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WWW.USM.EDU/MUSIC THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA and
MAESTRO’S FAVORITE
Mahler Symphony No. 5 28 March 7:30 p.m. Bennett Auditorium Hattiesburg, Miss. Maestro Jay Dean takes to the podium to lead The USM Symphony Orchestra in one of his personal favorites in celebration of his 25th season. Gustav Mahler’s fifth symphony represents the composer at his most innovative and creative period. Mahler was a very complex person and composer. This complexity is reflected in this symphony, which contains some of the most brilliant and profound symphonic music ever written.
WWW.NATCHEZFESTIVALOFMUSIC.COM
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A Bel Canto Gala with
Paul Groves
International Opera Superstar also featuring Lucas Meachem, Emily Pulley, Maryann Kyle, and Robert Grayson
11 May 7 p.m. Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center Natchez, Miss. Come for the music, stay for the experience! The month of May finds music in the air in historic Natchez. From musicals like Kiss Me Kate to Verdi’s Rigoletto and everything in between! Don’t miss this Natchez Festival of Music Signature Event as these international operatic superstars take the stage in Natchez.
WWW.FESTIVALSOUTH.ORG
FestivalS uth 8 - 22 JUNE 2013
Join the city-wide celebration during FestivalSouth’s® exciting fourth season! Mississippi’s only multi-week, multi-genre arts festival, offers both free and ticketed events to local residents and cultural tourists. From Broadway to the blues and visual to culinary art, Hattiesburg is the place to be!
Friday, April 12, 2013
Aaron Neville 7:30 p.m. Pre-Show Party 6:00 p.m.
Friday, April 19, 2013
Boz Scaggs 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Jewel 7:30 p.m. Pre-Show Party 6:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
The Blues Brothers® Revue 7:30 p.m.
Friday, May 17, 2013
The Time Jumpers featuring Vince Gill, Dawn Sears, Kenny Sears and Ranger Doug Green 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Keb’ Mo’ 7:30 p.m. Pre-Show Party 6:00 p.m.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds 7:30 p.m. Pre-Show Party 6:00 p.m.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Don McLean 7:30 p.m. Pre-Show Party 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
“The Heart Behind the Music” featuring Kim Carnes, John Ford Coley, Gene Cotton, Lenny LeBlanc, with special guest Greg Barnhill 7:30 p.m.
Friday, August 2, 2013
The Hit Men 7:30 p.m.
Join us for Pre-Show Parties in the Grand Lobby before select shows.
2200 5th Street • Meridian, Mississippi 601-696-2200 • www.msurileycenter.com
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CONTENTS MARCH / APRIL 2013
MUSIC PUBLISHER AND PRESIDENT ��������������������Marianne Todd CO-PUBLISHER AND DIRECTOR OF MARKETING ���������������������������������Ken Flynt CREATIVE DIRECTOR / DESIGNER ���������������������� Shawn T. King WEB GURU / DRAGON SLAYER ����������������������������Chris Banks
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David Battaglia - 601-421-8654 David@MississippiLegends.com Daphene Hendricks - 662-871-6832 DHendricks@MississippiLegends.com Ken Flynt, Director of Marketing - 601-479-3351 Ken@MississippiLegends.com
Natchez Hosts the Festival of Music
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The International Blues Challenge
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Thunder in his Hands
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Copyright 2013. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or reprinted without express permission of 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. LEGENDS is free within the State of Mississippi and is distributed through tourism offices, welcome centers, restaurants, theaters, casinos and institutions of higher learning. If your business, agency or industry would like to offer LEGENDS, please contact us at Editor@ MississippiLegends.com. LEGENDS is available outside the State of Mississippi at fine retailers everywhere. Please contact us for a list of where to find. For more information, write to Editor@MississippiLegends.com. More information, including a comprehensive, up-to-date calendar, may be found at www.MississippiLegends.com
ABOUT OUR COVER Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman is depicted in his death during the Battle of Champion Hill. The piece is among the estimated $4 billion in artwork contained in the Vicksburg battlefield. This year, Vicksburg celebrates 150 years since her siege. Cover photo by photojournalist Tim Isbell. For more information about Isbell’s books on America’s battlefields, please visit www.timisbell.com.
