination. “We have wonderful shops along Main and Franklin, and we have some newer boutiques like Pique by Mush, The Crafted Gallery, and the Silver Street Gallery and Gifts along the river. If
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you’re wanting to do some Christmas shopping, seriously, go there. She has gorgeous stuff – silver, candles, ornaments, clothing and artwork. We also have specialty children’s shops, high-end furniture stores and antique shops.” For a full look at everything happening in one of the nation’s most historic antebellum cities and one of the state’s premier holiday destinations, check out the city’s full holiday events website at christmasinnatchez.com or contact Natchez Pilgrimage Tours at (800) 647-6742.
Meridian
Meridian truly knows how to indulge the holiday spirit, and throughout December, the city offers something festive for every age and taste. Families with young children may enjoy Santa’s Christmas Factory at the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum December 15 through 22 from 4 to 8 p.m., where Steam Alley and the historic Soulé Steam works will be transformed into “an amazing Christmas workshop complete with Santa and his elves.” Families will enjoy music, decorations, a Christmas train ride, and a faux-snow covered play area for kids. Admission is $5 per person with a $25 family maximum. Cultural affairs coordinator for the City of Meridian, Laura Carmichael, said there’s plenty to enjoy in December, including touring the antebellum home Merrehope and the historic F.W. Williams home. “Both homes are fully decorated,” she said, explaining that through Dec. 30, visitors will enjoy special holiday tree displays. “We will have trees that depict Mississippi artists and Mississippi traditions,” she said. Included will be trees representing everything from artist Walter Anderson to Elvis Presley to Kermit the Frog. Merrehope’s Betty Lou Jones explains a bit about the home’s history. “Merrehope is an antebellum home that was built in 1858, with the last construction happening in 1904,” she said. Guided or self-guided tours of Merrehope – and the F.W. Williams property – are available Mondays through Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with decorations through Dec. 30. Admission is $10 per person, $9 for seniors, $5 for students and children younger than 6 are free. Shopping options abound with merchants offering clothing at specialty shops like downtown’s Liberty Shop or North Hill’s Nostalgic Castle. For hand crafted jewelry, handmade baskets and art, visit Lucas Road, across from the MSU Riley Center. While shopping, plan to grab lunch at Mississippi’s oldest restaurant, Weidmann’s, or enjoy a full lunch with a craft beer at the Brickhaus Brewtique, across the street. For live performance, Meridian Little Theater will offer the stage version of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” December 1 through 6, and a “hometown” Christmas parade will take place in downtown Meridian Saturday, December 3, at 5 p.m. Last but certainly not least, country music fans might enjoy the 27th Annual Christmas Night Out Tour, featuring the Oak Ridge Boys. The show happens December 8 at the MSU Riley Center. For more information, visit msurileycenter.com.
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CLOCKWISE: Festive Christmas decor is seen throughout downtown Meridian while a welcoming tree adorns DuMont Plaza adjacent to the MSU Riley Center.
LEFT: At Merrehope, the city's only remaining antebellum home, the Trees of Christmas celebration is in full swing. RIGHT: Meridian's Liberty Shop is decked for the season while gingerbread houses complement Merry Meridian, an annual shopping event; Trees of Christmas at Merrehope commemorate artists Greg Cartmell (left) and Marie Hull. (Photographs by Marianne Todd) READLEGENDS.COM •
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Vicksburg
Everyone’s favorite river city, Vicksburg, is ready for the holidays. “The spirit of the holidays can be found in Vicksburg as you stroll through downtown along Washington Street and visit our historic homes all decked for the season,” said Laura Beth Strickland of the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Festivities include the Downtown Old-Fashioned Christmas Open House, KCS Holiday Express, Holly Days Arts and Crafts Show, Christmas Parade of Lights, Breakfast with Santa, Holiday Tour of Homes, and much more.” Stickland also advises parents of youngsters to add an extra stop to their holiday entertainment to-do lists. “Be sure to stop at Catfish Row Children’s Art Park and see Santa’s Lane,” she said. Find details at visitvicksburg.com.
New Albany
The town of New Albany might be small, but it packs a real punch in quaint holiday entertainment. There’s a Lighting if the Christmas Trees event in Cooper Park on December 1, which sets in motion the shopping season in a town that makes for a great full day or weekend in preparing for Christmas giftgiving. Following the lighting and through December, downtown shops will offer extended hours on Thursday nights and will be open until 8 p.m. “New Albany is just a really quaint little town,” said New Albany Director of Tourism Sean Johnson. “There’s some footage from back in 1960-something, and the same stores (in the video) are still here today. It’s just very walkable, very pleasant.” Johnson said many couples will come to town and the husbands and wives will sometimes separate, with the women taking to the downtown stores while the men enjoy biking on the Tanglefoot Trail. Then, they meet up again for lunch or dinner. He said shoppers will find everything they need in stores ranging from gift shops to clothing boutiques. He mentions two particular notable downtown shops. “Sugaree’s Bakery is a high end bakery that’s been featured in the New York Times Gift Guide,” he said, suggesting shoppers consider specialties such as their caramel cakes. He also suggests a stop at Van Atkins Jewelers, which he describes as “probably the premiere estate jeweler in the state.” Johnson said it’s also a great time to visit the Union County Heritage Museum, where a silhouette artist will take sittings for Christmas silhouette ornaments during December. Once the shopping is done, Johnson suggests sticking around to enjoy a fun attraction, just a few miles away from town in Cotton Plant. The celebration, called Christmas in Cotton Plant, was featured last year on The Learning Channel’s show, “My Crazy Obsession: Christmas Collection.”
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T
“ here’s some footage from back in 1960-something, and the same stores (in the video) are still here today. It’s just very walkable, very pleasant.” ~ Sean Johnson
ABOVE: The holiday table is set at Annabelle's Bed & Breakfast in Vicksburg while shoppers, below, peruse downtown Vicksburg's shops and restaurants. OPPOSITE: A young guest is welcomed at Sugaree's Bakery in New Albany while shoppers look for gifts in quaint New Albany boutiques.
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“There are tons of (Christmas decoration) blow-ups in a field,” Johnson said. “Tons of people go. It’s real kitschy.” For more information, visit christmasincottonplant.com.
Corinth
Not only is the small town of Corinth filled with great restaurants, but Christy Burns of the Corinth Convention and Visitors Bureau, said its downtown area is overflowing with holiday charm. The town offers events such as a theatrical production of “The Nutcracker,” the “Celebrate Corinth” silent auction event, and a Christmas parade. But the real draw in Corinth is downtown shopping and dining. “There’s tons of boutiques downtown,” Burns said. She mentioned the SoCo district of town, which has “been revitalized during the past few years.” She said several new shops offer great gift ideas. According to Burns, there’s no need to leave town to get something for everyone on your list. The options include: fine antiques, locallycrafted pottery, fashion clothing shops, children’s clothing, jewelry stores, antiques and more. The best thing is when the shopping day is done, visitors may take a festive break for a warm holiday drink at a local coffee shop or indulge in a meal at one of many excellent restaurants in a small town that offers big culinary choice. For more information on Corinth, visit corinth.net. These are just a few suggestions for holiday options found throughout the state during December. Remember to check out local tourism websites to get more details on holiday happenings in your favorite Mississippi town. L
FAR LEFT BOTTOM: TOP FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: ??? ABOVE: ???
28 • DECEMBER 2016
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The City That
Has It All!