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Mississippi’s bluesmen electrify the Memphis stage
From “Black Snake Moan” to “The Great Debators,” Alvin Youngblood
In the Spotlight
The Juliet Collective, Mississippi’s hand-made pedal creator
FEATURES
Contributing writers: Stephen Corbett, Kara Martinez Bachman, Joe Lee, James Duke Denton, Shirley Waring
Web calendar tech: James Sharp (www.MississippiLegends.com) Email calendar submissions to James@MississippiLegends.com
Greats from the Met to highlight the 23rd annual event
Hart revs it up
Editorial - 601-604-2963 Editor@MississippiLegends.com
Contributing photographers: Tim Isbell, Michael Barrett, James Edward Bates, Joe Worthem, Emily Tillman, Candise Kola, Sally Durkin
Jimbo Mathus tours his new release with the Tri-State Coalition
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ADVERTISING SALES Ruth Vinson - 601-616-4993 Ruth@MississippiLegends.com
White Buffalo
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From Battles to Bronzes
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The Abstract Art of Catron Williams
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From Books to Nooks
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What’s Shakin’ Around the State?
Vicksburg celebrates 150 years since her siege
Inspiration and color straight from God’s palette
Mom & pop booksellers face challenges in the age of digital reads
Find out what’s happening in your neck of the woods
CULINARY 57
At Vince’s Restaurant It really is all about the food
Tim Isbell
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Casual yet Classic French Dining meets Southern Hospitality CHECK OUT OUR SUNDAY BRUNCH & HAPPY HOUR SPECIALS
361 Township Avenue, Ridgeland, MS 39157 • 601.707.0587 • anjourestaurant.net MISSISSIPPILEGENDS.COM 9
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Jimbo Mathus
MARCH. APRIL 2013
MUSIC FEATURE
White
Buffalo Jimbo Mathus and the Tri-State Coalition hit the road with a new release WORDS BY STEPHEN CORBETT PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOE WORTHEM
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ore than 15 years after the band reached the height of its popularity, Jimbo Mathus is probably still most widely known for his founding role in the North Carolina-based Squirrel Nut Zippers, a major force in the swing revival movement of the mid 1990s. The band called it quits in 2000, and Mathus moved back to Mississippi. He spent the next few years touring with Buddy Guy and recording with him on the Grammy nominated album “Sweet Tea” and the Grammy Award winning album “Blues Singer.” Being reinvigorated by his reconnection with the music of his home state, Mathus started the Delta Recording Service studio in Clarksdale in 2003. In the years that followed, the north Mississippi musician released a number of solo recordings on a variety of small labels and helped form the South Memphis String Band with Luther Dickinson and Alvin Youngblood Hart. Despite the quality of his work, it wasn’t achieving the high profile that he once enjoyed with the Squirrel Nut Zippers. But with one of the best producers of roots music on his side and a record deal with Mississippi-based Fat Possum
Records (R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, the Black Keys and Solomon Burke), things seem to be turning around. “White Buffalo,” released in January, is an album with a classic sound that could easily be the cousin of the Rolling Stones’ 1971 classic “Sticky Fingers” despite the fact that it began to come to life in a very 2000s way – through social networking. “I had been talking to Matt Pierce (guitarist in Mathus’ backing band the Tri-State Coalition) on the net about two summers ago,” said producer Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, an original member of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and a former member of Steve Earle & the Dukes. “I really liked the ‘Confederate Buddha’ album that they’d put out in 2011. So, Jimbo came up to my place in Brooklyn, and we started talking. Jimbo’s produced a lot of people, but I got the impression that he was ready for some help on this one so that he could focus strictly on the performing.” Mathus next turned to Kickstarter, a web site in which people gain funding through pledge drives for creative projects, from films to music. Mathus set a goal of $14,000 to cover the costs MISSISSIPPILEGENDS.COM