Year-Round Daily Historic Home Tours March 30-April 8 | 77th Annual Spring Pilgrimage Including Tales from the Crypt, Catfish in the Alley, Half Marathon & 5K, Garden Party and more! May 5-6 | 20th Annual Market Street Festival July 1 | Fireworks on the Water September 7-10 | Tennessee Williams Tribute Save the Date | April 5-14, 2018 78th Annual Spring Pilgrimage For a complete listing of attractions and events, find us at VisitColumbusMS.org. TENNESSEE WILLIAMS HOME & WELCOME CENTER 300 MAIN STREET | 800.920.3533
CLOCKWISE: Borroum's Drug Store sits decked for the Christmas season in downtown Corinth, where shopping and dining is plentiful in this walkable, historic city; signs throughout town welcome visitors while store displays of boutiques line the streets; one of the city's coolest shops, Sanctuary, is housed in a former church. (Photographs by Marianne Todd)
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30 • DECEMBER 2016
| JANUARY 2017
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STORY FROM NEWSOM, MISS.
By RILEY MANNING Photographs by Blake McCollum
32 • DECEMBER 2016
| JANUARY 2017
V
isitors to the small town of Newsom will find Mississippi’s own version of one of
the world’s most famous natural wonders.
It’s just off U.S. Highway 98 in Columbia,
about 10 miles north on Highway 587.
“The Mississippi Grand Canyon,” officially
known as Red Bluff, is a massive crevasse more than 150-feet deep and a half-mile wide. It grows larger with every rainstorm; this constant expansion has forced the state to reroute the highway several times.
There’s a sign announcing the approach to Red
Bluff. The turn is very short, leading to an abrupt fence just before a huge gap interrupts the broken pavement. From there you can see the first small glimpse of color that has made Red Bluff famous.
To the left, a small trail leads through about
10 yards of shallow woods before breaking into a spectacular view. The colors and sheer size of it leave most visitors breathless with its sudden opening to reveal shades of pink, red and gray. But this is just the beginning.
Take the trail twisting down into the bed of
the canyon. A well-stocked backpack is crucial, as hikers will need both hands to steady themselves against rocks and logs on the way to the bottom. A cooler would make the trek unmanageable, but with light packs and the use of both hands, the trail is not impossible for the inexperienced hiker. Its most challenging parts demand a conscious consideration in hand and foot placement. In some places there are even ropes or cables left by someone a long time ago to aid future explorers and admirers of Red Bluff.
At the bottom there is a small creek, and the air
is cooler with the ground being shaded by tall pine trees on either side of the creek bank. The ankledeep stream curves its way down the bed and offers a collage of smooth, colorful pebbles and chunks of soft clay of the same red or gray material that makes up the canyon. The clay is easy to pick out, malleable and cold.
A distant rumble downstream reveals a deeper
splashing than the gentle mumbling of the creek. A short walk down a small slope where the trail levels out is a perfect area to stop and eat or rest. Logs and flat platforms of firm ground are naturally oriented around a waterfall, the source of the larger noise. READLEGENDS.COM •
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The turn is very short, leading to an abrupt fence just before a huge gap interrupts the broken pavement.
Unlike the area overlooking the canyon, there is no room to camp by
the creek. Most likely, walking along the creek will result in walking in the creek whether you want to or not. The water is cold and the trail is not so demanding to call for legitimate hiking boots; a pair of tennis shoes will serve just fine, even if they get wet in warmer months. Following the path of the water, visitors will walk on or under the colossal trunks of trees laid like latticework across the creek.
Although the climb back to the initial area is not as easy, it does reveal
a steeper, more arduous path descending directly into the canyon, right to the base of the looming clay walls that are soft enough to write in with a finger. Someone had already inscribed “I love you baby.”
Aside from the few old ropes from the trail and the words on the
cliff, there really is no trace of human presence. It’s as if civilization simply stops as abruptly and completely as the highway. There are no parking spaces, no signs discouraging litter or encouraging caution; even evidence
of tourism is completely absent. Hopefully, it will remain so.
T
L
he quickest way from Jackson is to take Highway 55 South to the Crystal
Springs Exit (Exit 72), and then turn left onto Highway 27 South. Highway 27 leads into Monticello, where a left at West Broad Street leads to Highway 587, a winding drive that is the last leg of a trip that lasts about an hour and 40 minutes.
34 • DECEMBER 2016
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LEFT: “The Mississippi Grand Canyon,” officially known as Red Bluff, is a massive crevasse more than150-feet deep and a half-mile wide. It grows larger with every rainstorm; this constant expansion has forced the state to reroute the highway several times. BOTTOM LEFT: The creek at the canyon’s bottom leads to a waterfall and larger river. It’s the perfect day trip for the avid hiker.
READLEGENDS.COM •
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WHEN YOU THINK ARTS
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Just as two highways here meld into a rich blues culture, so do varied geographic and cultural backgrounds come together to create some of the most authentic food you’ll find anywhere. Check out a Mennonite bakery, Lebanese and Italian restaurants, tamale and barbecue diners, farm-to-table cafes, an artisan ice cream shop, and soul food in juke joints and clubs. You can drool over descriptions all day long, but you have to come taste in person.
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Plate 22-06 from Harold Fisk's "Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River," 1944. Part of an otherwise technocratic report for the Army Corps of Engineers, Fisk’s maps are the historical traces of the Mississippi River from 1765 - 1944. 38 • DECEMBER 2016 | JANUARY 2017
STORY FROM MISSISSIPPI
Celebrating
the Bicentennial By MEGHAN HOLMES
T
he year 2017 marks the 200th Anniversary of Mississippi’s statehood. It’s a time to look back at her continuum of memories, moving like the river that shaped Mississippi’s history. It is also a time to look ahead. Although the state’s path eddies, cuts back, and sometimes loops over itself, ultimately it moves forward, like the Mississippi river’s inevitable downward route to the Gulf of Mexico. Hard fought progress achieved after war, Reconstruction, the civil rights movement, and beyond, now means the state’s minorities have rights that most Mississippians would have found unthinkable 200 years ago. Moving forward means acknowledging the darkest parts of the state’s past while remembering the things about Mississippi that unite us – the incredible music, writing and art that Mississippians have given the world. The state plans to open two new museums in Jackson in 2017 (one documenting general history and another the civil rights movement), as well as the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience in Meridian. These spaces will allow the world to access Mississippi’s unparalleled creative culture in unprecedented ways, as well as educate visitors about the sometimes difficult history that inspired the state’s wonderful art. Join us as we move forward, by remembering what has come before.
Just as the Mississippi River flows forward and backward – cutting itself off, creating new paths, reconnecting severed ties – so the state of Mississippi made its way through the past 200 years. READLEGENDS.COM •
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Mississippi's Early Beginnings
CLOCKWISE: Scenes from the earliest days of downtown Natchez, when traders traveled the Mississippi River, then walked back home on the Natchez Trace; a trader's journal from the Natchez area; the Capitol in Jackson before the Civil War (to the right a photo depicts post-war); a drawing of a Natchez Indian in one of the city's Antebellum homes; cadets at Jefferson College in Washington, Mississippi, founded in 1802.
40 • DECEMBER 2016
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Mississippi got its name in 1798, when Britain ceded control of the area to the United States following the American Revolution. The territory developed along its major rivers: the Mississippi, the Pearl, the Tombigbee and the Alabama (From west to east. The territory included present-day Alabama and part of Florida). The area’s largest settlement was Natchez, where traders plied their wares, floated down the Mississippi River and walked back home via the Natchez Trace. The Trace’s travelers illustrate the variety of people present in the territory. Vagabonds and thieves lurked to rob and sometimes murder passersby, while proselytizing Methodist preachers, trading Native Americans and migrating Europeans also used the route. It was the only road connecting trading posts along the river to the Eastern states. It took an average of ten days to travel the Trace from Natchez to Nashville, and some parts were too rough for wagons, so people used pack horses. European settlers increasingly entered the Mississippi territory following the turn of the century. Piedmont lands were used up, and yeoman farmers headed west for a fresh start. They settled in rural areas, often on the outskirts of plantations, which typically expanded onto hundreds and sometimes thousands of acres from the banks of the territory’s navigable waterways. The invention of the cotton gin at the turn of the century also spurred the growth of plantations, as well as the expansion of the slave trade. Slaves cleared land, then built roads, homes, and administrative buildings, creating the territory’s first towns. This growth meant less space for Mississippi’s remaining Native Americans, and the war of 1812 further exacerbated tension between tribes and the United States. War with the Creeks and treaties with the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee removed the majority of Native Americans from the region by 1830. A substantial population of Choctaw (as well as a small number of Chickasaw and Creek) remained in Mississippi in and around present day Neshoba County, where about 10,000 live today as a federally recognized tribe.