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of recording and production, studio upgrades and travel and lodging for Ambel. Incentives ranged from advance downloads of songs from the forthcoming album to a private concert from Mathus. The private party also came with the added incentive that “Jimbo will be more than happy to cook a pot of gumbo, smoke some ribs or fry some fish for you and your crew.” When time expired on the Kickstarter project, Mathus had raised $15,650. “The band and I demoed about 20-something songs for the project, and I sent them to Roscoe and let him pick the songs. Some I’d recently written, and some I’d had around for a while. Some songs don’t make sense to you until you pull them back out
1968-1972, despite that the band ran through a gamut of music genres that most bands never do. “White Buffalo” manages to succeed at the same feat. In 33 minutes, Mathus & the Tri-State Coalition take the listener on a trip through the various sounds of the South without sounding like a random iTunes playlist. Beginning with the mandolin and crunchy telecasters of “In the Garden,” which warns us “In the garden there lived something wicked. If you see something looking, don’t look into its eyes” to the closing refrains of the alt. country-ish “Useless Heart,” Mathus and company do not let up for a second. “I don’t consciously do that,” Mathus said of his genre-hopping. “I’ve always been like that. It’s all
years later.” In addition to choosing the songs, Ambel gave advice on arrangements and lyrical content. “I just look at that as part of the producer process nowadays,” Ambel explained. “Years ago, you would have an A and R guy do that, but there aren’t too many of them around these days. ‘Tennessee Walker Mare,’ for example, was sprawling. That was a really hard song to get an arrangement on. We recorded the song the way they had been doing it, then I cut it down in the control room and played it for them how it could go. So, we ended up re-cutting the song that way.” In the end, ten songs were chosen for a total length of just under 33 minutes, which further adds to the classic feel of the album. “That was the great thing about vinyl,” Mathus reminisced. “You really only had about 35 to 45 minutes to work with if you wanted the damn thing to sound good. After that, you started to sacrifice sound quality because you had to make the grooves in the record smaller. My master plan was to make an album that grabbed people by the tail for 30 minutes. So, we ended up putting it out on vinyl, too. And Ambel knew exactly what he wanted as well. “I wanted a specific sound, and there’s never any doubt where Jimbo is coming from,” he said. “So we found that sound, and we went with the songs that best complemented it, even though we covered a lot of stylistic ground.” Cohesion was a successful component of the Stones’ albums from
about where you find inspiration at any given time. It might be sitting on the front porch or watching some homeless guy make his way down the street. So it might be a blues, it might rock or it might be a honky tonk song like “Useless Heart.” I wrote that song four years ago, but it wasn’t the right time for it. That’s where my inspiration was at that moment. It’s like Mick Jagger. He’s an English rocker. But when he’s singing blues, he channels the Delta. Or he might put on a straight redneck accent for a country number. You gotta be open to what’s in your world.” Mathus credits Ambel’s production skills and his band’s strength for the cohesion of “White Buffalo.” “I really wanted to showcase the band, and Roscoe is a band dude. I knew he would capture the sound of the band cooking – and it does cook. I’ve been tinkering with this group for about five years. I was looking for musicians with a certain capability, because of the genre skipping. But I also needed the band to have a cohesive sound. If I could have put this group together in ’93, I would have. This is what I’ve always wanted to do - take everything that I’ve learned from Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, the Stones, Hank Williams and Merle Haggard and be able to mix it all together and play it with the same group of musicians.” The recording, which Mathus calls his strongest yet, was done live without overdubs. It’s also the most high profile release he’s had since his commercial heyday with the Squirrel Nut Zippers, having been picked up by Fat Possum Records.