Statehood
When Mississippi applied for statehood, much of its territory remained rural backwoods, uncleared until after Reconstruction. Cotton was becoming king, and as a result, land and slaves were becoming the principally valued commodities of the region. Steamboats moved goods and people up and down the river, but otherwise travel was difficult. Some residents already worried that statehood meant an overreach of federal authority, particularly those living in rural communities extending east from the Pearl River. When the federal government decided to separate the territory into Mississippi and Alabama as a condition of statehood, rural Mississippians felt their voice further minimized in comparison to Natchez’ planter class society. This led to arguments at the state’s constitutional convention, and an eventual agreement to move the capital to Jackson, considered neutral territory. Mississippi became the 20th state to enter the Union in December of 1817. The state’s population hovered around 200,000 prior to Native American removal, but the number of European settlers and slaves exploded after 1830. Back then, the government offered few public services. Wealthy families hired private tutors, and rural families had few educational opportunities. Slaves had none, but they sometimes managed to educate themselves informally. Several public schools opened during the 1840s in larger cities like Jackson, Natchez, Columbus and Vicksburg. Mid-19th century Mississippians lived dramatically different lives based largely on race and class. Wealthy planters traveled to the coast and mineral springs for vacations and enjoyed horse racing, hunting, fishing, dancing, singing, theater and boating. They imported the finest goods from Europe to decorate Natchez mansions, styled with elements of Greek and Roman architecture. They also ate foods unavailable to the rest of the state’s residents – importing culinary staples from the East Coast and sometimes abroad. Between 1830 and 1860 their wealth exponentially accumulated, as did the number of slaves in the
Mississippi on Stage and Screen
Mississippi has no shortage of stage and screen actors. From the heartthrob movies of Elvis Presley to the poignant scenes of Oprah Winfrey and even the terrifying antics of Darth Vader, Mississippi is bursting with acting talent. It’s no wonder the state in recent years can claim a role in the title of Hollywood South. Here are just a few of our most beloved personalities.
“All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my uncles. I had to fight my brothers. A girl child ain’t safe in a family of men, but I never thought I’d have to fight in my own house!"
Oprah Winfrey, is the producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show, founder of Harpo Productions, and appeared in such memorable movies as “The Color Purple.” Winfrey of Kosciusko, was born to Vernita Lee, a former maid, and Vernon Winfrey, a coal miner, barber and city councilman. Winfrey has been cited as the richest African American of the 20th century.
“Luke, I am your father.”
James Earl Jones, best known as the voice of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy and for his commanding voice declaring “This is CNN,” was born in Arkabutla in 1931. He has appeared on the animated series "The Simpsons" three times and played Mufasa in "The Lion King." Jones returned as the voice of Darth Vader in "Star Wars: Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith" in 2005. Despite struggling with stuttering as a child, Jones is best loved for his deep, authoritative voice.
“You wanna know something? On you, wet is my favorite color.”
Elvis Aaron Presley was born in 1935 in East Tupelo. After graduating from high school in Memphis, Elvis took odd jobs working as a movie theater usher and a truck driver for Crown Electric Company. He began singing locally as “The Hillbilly Cat,” then signed with a local recording company, and then with RCA Records in 1955. In 1956, following his six television appearances on The Dorsey Brothers’ “Stage Show,” Elvis was cast in his first acting role, a supporting part in the 1956 film "Love Me Tender," the first of 33 movies he starred in. READLEGENDS.COM •
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Mississippi's
Medical Legacy "Those who act boldly are recognizing right as well as reality." – John F. Kennedy. “When Dr. James D. Hardy [1918-2003] and his surgical team became the first to successfully transplant a lung from one human to another on June 11, 1963, the remarkable achievement was overshadowed by what also occurred in Jackson on that fateful day – the murder of Civil Rights activist Medgar Evers. “In the space of a few hours the great science that was under way in Mississippi stood alongside the great social upheaval in which our state found itself embroiled. Dr. Martin Dalton, one of Dr. Hardy's residents, delivered the donor lung to the operating room and scrubbed in for the anastomoses. As the chest was being closed, Dr. Dalton was called to the emergency room to see a patient with a gunshot wound to the chest. That patient was Evers, the civil rights worker who had been shot at his home. He died in the emergency department of the University Hospital. “On the evening of January 23, 1964, Dr. Hardy and his team made history again as they performed the first heart transplant into a human … It's hard to imagine what someone does for an encore after having performed the world's first human lung and heart transplants within the space of nine months. Dr. Hardy, of course, found plenty to do. He produced 23 books, 139 book chapters, 466 papers and more than 200 films. He held 36 visiting professorships, and he presented 37 invited lectureships.” – The University of Mississippi Medical Center, umc.edu.
Dr. James D. Hardy
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region and their estimated value. In 1830, there were 75,000 slaves in Mississippi. In 1860, there were 465,000. There were 354,000 white Europeans in the state. The majority of the state’s people were poor. They farmed or participated in one of the region’s few industries. Lumbering and grain milling were most common. Mississippians were also silversmiths, leather workers, metal workers, cotton ginners and carriage makers. (Slaves were also often trained and highly skilled in these industries). In their leisure time, poor whites sang sacred harp and played folk music. Men hunted and fished, and often participated in lodges and clubs. Most families had access to cornmeal and seasonal vegetables that they grew, as well as limited amounts of protein. Slaves had little recreational time and few available foodstuffs. Depending on what part of the state they lived in, some had access to hunting and fishing in their limited leisure time. Slaves’ diets depended on their owner. Most had one meal a day. Some had personal gardens near slaves’ quarters to supplement the minimum owners provided. Most slaves didn’t work on Sundays, but there were exceptions. When allowed, African Americans congregated to worship together, sing and have fellowship. Because some whites feared black fellowship, concerned it represented resistance to white authority, laws limited the ability of black Mississippians to travel and congregate. There were a small number of free people of color in the state, but the state’s
1832 constitution banned manumission, and laws passed in the 1820s presumed all black people in the state to be slaves, strongly discouraging any free person of color from entering the state.
The War and its Aftermath
When Mississippians met to debate secession, the crisis had been brewing for decades. The bulk of the state’s wealth was tied to slaves and cotton, and planter’s controlled the state government. Despite pockets of yeoman resistance, the majority of poor whites also favored secession and rejected the authority of the federal government. The Civil War meant the end of slavery, as well as a new, brief era in black rights. African Americans controlled the Republican Party in the South after the war, registering to vote and being elected to public office for the first time. Black participation in Mississippi civic life was short lived, though. Riots in 1875 left black officials lynched, more than 150 African Americans murdered across the state’s major cities and white Democrats back in control of the government. A new constitution passed in 1890 firmly disenfranchised the state’s African Americans, and ushered in an era of white populist reform and Lost Cause ideology. Late 19th and early 20th century governors advocated for poor whites, ushering in an era of investment in education, public health and infrastructure. The state began working to eradicate yellow fever
and malaria, particularly after devastating outbreaks in the late 1870s. Railroad hubs like Corinth and Meridian boomed; the latter was the largest city in the state between 1890 and 1930, with 44 trains arriving and departing daily. Biloxi and Bay St. Louis residents began to shrimp and oyster, and a fishing industry thrived. While poor whites began to see political and economic gains for the first time, black Mississippians began leaving the state in record numbers.