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“I’ve given them every damn record I’ve done since ’96. I always got the same response: We think you’re a cool dude, but this isn’t right for us right now. So this is a great opportunity. Some people know me as a swing revival guy from the Zippers or as a blues dude from Buddy Guy. I’m not a household name. I’ve never really gotten my own thing going.” The year is young, but “White Buffalo” could wind up being the best roots rock album to come out this year. If the early reviews are any indication, Jimbo Mathus will be a name heard in a lot more households soon. Mathus and the Tri-State Coalition will spend much of the year on tour in support of “White Buffalo” with Ambel playing on select dates as his schedule permits. He also plans on recording and releasing videos for all ten of the tracks on the album. L WANT TO GO? Tour dates for “White Buffalo” have just been announced. Catch Jimbo Mathus and The Tri-State Coalition: March 9 – Sticky Fingers, Little Rock, Ark. March 13 – Guitar Town Party, Austin, Texas. March 13 – Fat Possum Showcase, Austin, Texas. March 20 – Exit/In, Nashville, Tenn. March 21 – Woodland Tavern, Columbus, Ohio. March 22 – Magic Bag Theater, Ferndale, Mich. March 23 – Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, Ohio.
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Home to blues legends like Kenny Brown, Joe Callicott, Memphis Minnie, Don McMinn and more, the blues have deep roots here in DeSoto County. Come catch a live show or travel back in time along our historic Blues Trail. For a free vacation guide, call 662-393-8770 or visit SoDeSoto.com.
Blues Trail
Museum
Great Venues
Shopping
In Northwest Mississippi, minutes from Memphis and Tunica. With 36 hotels, 7 B+B’s, 250+ restaurants and lots of fun activities, a great time is just a phone call away.
SOULFUL!
DeSoto County, Mississippi H e r n a n d o · H o r n L a k e · oLive BrancH · SoutHaven · WaLLS
What people are saying
about the b.b. King MuseuM “One of the greatest experiences of my life. Thank you, Mississippi.”
- Lenora from Spring Valley, NY
“Uplifting! A fitting tribute.” - Yvette from Falls Church, VA
“Amazing! One of the greatest museums in the country.”
“Wonderful museum - more worthy of the best part of a day.”
- Alice from Philadelphia, PA
- Robert and Frances from Sydney, Australia
“The best museum of blues I have ever seen!”
- Enicio from Italy
“Speechless.”
- Wim from Amsterdam
“Cannot even put it into words!”
- Kathy from Orlando, FL
“Exceptional quality!” - Patricia from Ontario
400 Second Street / Indianola, MS T: 662-887-9539 / bbkingmuseum.org
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MUSIC FEATURE
A FESTIVAL OF MUSIC — Metropolitan greats light up Natchez —
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n keeping with tradition, The Natchez Festival of Music has spared no expense in creating its lineup of musical greats for this year’s 23rd Festival Season. Slated for May, three internationally recognized Metropolitan performers are scheduled to be the season’s highlight at The Bel Canto Gala with artistic director Jay Dean of the University of Southern Mississippi at the helm. The Festival’s opening night is Saturday, May 4, with George Gershwin and Rhapsody in Blue, the most popular and accessible classical work ever written by an American. The month also will be filled with concerts featuring music by Irving Berlin, Puccini and Rossini and musical tributes to the Black Swan, Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield and soprano Adelina Patti. Pianist Jonathan Levin and Alejandro Drago’s “Tango” return to Natchez by popular demand. Cole Porter’s “Kiss Me Kate” are for those who love musical theater. The Festival concludes on May 25 with Verdi’s Rigoletto and the Finale Gala at antebellum Linden. The Bel Canto Gala on the evening of Saturday, May 11, sets a new standard for