1917 – Mississippi’s Centennial
As Mississippi prepared to celebrate its centennial, Jim Crow laws firmly dictated social interaction in the South and a record number of African Americans had left the state for northern cities in the first Great Migration. A large population of African Americans remained, often working as tenant farmers or sharecroppers in the Mississippi Delta. Some moved to cities like Jackson for more economic opportunity. Governor Theodore Bilbo planned a centennial fair in Gulfport, but World War I’s beginning in 1914 led to the buildings being converted into a naval training base. A shipbuilding yard was built in Pascagoula during the war, and troops also trained at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg. During this time the Corps of Engineers also began constructing locks and dams on the upper parts of the Mississippi River and attempting to control its flow. They began a 9-foot channelization project in the 1920s,
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman is depicted in is death during the Battle of Champion Hill. The piece is among the estimated $4 billion in artwork contained in the Vicksburg battlefield. (Photograph by Tim Isbell) Scenes from the great flood of 1927 that devastated the Mississippi Delta and changed the course of history there.
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Mississippi's Contributions to Art
George Edgar Ohr (1857–1918), Biloxi, was an American ceramic artist and the self-proclaimed "Mad Potter of Biloxi.” In recognition of his innovative experimentation with modern clay forms from 1880–1910, some consider him a precursor to the American AbstractExpressionism movement. Ohr's work can be viewed at the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi, which houses a large, permanent collection of his work. The oddly-shaped buildings of the campus, designed by Frank Gehry, offer several exhibitions, including a large selection by Ohr. Marie Hull (1890-1980), Summit, was not only a great painter, but an important cultural figure in the South. In fact, any reference to art in Mississippi and the South since the early part of the 20th century would not be complete without her. She fought for greater arts education for the public, and she supported the formation of institutions that would promote and preserve the artistic heritage of each community. Hull's works themselves, whether moving portraits, daring abstracts or glorious landscapes, create a legacy not only of her masterful artistry but of the rapidly changing time and place in which she lived and created her work. Her paintings form a kind of diary of our civilization in the South. Over the course of eight decades, Andrew Bucci (1922-2014) produced a dazzling body of work while establishing a style that was purely his own. This Vicksburg artist left behind a treasure trove of artwork, one that is being rediscovered around the state and country. Influenced in his early career by Marie Hull, viewers of his work can also see traces of Picasso, Braque, Matisse and others of the School of Paris. His landscape paintings have an emotional, joyous, uplifting, happy, healing. Art was on his mind all of the time, not just in the pieces he created, but in his manner, his conversations, his relationships everything ordered thoughtfully and respectfully, with the ultimate goal of having no goal other than making each moment as good as it could possibly be.
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assuming that removing the river’s back channels and cut offs would naturally deepen the main channel. In 1927, the Delta experienced catastrophic flooding, and the Corps was subsequently federally mandated to build levees along the river. The combination of the Great Flood and the Great Depression precipitated a second Great Migration of African Americans out of the state beginning in the 1930s. Forty-two percent of Mississippians were African American, while previously they had remained the state’s majority. As Mississippi entered the mid-20th century, many of its citizens were disenfranchised and schools needed improvement. There was some industry, but jobs were mostly limited to whites. Black Mississippians returned from WWII and wanted voting rights no African Americans had enjoyed in the state since the late 19th century. People were organizing and challenging Mississippi’s Jim Crow laws in court (as well as segregation laws in other parts of the South).
The Civil Rights Movement
Visitors at the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center in Jackson begin their tour experiencing what it was like for James Meredith to enroll and attend the University of Mississippi. A conversation between then Governor Ross Barnett and the Kennedys plays on loop in a room filled with letters written to Meredith in the 1960s. The University of Mississippi opened in 1848 and began admitting women in 1882. The United States Supreme Court handed down their Brown V. Board of Education ruling, requiring integrated schools in 1954, but several years passed before Meredith integrated Ole Miss after winning a court ruling in September 1962. Governor Barnett attempted to block Meredith’s admission. After he was held in contempt of court federal marshals escorted Meredith onto the campus, and a riot ensued during which two people died. The exhibit focuses less on what happens when Meredith initially begins attending the University, and more on the feelings he, his supporters, and his detractors experience. One letter congratulates Meredith and encourages him to stay strong. Another next to it reads: “Dear Nigger, I hope someone kills you.” The exhibit exudes the loneliness he felt, recreating Meredith’s experience in class, sitting alone in a nearly empty room. A group of five or six women reading the letters written to Meredith express shock. “I don’t know how people can be so hateful” says Patrice Newman. “But it also shows you how much things have changed.” “Everything hasn’t changed! People are still in the Klan,” says her friend, April Simmons. Everyone nods, silently. The museum also highlights the life of Medgar Evers, as well as African American contemporary and folk art. Ever’s home, where he was assassinated by Byron de la Beckwith in 1963, also contains a museum that offers tours by appointment. Also in Jackson, on campus
at Jackson State University, COFO (Council of Federated Organizations) has a museum with information about the Civil Rights Movement as well as programming to educate youth and address current policy issues. Ever’s home, the COFO office, and dozens of other important civil rights sites around the state – such as Meridian's two-hour, selfguided Civil Rights Trail – make up the Mississippi Freedom Trail, which commemorates people, places, and events associated with the movement. In October, Emmett Till’s marker in Tallahatchie County was found full of bullet holes. The 1955 murder of 14-year-old Till for allegedly whistling at a white woman galvanized the movement across the country. Patrick Weems, who runs the Delta Interpretive Center in nearby Indianola, is raising money to replace the sign, and says, “It’s sad that acts of racism like this still exist. It’s not good enough to not be racist. We have to actively counteract hateful people and groups.” In conjunction with the Bicentennial, the state will open two additional museums in Jackson adjacent to the Department of Archives and History. One will be dedicated to civil rights. “Mississippi’s civil rights story is inspirational and should be shared worldwide,” says Jacqueline Dace, project manager for the Civil Rights Museum and the Mississippi History Museum. “Veterans of the movement want this history shared inter-generationally, nationally and internationally. And we don’t just want visitors to come to these museums. We want people to visit Fannie Lou Hamer’s exhibit in Ruleville, or the B.B. King Museum, or the exhibit dedicated to Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner in Philadelphia.” James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner registered African American voters as part of Freedom Summer in 1964 and were murdered by white supremacists near Philadelphia at the direction of reputed Klansman Edger Ray Killen. Killen, like many other men involved in murder and intimidation during the civil rights movement, escaped prosecution until 2005. White juries almost always acquitted anyone indicted after attacks against African Americans during the movement and prior. In the 1990s a reporter for the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Jerry Mitchell, began investigating cold civil rights cases, eventually aiding authorities in the conviction of Killen, who is still in prison, as well as Beckwith, Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers, who ordered the firebombing of Vernon Dahmer, and Bobby Cherry, who bombed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. Concurrent with the pain and difficulty of those fighting for African American rights experienced in the South, was a strong community supporting the movement and producing music, art and literature reflecting the struggle for equality and the black experience. Beginning with spirituals and work songs prior to Emancipation, the black community used song and other forms of creative expression to tell their story, and this continued throughout the Civil Rights Movement and beyond. (Source: Mississippi Department of Archives and History) READLEGENDS.COM •
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Mississippi’s Creative Culture It’s impossible to list the number of musicians, artists, writers and creators who have produced work in and about Mississippi. The state birthed the blues, country music and rock 'n' roll. Mississippi also enjoys an impressive art and literary tradition praised internationally. “Mississippi has birthed a wealth of talent that has transformed lives inside and outside the state,” says Marty Gamblin, Executive Director of Meridian's MAEX – Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience – scheduled to open late 2017. “We are creating the MAEX to show the world the best of that talent. This museum is a state-of-the-art experience that people can only have in our state. It’s about seeing the impact that Mississippians have had across the world in an interactive way.” The state also offers a blues trail and a country music trail allowing travelers to learn about luminaries like Elvis, Robert Johnson, Honeyboy Edwards, Jimmie Rodgers and B.B. King, who has his own museum at Indianola's Delta Interpretive Center. “My firm belief is that traditional art has always been at the forefront of Mississippi’s identity,” says Jennifer Jameson, director of Folk and Traditional Arts at the Mississippi Arts Commission. “It helps us articulate what’s unique and special about our state. When you think of the Hill Country you think of Hill Country Blues, and when you think of the Delta you think of Delta blues and hot tamales. These are the things that tell us about everyday life for Mississippians and help communicate our history.” The MAC provides grants to people and organizations, helping to further traditional art across the state. “For me it’s also about artists who use their craft to improve their communities and bring about social change,” says Jameson. “I think good examples of that are the Mississippi Cultural Crossroads in Port Gibson as well as the Tutwiler quilters.” The Mississippi Cultural Crossroads began developing youth programs in the late 1970s to connect southwest Mississippians to their vibrant cultural history, taking high-schoolers on field trips to state museums and blues festivals as well as bringing local quilters and musicians to the fore and supporting their work through artist in residency programs. The organization also focuses on documentation – producing films and photography celebrating social life as well as dramatizing 20th century history in locally staged plays. The Tutwiler quilters also represent a thriving African American art tradition in Mississippi, through which women pass down designs generation after generation. “This is art that builds inter-generational dialogue and presents community-based economic wellness. It’s a living and breathing creativity, which is why it resonates across the world,” Jameson says. Both groups have work on display at the Mississippi Museum of Art, which features a permanent “Mississippi Story” exhibit highlighting some of the state’s great artists. Jameson also points to artists like Coulter Fussell and musicians like
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CLOCKWISE: Jimmie Rodgers was one of the biggest American music stars between 1927 and 1933, arguably doing more to popularize blues than any other performer of his time. He is considered one of the most influential singer-songwriters of all time with artists such as Elvis Presley and Muddy Waters claiming him as important influcences; Zac Harmon performs alongside B.B. King, who is considered one of the most influential vocalists and guitarists of all time (Photograph by Marianne Todd); Mark "River" Peoples ceremoniously beats a drum at the onset of a canoe trip down the Mississippi River. Peoples, a river guide, regularly takes visitors on daily, weekend and overnight adventures of the Mississippi (Photograph by Marianne Todd); Red's, a juke in Clarksdale, is never short on talent and attracts international visitors for its authentic blues. (Photograph by Madge Howell, the Delta Bohemian)
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Sharde Thomas as keepers of a dynamic arts tradition in the Mississippi Hill Country. “Coulter is a third generation quilter with a studio in Water Valley. She’s maintaining this tradition that’s a part of the South but she’s also bringing in media from across the country, like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, to experience Mississippi art.” Yalo Studio’s current exhibit features quilts from Ethel Lea Benson, a Water Valley woman born in 1923 whose grandson collected more than a dozen of her quilts which now make up the show, five of which Ethel constructed from her husband’s denim work clothes in the '50s and '60s. Sharde Thomas carries on the area’s fife playing tradition her grandfather, Otha Turner, helped make famous with the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band. “It’s cultural sustainability, as she’s the granddaughter of two black direct descendants of the fife playing tradition. It’s beautiful to see her taking ownership of the yearly picnic and other surrounding events and programs, having conversations with different artists and bringing different perspectives and genres into that, but ultimately maintaining a hyperlocal tradition,” says Jameson. It’s about an hour’s drive west from the Otha Turner picnic in Senatobia to Red’s in Clarksdale, where locals and visitors come to hear Delta blues, one of the country’s oldest forms of music. The blues came out of the Delta more than a century ago, when African American men and women turned their experiences into songs that have touched people across the world. At juke joints like Red’s, lifelong Clarksdale residents mingle with tourists from Sweden, who come to the Delta to hear its music in real life and to see the Big River. “Red’s is the real deal,” says Mark "River" Peoples, who lives next door and takes tourists as well as
groups of local youth on trips up and (mostly) down the river on giant wooden canoes with the Quapaw Canoe Company. “We send people there or to Bluesberry Café for music before trips.” The Mississippi Blues Trail marks places like Red’s, as well as other important spots in blues history, all across the state. Birthplaces, churches, graves, museums, venues, and even foods, are all marked. In Rosedale one marker celebrates the hot tamale reflective of the Delta’s cultural diversity and memorialized in Robert Johnson’s 1936 song, “They’re Red Hot.” The state also participates in the Southern Literary Trail, which includes authors in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Mississippi’s writers include William Faulkner and Richard Wright and Eudora Welty, among several others. At Welty’s home in Jackson visitors see glimpses into the depth of Mississippi’s literary tradition through Eudora’s extensive collection of letters. She wrote Willie Morris, Ellen Douglas, Elizabeth Spencer, Walker Percy, Richard Ford and many others. The home also includes translations of Welty’s work; copies of her short stories and novels that exist all over the world in dozens of languages. She is particularly loved in France. “Eudora knew Mississippi was a special kind of place. She understood the people and the places so deeply, and she captured so many different emotions through them – loss, meanness, suffering, love, happiness, and above all, the importance of place,” says Cindy Lyons, docent at Eudora Welty’s home. “She addressed all aspects of the human condition in her work.”
LEFT: A scene from the B.B. King Museum in Indianola explores the history and importance of this musical legend on the world. ABOVE: The Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience in Meridian is due to open its doors in late 2017 to expose the world to the significant contributions of Mississippi's artists, performers and writers.
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MISSISSIPPI GIANTS
From the Cradle of American Music
Robert Johnson, born in Hazlehurst in 1911, was one of the most important American blues musicians of all time. His poorly documented life and untimely death at the age of 27 has produced many legends about the honored musician. The most famous one being the story that he sold his soul to the devil at a Mississippi highway crossroads in exchange for musical talent and success. While he didn’t receive much commercial success in life, many musicians credit him as an important influence. Eric Clapton described Johnson as “the most important blues singer that ever lived.” Johnson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986 and is ranked fifth in Rolling Stone magazine’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” Jimmie Rodgers was born in Meridian in 1897. He was a country singer, mostly known for his rhythmic yodeling, and was known as “The Singing Brakeman,” “The Blue Yodeler” and “The Father of Country Music.” Enamored with music at a young age, Rodgers began organizing traveling shows before 13. Each time he was stopped and brought back by his father until he started his first job as a water boy for a railroad. Here he further developed his guitar skills and was exposed to the work chants of the African-American railroad workers. Rodgers didn’t achieve commercial success until 1927 when he secured a weekly spot on Asheville, North Carolina's first radio station with his group called the Tenneva Ramblers. Rodgers was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961 when it first opened, and was one of three to be inducted alongside Fred Rose and Hank Williams. Rodgers was one of the biggest American music stars between 1927 and 1933, arguably doing more to popularize blues than any other performer of his time. He is considered one of the most influential singer-songwriters of all time with artists such as Elvis Presley and Muddy Waters claiming him as important influences. Since 1953, Meridian’s Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Festival has been held every May in honor of the anniversary of his death. Howlin’ Wolf, born Chester Arthur Burnett, was a Chicago blues singer from White Station. Wolf is one of the best known Chicago blues musicians ever. It has been said by Cub Koda that, “no one could match Howlin’ Wolf for the singular ability to rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its patrons out of its wits.” Wolf received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for his song
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“Smokestack Lightning.” That song, along with his songs “Spoonful” and “The Red Rooster” are listed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.” B.B. King, born September 1925 in Itta Bena, was one of the most influential electric blues guitarists of all time. King was well known for his tireless performing schedule, often appearing at more than 200 concerts per year, even well into his 70s. Like many blues guitarists, King first found inspiration at his church and in 1949 he began recording with Los Angeles-based RPM Records. Following his first R&B hit “3 O’Clock Blues,” he became one of the most important names in R&B of the 1950s with multiple hits including, “You Know You Love Me,” “Every Day I Have The Blues” and “Sweet Little Angel.” In 1956 he began his own record label, Blues Boys Kingdom. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 before his death on May 14, 2015.