the performing arts in Natchez. Translated as beautiful music followed by a fabulous party, the Bel Canto Gala will feature three stars of the Metropolitan Opera who will be joined by two regional treasures for a concert that might be more expected in London or Paris. Heading the list of performers is Paul Groves, a native of Lake Charles, La., and one of the Louisiana State University Opera’s most successful alumni. Groves debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1992 and subsequently has performed at La Scala and throughout the world, including London, Paris, Vienna and Beijing. He will be joined by fellow Met colleagues soprano Emily Pulley and baritone Lucas Meachem. Also performing will be soprano Maryann Kyle, nationally known voice coach and associate professor of voice at the University
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Emily Pulley Maryann Kyle
~CALENDAR OF EVENTS~ April 15-26 • Billy Goats Gruff (Children’s Program)
of Southern Mississippi. Robert Grayson, general director of Opéra Louisiane, will be the piano accompanist. L DID YOU KNOW? Paul Groves is on a short list of the most sought-after tenors on the stages of the world’s leading opera houses and concert halls. After studying at the Julliard School, Groves debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1992 before performing with the Paris Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the San Francisco Opera, La Scala, the Vienna State Opera and with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra. He not only has a terrific voice, but he’s also known for being an extremely talented actor—a perfect combination for opera. WANT TO GO? Following the 7 p.m. concert at the Margaret Martin Performing Arts Center, guests will enjoy a sumptuous gala at the antebellum home Gloucester. Tickets for the concert and gala are $100. For more information, consult the festival’s website at www.natchezfestivalofmusic.com, which includes information about individual, group and college student tickets, festival performers and links to hotels and bed and breakfasts providing ticket and accommodation specials for The Bel Canto Gala event. For more information, contact Virginia “Ginny” Gerace Benoist at (225) 939-8780 (cell) or (601) 445-4148 (office) or email virginia@benoistlaw.com.
Saturday, May 4, 7PM MMPAC Rhapsody in Blue A Tribute to George Gershwin America’s Music Man Sunday, May 5, 4PM American Frontiers with Pianist Jonathan Levin Trinity Episcopal Church Friday, May 10, 7PM Puttin’ on the Ritz An Evening of Irving Berlin Van Court Town House Saturday, May 11, 10 AM - 4PM Second Saturday Art on the Bluff Refreshments in Shops 4 - 6 PM Saturday, May 11, 7PM MMPAC Bel Canto Gala with Superstars Paul Groves, Lucas Meachem Emily Pulley Maryann Kyle and Robert Grayson Gala at Gloucester Sunday, May 12, 4PM Homage to Adelina Patti Waverly Plantation 7PM Rossini, Puccini and Martinis in Eola Hotel Lobby
FOR MORE INFORMATION: visitnatchez.org • 800-647-6724
Thursday, May 16, 7PM The Black Swan of Natchez Elizabeth Taylor-Greenfield An Illustrated Lecture by David Sansing, Ph.D. Trinity Episcopal Church Friday, May 17, 5 and 7PM The Black Swan of Natchez: Elizabeth Taylor-Greenfield Tribute Cherokee Saturday, May 18, 7PM Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate MMPAC Sunday, May 19, 4PM Briarvue Musical Wine Tasting 7PM Rossini, Puccini and Martinis in Eola Hotel Lobby Friday, May 24, 7PM Alejandro Drago and the Tango Rendezvous Ensemble The Prentiss Club Saturday, May 25, 7PM MMPAC Rigoletto, Gala at Linden
TICKETS & PACKAGES natchezfestivalofmusic.com
SECOND SATURDAY
May 11 - Art on the Bluff • 10pm - 4pm Refreshments in the shops 4-6 pm, Bel Canto Gala • 7pm MISSISSIPPILEGENDS.COM
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ďƒŹ Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tighman monument depicts his death during the battle of Champion Hill.