Bo Diddley, also known as “The Originator,” was born in 1928 in McComb. He was an R&B and Chicago blues singer, guitarist, songwriter and music producer who played a key role in the transition from blues to rock 'n' roll and influenced many artists, including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, the Who and Jimi Hendrix. His use of African rhythms and a signature five-accent hambone beat is a cornerstone of hip-hop, rock and pop. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received multiple Lifetime Achievement Awards and a Grammy Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Willie Dixon, often called "the poet laureate of the blues," was born in Vicksburg in 1915. As a songwriter, producer, arranger and bass player, Dixon shaped the sound of Chicago blues in the 1950s and '60s with songs such as "Seventh Son," "Little Red Rooster," "Hoochie Coochie Man," "My Babe" and "Wang Dang Doodle." Dixon traced many of his works back to poems and songs he heard or wrote as a youth in Vicksburg. Dixon’s impact reached far beyond the African American blues market. He played a key role in promoting and booking blues in
Celebrating the Bicentennial and Looking Ahead
At the Old Capitol Museum in downtown Jackson, an exhibit
looking at the state’s future offers visitors an opportunity to leave suggestions for Mississippi legislators. Curators have arranged Europe in the 1960s, and covers of his songs by the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and others sold millions of copies. He subsequently toured and recorded several albums with his band, the Chicago Blues All Stars. His achievements earned him induction into both the Rock and Roll and Blues Halls of Fame. Charley Pride is a country music singer born in 1934 in Sledge. He was the best selling performer for RCA Records since Elvis Presley and had 52 Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 29 of which were No. 1 hits. Pride is one of the few African Americans to have success in the country music industry and one of only three to be inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000. Leotyne Price was born and raised in Laurel. She was one of the first African Americans to become a leading artist at the Metropolitan Opera. Her voice has been characterized as “vibrant,” “soaring” and “a Price beyond pearls,” as well as “genuinely buttery, carefully produced but firmly under control.” Price garnered many awards and accolades, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Spingarn Medal, the Kennedy Center Honors, the National Medal of Arts and 19 Grammy Awards for her operatic and song recitals and full operas. She was one of the first recipients of the Opera Honors given by the National Endowment for the Arts and has more awards than any other classical singer. Hubert Sumlin was a Chicago blues guitarists born in 1931 in Greenwood. Best known for his “wrenched shattering bursts of notes, sudden cliff-hanger silences and daring rhythmic suspensions” as a member of Howlin’ Wolf’s band. He was ranked number 43 in Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” McKinley Morganfield was better known by his stage name Muddy Waters. He was a blues musician born in Issaquena County in 1913. He is considered the “father of modern Chicago blues.” Waters received six Grammy Awards and has had four songs listed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.” Muddy Waters’ influence is tremendous, not only on blues and R&B but on rock 'n' roll, hard rock, folk, jazz and country music. His pioneering use of amplification is cited as the link between Delta blues and rock 'n' roll.
handwritten cards above the suggestion box, and they illustrate that Mississippi continues to be a state with a variety of opinions and people. One person says, “Ban the confederate flag,” while a card nearby reads, “Keep the state flag.” Another Mississippian wants to “repeal gay marriage,” in contrast to a nearby message reading, “Allow gay marriage.”
The state’s bicentennial comes at a time of political divide that
reaches across the country and immediately follows an election that pitted people against each other far more often than it brought them together. But now is a time to remember the things about Mississippi that unite us.
“At MAC the bicentennial presents an opportunity to look at the
state’s incredible artistic accomplishments as well as celebrate what’s happening now,” says Jameson. “We are working with the Mississippi Museum of Art to develop a K-12 arts integrated curriculum in partnership with the bicentennial exhibition. We are also developing programing that showcases documentary work for the bicentennial folk life survey. It’s new fieldwork documenting the traditions of our state.”
The state’s tourism and development offices also have events
planned year round, culminating with a concert celebration in Jackson December 9 coinciding with the opening of the two new museums. “We are shaping a year-long calendar of Bicentennial events happening in all 82 counties,” says Craig Ray, director of Visit Mississippi. “There will be a South Mississippi concert April 1 in Gulfport and a North Mississippi concert June 24 in Oxford, which we are planning in close collaboration with the Mississippi Department of Archives and History as well as the Mississippi Tourism Association and the Governor’s Office.”
As we come together to celebrate 200 years of statehood, it’s
important to remember everything that makes Mississippi the place that it is. People from around the world visit Mississippi, falling in love with our vibrant, unique culture. The bicentennial means celebrating everything that made that culture, without reservation.
“Every day Mississippians are ambassadors of food, art, film,
literature, music and business,” says Glenn McCullough, Jr., executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority. “The bicentennial is a time to honor our unique history and look forward to a future of promise. We invite people around the world to have their own Mississippi experience.”
L
Photographs by Marianne Todd READLEGENDS.COM •
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Want to know more?
FAR LEFT BOTTOM: TOP FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: ??? ABOVE: ???
Mississippi Mound Trail – trails.mdah.ms.gov Smith Robertson Museum, Jackson Old Capitol Museum, Jackson Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson Mississippi Blues Trail – bluestrail.org Mississippi Country Music Trail – mscountrymusictrail.org Mississippi Freedom Trail mississippibluestravellers.com/mississippi-freedom-trail Ida B. Wells Museum, Holly Springs Southern Literary Trail – southernliterarytrail.org Jacqueline House African American Museum, Vicksburg Mississippi Grammy Museum, Cleveland Mississippi Rock and Blues Museum, Clarksdale Mississippi 1927 Flood Museum, Greenville Gateway to the Blues, Tunica
TOP: A scene depicting the completion of the Civil Rights Museum in Jackson. BOTTOM: A scene from the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center in Jackson. (Photograph by Kenyatta Stewart).
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Temple Theatre for the Performing Arts
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Come to Greenville-Washington County to reboot your energy and renew your spirit. Around here, it’s not hard to find a music festival, a quirky museum, or a hot tamale that’ll blister your tongue. But dig a little deeper, ask a few nosy questions, and that’s when the real adventure begins. Join us for some of the most fun this side of – dare we say paradise? 5th Annual Delta Hot Tamale Festival 6th Annual “Jim Henson” Frog Fest, Leland
October 13th - 15th October 22nd
Native American Days at Winterville Mounds
October 26th - 29th
52nd Annual Christmas on Deer Creek
December 1st - 31st
Greenville - Washington County. More than meets the eye. www.visitgreenville.org 1-800-467-3582
Convention & Visitors Bureau READLEGENDS.COM •
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Stone Senate’s latest release “Star City” was celebrated Nov. 29 in Nashville at High Watt.
STORY FROM NASHVILLE, TENN.
The Southern Dudes of
Rockin’ Hard and Livin’ Large By STEPHEN CORBETT They are loud and proud, unabashedly opinionated and rowdy.
W
ith three scorching guitarists, this Nashville-based band plays music that could only be born out of the southern United States. On paper, it would be too easy to view Stone Senate as a retread of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and while the Southern Rock explosion of the 1970s is a definite influence on both their image and sound, they are not a retro act.
Lead singer and guitarist Clint Woolsey’s voice is a closer to Lucero’s Ben Nichols than he is to any of the Van Zandt brothers. Likewise, the band’s three-guitar attack of Woolsey, Marcus Brown and James Beau Edwards bears some of the post-grunge influence found in bands like the Drive-By Truckers. Rounding out the group is the rock-solid rhythm section of brothers David (drums) and Paul Zettler (bass), whom Edwards affectionately refers to as “the Mississippi Mud Brothers.” In an age where musicians are composing music on computers and marketing their sound via viral internet videos, Stone Senate is content to doing things the old-fashioned way, touring almost non-stop, bringing their organic Southern rock sound to clubs of all sizes across the United States – and it hasn’t gone unnoticed. Through the years, they’ve shared the stage with acts as diverse as The Scorpions’ Uli John Roth, the hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia, and outlaw country singer Whitey Morgan.
They are loud
AND PROUD, unabashedly opinionated
AND ROWDY. READLEGENDS.COM •
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“The long drives to the shows can be a pain in the ass sometimes,”
Edwards says, “but we just love playing music for people. That’s the real love.” The Uber rides back to the motel can sometimes be just as entertaining as the shows, he says.
CATCH THEM LIVE
DEC 2 DEC 3 DEC 9 DEC 10 DEC 17 DEC 31 JAN 13 JAN 14
POP A TOP, PEKIN, INDIANA
This is a band whose members derive as much joy from playing
music as they do being in the same room.
“The great thing about the band is everybody has something to
bring to the table, both in personality and musically,” David Zettler says. “We all have fun when we’re together. Sure, we argue at times, but we make up real quick. We’ve learned that there’s no reason to hold on
SOHO, COLUMBUS, GEORGIA
to stupid shit. It’s like we grew up together in the same household.”
HOOVER’S BAR & GRILL, KEYSER, WEST VIRGINIA
Soundgarden and Waylon Jennings.
BRYAN & BRENT’S PLACE, WESTON, WEST VIRGINIA
HUMPHREY’S, HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA
ECHO LOUNGE, MERIDIAN, MISSISSIPPI
BILLY’S CLUBHOUSE, MACON, GEORGIA
THE HUMMINGBIRD, MACON, GEORGIA
Stone Senate’s signature sound comes from years of playing
together and the members’ diverse musical influences, everything from
The band’s origins go back to the early 2000s, when Nashville
natives Woolsey and Brown began playing and writing together. Brown took a brief hiatus to start a family, and in his absence, Woolsey collaborated with several other musicians, including Paul Zettler, who hails from Meridian, Mississippi. After adding Paul’s brother, drummer David Zettler to the line-up, they released their first EP, titled “1” in 2014. With the addition of their newest member, James Beau Edwards (also from Meridian), on third guitar, the current version of the group was solidified and ready to head back into the studio.
Their undying loyalty to real music being performed on actual
instruments caught the attention of producer Kenny Olson, who played in Kid Rock’s Twisted Brown Trucker Band from 1994-2005, who became, Brown says, the engine who got the train rolling along the tracks.
“He really took it to that place,” Woolsey says. “We went through
so many different amps in the recording process to get different sounds out of our guitars. There’s nothing better than having a guitar player produce a record for guitar-based band, especially when you have three guitar players in the band. He had a great understanding of what we were going for.”
“The best part about working with these guys,” Olson interjects,
“is that they are all about bringing the soul back into music. And they just have such a unique style. They take elements from so many genres of music and they play it so organically that not one song sounds like the other. But it all sounds like Stone Senate. A lot of producers try to bring in their own sound, but with these guys, I was able to just go in and hit record and let them tear it up.”
The new album, “Star City,” was released digitally on Black
Friday with physical copies to follow on compact disc and vinyl. Olson employed some old school recording techniques that he borrowed from legends like Eddie Kramer to help capture the infectious sound of the
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band.
In addition to the production work from Olson, “Star City” was
mixed by Toby Wright, who worked on several of Alice in Chains’ classic albums and features guest spots from Peter “Keys” Pisarczyk of Parliament-Funkadelic and Bekka Bramlett.
According to the band, the record sounds like “a bunch of
Southern guys recorded in the studio with a dude who has that Detroit sensibility.”
“There’s a Star City in Arkansas where Marcus’ family is from,”
Edwards says of the album’s title. “But there are Star Cities in several other states and countries around the world. But as a writer, it’s also struck me as a bit of a metaphor for a mythical sort of place where people would go to make their dreams come true, and that naturally leads one to imagine the dark underbelly of such a place as well. Who knows what such a place would hold for all the different people who sought their fortunes there? It conjures a lot of different images for me.”
Zettler jokes that other titles considered were “David Zettler and
the Stone Senate” … but that got thrown out real quick. That one and “Bobbin’ For Possums.”
The first single from “Star City,” “Martha,” is a blend of funky hard
rock that recalls both Led Zeppelin and Mother’s Finest and has been making an impact on rock ‘n’ roll, adult alternative and Americana stations. Videos for “Martha” and “Hell I Waited,” a song originally recorded on “1,” are scheduled for release by the end of the year.
The band broke long enough to celebrate the release of “Star
City” on Nov. 29 at High Watt in Nashville, then headed back into the studio with Olson to begin work on new material.
L
THEY TAKE ELEMENTS FROM SO MANY GENRES
OF MUSIC AND THEY PLAY IT SO
ORGANICALLY
THAT NOT ONE SONG SOUNDS LIKE THE OTHER.
BUT IT ALL SOUNDS LIKE
STONE SENATE.
~ PRODUCER KENNY OLSON READLEGENDS.COM •
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Official Opening of the Season
A
Mistletoe Jam
Champagne & Jazz
Featuring
Mo Hubbard Trio
Reception
Dinner Dance Party Featuring
TheOxford AllStars
Friday December 2nd 7 p.m. - 11 p.m.