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Q COVER STORY
From
BATTLES to
BRONZES —V —
icksburg observes 150 years since her siege BY KARA MARTINEZ BACHMAN PHOTOGRAPHS BY TIM ISBELL
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rt seems to be everywhere in Vicksburg, Mississippi. When exploring the cobblestone streets of the oldest parts of town, it is as easy to be struck by the man-made beauty of carefully restored historic homes as it is by the rich and crumbling ones left to time. Along the river flood wall on Levee Street, a visitor can’t help but miss the vibrant wall of murals. It is reminiscent somehow of the paintings that used to decorate the Berlin Wall; it is evocative, it is historical and it tells the story of the people of Vicksburg. Unlike the Berlin Wall, however, this one does not trap people inside. Rather, it seems to let them out, allowing them to visually experience and imagine the cultures and values of the people who shaped this surprisingly diverse river town. Just as New Orleans absorbed great diversity a bit downstream, Vicksburg was similarly populated in its early days with people who were led to her by her wealth of waterways. On the other side of these vibrant murals is the Yazoo, and just a short ways away is its confluence with the Great River, the Mississippi. We cannot help but wonder whether this geography fuels the local creative muse. What remains undisputed is this historic river’s role in the battle of Vicksburg, which took place on what locals now repeatedly describe as “sacred soil.” The taupe-colored waters of the river, the beauty of which has since inspired so many, surely grew sour during the days that it transported weary men and gunboats for one of the most relevant battles of the Civil War. Not far from her banks, and up against the banks of the Yazoo, lies the hallowed ground where moral principles came head to head and our nation’s fate was partially decided. There, the spent bravery of both Union and Confederate forces would permanently mark the grounds of what is now known as The Vicksburg National Military Park. This place, haunted by remembrances of the sacrifices of both the North and the South, dishes up a formal, government-sanctioned version of the same artistry that is drizzled elsewhere in the nooks and crannies of Vicksburg. While most visitors take great interest in the military history found in the park, few stop to truly consider the statues, monuments and reliefs that dot the faintly rolling battlefield landscape. One person to whom such art has not been lost is retired Brig. Gen. Parker Hills. Author of “The Art of Commemoration,” Hills is a writer and art buff who believes the park is a treasure trove of symbolism and creativity on a grand scale. “Vicksburg by far has the best quality artwork of any military park in the nation, as far as the monuments are concerned,” says Hills. When speaking of the formative years of the park between 1903 and 1917, he indicates that early planning revolved not only around
memorializing the darkest days of that parcel of earth, but that it also centered on a respect for artistic quality. “The best of the best artists in the early 20th Century sculpted for Vicksburg National Military Park,” Hills says. “The park superintendent, Capt. [W.T.] Rigby, demanded the best. He personally discussed with each artist what he [the artist] was going to
OPPOSITE: The Missouri Monument honors soldiers who fought for the North and South. ABOVE: Top - The African American Monument honors former slaves from Mississippi and Louisiana who fought for the Union army. • Center - Appeal [Arkansas] Battery is silhouetted against a morning sky. • Bottom - The Illinois Monument is one of the more stunning and most visited memorials in the park. MISSISSIPPILEGENDS.COM
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do, and gave his thoughts. While it is very difficult to tell an artist what to do, he tried to steer them. And he tried to steer the states in the right direction to get the best of the artists.” Many of the creatives he speaks of were part of the Beaux-Arts movement, a flowering of classically inspired art steeped in the traditions of the Classical period in Ancient Greece. As the epicenter of this movement, Paris drew many American sculptors, who then returned home and infused their work with this style -- which is today seen all over the park. One such example of the Classical style is what is perhaps the battlefield’s most iconic structure, the Illinois Memorial. In a design
“
The taupe-colored waters of the river, the beauty of which has since inspired so many, surely grew sour during the days that it transported weary men and gunboats for one of the most relevant battles of the Civil War. Not far from her banks, and up against the banks of the Yazoo, lies the hallowed ground where moral principles came head to head and our nation’s fate was partially decided. There, the spent bravery of both Union and Confederate forces would permanently mark the grounds of what is now known as The Vicksburg National Military Park.
“
reminiscent of the Pantheon, one of Ancient Rome’s most studied and valued buildings, this structure seems oddly, yet beautifully out of place standing in Mississippi. When Hills stands on its steps, he gazes upon it for what seems to be the millionth time in a clear look of admiration. Although he confesses the bronze reliefs of the Iowa monument are his personal favorite, it is obvious he shares the public’s fascination with what Illinois wisely chose to erect. “I personally believe that it is the most grandiose and magnificent memorial of any of our Civil War parks,” Hills says. “It is so clean. It follows the true Greco-Roman principles, the Vitruvian principles. I love the design of it, and it is probably the most visited memorial in the park.” OPPOSITE: Warren County Courthouse, now the Old Courthouse Museum, is one of dozens of stately buildings dotting the Vicksburg landscape.