First & Green
READLEGENDS.COM •
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Frank Jones Blues Challenge hosted by Dexter Allen
Enjoy over 120 years of automotive history! 1 Otis Blvd., Tupelo, MS 662-842-4242 www.tupeloautomuseum.com
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303 N. Farish St. Jackson, MS www.fjonescorner.com
jello shot with every purchase
Every Thursday 10pm-until
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Clarksdale, Miss. Jan 28-30 .... Clarksdale Film Festival. Featuring a variety of movies, music, workshops, special guests and more. For tickets or information call (662) 624-5992 or visit clarksdalefilmfestival.com. Columbus, Miss. Dec 17 …. Columbus Holiday Gift Fair, Trotter Convention Center, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. One-of-a-kind gifts featuring arts, crafts, jewelry, clothing, wood, music, photography, toys, Christmas décor and more. Shoppers will also enjoy coffee, chocolates, pasta, soups, dips, meats, cakes, chili, sauces and more. For more information, visit visitcolumbus.org. Destin, Fla. Dec 31 .... New Years Eve at HarborWalk Village. Fireworks at 8 p.m. and midnight and a Ball Drop Countdown to finish the night off in style. Three different venues: Grande Gala featuring Chef-Prepared Dinner, live music by Cool Rayz and champagne in formal attire ($125 per person); Cocktails and Countdown with an hors d’ouvers buffet, music by DJ Zoran and champagne ($55 per person); and the Street Party at 7 p.m. featuring music by Flow Tribe and Departure: The Journey Tribute Band. Free. Call (850) 424-0622 or visit emeraldgrande.com for tickets. Dec 11 .... Destin Boat Parade at HarborWalk Village from 6-8 p.m. The Boat Parade will light up the harbor beginning at 6 p.m. with fireworks following the parade and firespinning on the HarborWalk Village’s main stage with Just Add Fire. For more information call (850) 837-6611 or visit emeraldgrande.com. Hammond, La. Dec 3-4, 10-11 …. Louisiana Renaissance Festival. Guests can enjoy a wide range of performances and attractions including a live jousting arena, sword fights, jesters, comedy shows, jugglers, knighting ceremonies, falconry, animal acts, fire eating and puppet shows for kids. Admission prices vary. For tickets and more information, visit la-renfest.com Hattiesburg, Miss. Dec 2-3 .... Peer Gynt at the University of Southern Mississippi. Peery Gynt is a dreamer, a liar and an adventurer. Cast out from his hometown, Peer embarks on a wild and astonishing journey in search of fame and fortune that takes him from Norway to Africa and eventually back again. This is an exhilarating tale of a life lived on the edge. Ibsen’s grand-scale pageant on the existential questions of mankind. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $14. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit southernmisstickets.com or 1 (800) 844-TICK. Dec 6 .... National Theatre Live: Hamlet at USM’s Tatum Theatre. National Theatre Live’s production of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” starring British superstar Benedict Cumberbatch. The one-night-only cinema broadcast is set for 7:30 p.m. As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father’s death but paralyzed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament. Tickets are $15 for general admission. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit southernmisstickets.com or call 1(800) 844-TICK. Hernando, Miss. Jan 20-29 .... Kudzu Playhouse presents Romeo and Juliet. Single show tickets are $17 adult, $12 seniors age 55 & up and students/ children; children under 3 are free. Check date for Community Partner Night. Community Partner Nights tickets are $5, with 20 percent of all ticket receipts going to a local non-profit organization. Open donations will also be accepted on the same night for the charity of choice. Each show’s cast is involved in selecting the organization for their particular Community Partner Night. For more information, call (888) 429-7871 or visit kudzuplayers.com. Jackson, Miss. Dec 9-July 8 …. Picturing Mississippi, 1817-2017: Land of Plenty, Pain, and Promise, an exhibit commemorating the Mississippi bicentennial by presenting the rich legacy of more than two centuries of Mississippi visual arts, the Mississippi Museum of Art, 380 South Lamar St., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost is $12 adults, $10 seniors, $6 students and free for children 5 and under. For more information, visit msmuseumart.org or phone (601) 960-1515. Dec 17-18 .... Light has Come, The Angels’ Story, a Ballet Magnificat 30th Anniversary production, Thalia Mara Hall, 7 p.m. on Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, phone (601) 977-1001, or purchase tickets at balletmagnificat.com. Jan 7 …. Mississippi Blues Marathon by BlueCross BlueShield of Mississippi, downtown Jackson. Live music before, after and throughout the course, with a portion of proceeds going to the Blues Foundation, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit msbluesmarathon. com/blues-news.html or phone (601) 624-7882.
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Meridian, Miss. Throughout December … The 48th Annual Trees of Christmas at Merrehope and the historic F. W. Williams home, 905 Martin Luther King Dr. Memorial Drive. Visit more than 20 Christmas trees and learn the histories behind their looks while touring Meridian’s only antebellum home. To book a tour, or for more information, contact Betty Lou Jones at (601) 483-8439 or visit merrehope.com. Dec 1 …. Jessica Lang Dance, one of the country’s most talked about dance troupes, MSU Riley Center, 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit msurileycenter.com Dec 3 …. Peppermint Pops, Meridian Symphony Orchestra at the MSU Riley Center, 7 p.m. For more information, visit msurileycenter. com. Dec 8 .... Oak Ridge Boys Christmas Night Out, MSU Riley Center, 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit msurileycenter.com. Jan 17 .... Wynton Marsalis, The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and its musical director, trumpet viruoso Wynton Marsalis, carry the banner of America’s magnificent jazz legacy in all itspermutations, MSU Riley Center, 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit msurileycenter. com. Natchez, Miss. Throughout December …. Jeweled Christmas Tour at The Towers, an exciting extravaganza of vintage costumed jewelry in one of Natchez’ most notable homes, 10 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Other tours vary. $20 for adults and $15 per child 8-12 years. Group rates of 20 or more are $15 per person. For more information, contact The Towers at (601) 446-6890, or to purchase tickets online, contactTourology, Rene Adams at (601) 660-7300 or tourologysales@gmail.com. Throughout December …. Walking Tours of downtown through Rolling River Bistro, 7 p.m., $25 per person, includes “spirit” from Bistro. For tickets contact Natchez Pilgrimage Tours at (601) 446-6631. Dec 10 .... Decorating Gingerbread Houses at Natchez Coffee Company, 2-5 p.m. Open to the public. Limited space available to the first 20 children to register. To reserve your spot, call Natchez Coffee Company at (601) 304-1415. Memphis, Tenn. Through Jan 8 …. Christmas at Graceland, featuring hundreds of blue lights along the driveway, a life-sized Nativity scene, Santa and his sleigh and a decked home in Christmas Elvis holiday décor, including red velvet drapes and Presley family Christmas artifacts. For more information, phone (901) 332-3322 or visit elvis.com. Throughout December …. Starry Nights, the biggest holiday light show and festival in the region. Thousands of LEDs brighten up Shelby Farms Park for drivers, featuring Mistletoe Village and the Woodland Discovery Playground, which has been transformed into a winter wonderland. Camel rides, shopping, s’mores, petting zoo, pony rides, carriage rides, visit with Santa Claus. Prices and schedules vary. For more information, visit starrycarriagerides.com. Tupelo, Miss. Dec 8-11 .... Disney On Ice presents Dream Big at the BancorpSouth Arena. Join the Disney Princesses as they remind you to always be strong, kind and fearless. High-flying jumps, daring acrobatics, breathtaking skating and lovable Disney friends make this an experience your family will never forget. Phone (662) 841-6528 for more information. Jan 17 .... The Harlem Globetrotters, BancorpSouth Arena. Experience the thrilling showmanship and athletic prowess of the worldfamous Harlem Globetrotters. Tickets range from $25.50 to $68.50. Call (662) 841-6528 for more information. Jan 26-28 .... Cicada at the Tupelo Community Theater. Written by Amory native Jerre Dye, this highly acclaimed drama set in rural Mississippi is a coming-of-age ghost story deeply rooted in the life of a small southern family on the verge of transformation. The unrelenting July heat presses in on seventeen-year-old Ace and his mother Lily as they dig their way out of the past. It’s a story about letting go and shedding what is no longer necessary in a world full of secrets, ghosts and memories that hold on tight. Show starts at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday with an additional 2 p.m. matinee and 7:30 p.m. showing on Saturday. Tickets are $18 for adults. Call (662) 844-1935 or visit tctwebstage.com for tickets and information. Southhaven, Miss. Dec 2-4 .... DeSoto Family Theatre presents “Meet Me In St. Louis.” Based on the heartwarming film of the same name, “Meet Me In St. Louis” takes audience members on a musical journey back to the early 1900s, on the brink of the 1904 World’s Fair. In the show’s center are the Smiths, a humble middle-class family. This musical is filled with nonstop entertainment featuring memorable musical numbers such as “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “The Boy Next Door,” and “A Day In New York.” Tickets are $15-$30. For more information, phone (662) 280-6546 or visit dftonline.org. Jan 28-29 .... Repticon Memphis Reptile & Exotic Animal Show. Repticon is a reptile event featuring vendors offering reptile pets, supplies, feeders, cages and merchandise as well as live animal seminars and frequent free raffles for coveted prizes. Exciting, educational, family-oriented fun for everyone! Admission $10 adults, $5 children 5-12 years and free under age 5.For tickets and information phone (863) 268-4273 or visit repticon.com.
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WHEN YOU THINK ARTS THINK SOUTHERN MISS
Art and Design
Dance
ARTS INSTITUTE OF MISSISSIPPI The University of Southern Mississippi
Music
Creative Writing
Theatre
Entertainment Industry
AA/EOE/ADAI
Visit our calendar of upcoming events: usm.edu/arts Film Studies
Located in Downtown Meridian 2212 8th Street Meridian, MS 39301
Open Monday - Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Open Saturday 10:00 am to 2:00 pm
601.693.6071 contactus@labichejewelers.com labichejewelers