WANT TO CELEBRATE? Main Events of the Battle of Vicksburg Sesquicentennial Commemoration: April 1-30 - Tapestry: The Pilgrimage to Vicksburg tour of homes April 5-7 - Vicksburg Sesquicentennial Heritage Fair at Pemberton’s Headquarters, the Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation Complex and the Old Courthouse Museum May 23-26 - Vicksburg Sesquicentennial Signature Event at the Vicksburg National Military Park June & July - Living History Presentations Fridays-Tuesdays at the Vicksburg National Military Park July 4 - Anniversary of Vicksburg Surrender July 4 - Fireworks Show at the Waterfront For More Information, go to www.visitvicksburg.com
WANT TO KNOW MORE? Interested in reading “The Art of Commemoration” prior to your visit to Vicksburg? For your free copy, send a $4 shipping fee to the Vicksburg Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Please see the website at www.visitvicksburg.com for more information.
DID YOU KNOW? “Lost-wax casting is an ancient process by which a brass or bronze sculpture is cast from an artist’s sculpted plaster or clay model. This process is used to cast high detail sculptural work, such as bronze statues and busts in Vicksburg National Military Park. Due to the number of steps involved, it is a more expensive process than sand casting.” – “The Art of Commemoration” “Sand casting, also known as sand molded casting, is a relatively inexpensive casting process used for low relief decorative items … Tiffany Studios at Corona cast many of the low reliefs at Vicksburg, most of which were for ‘Theo’ Kitson.” --“The Art of Commemoration” Low Relief: A bas-relief, or sculpture where not much projects from the background and there is no part of the projected area that is completely detached from the background; most would describe this as being more “flat.” High Relief: A relief sculpture where parts that project from the background stick out to more that fifty percent of their overall depth. Most would describe this as having more “dimension.”
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Vicksburg’s former railroad station sits by the Mississippi River alongside murals depicting the history and culture of Vicksburg’s people.
The design principles he speaks of are mathematical. Intended as prescriptions for perfect architectural proportioning, they were devised by the Ancient Roman writer, engineer and architect, Vitruvius. These formulas were carried through the ages and are benchmarks by which
When speaking with locals, many will recount their earliest experiences with the park without any prompting. Although park authorities now prohibit it, many locals often recall climbing on or around the statuary. In the case of Hills, we wonder if early experiences may have shaped,
much architecture is evaluated. It is easy to see the park through his eyes. He points out the little things that most would miss: a statue of a horse with its ear turned in the direction of the gunfire; a pelican, a symbol of the Christian Eucharist since the Middle Ages, on a monument from the majority-Catholic state of Louisiana; a grimace, or a heroic pose, that could have been easily missed. In fact, the author almost waxes poetic about details found on the bronze reliefs of the Iowa Memorial. About its creator, Henry Kitson, Hills says: “He got emotions out of horses, and emotions out of eagle finials on flag staffs … now how do you do that?” Hills, like many who spent their childhoods in the region surrounding Vicksburg, has nostalgic memories of the monuments. It is clear the imagery found amongst the stone and bronze has been more than simply admired by many children over the generations; it has actually shaped their adult perception of what they now see and appreciate.
in some way, his book. When speaking of the most popularly memorable pieces in the park, he cites the Missouri Memorial, “with the Nike of Samothrace, or what we as children called the ‘pink angel.’ It’s just beautiful.” Of course a young child would have no way of relating this winged female figure to the ancient statue to which it owes its influence, which is on display in the Louvre. The drama of mysterious pink angels, however, can easily capture the imagination of a young child; exploring the art in the park is not only for adults. Hills is not alone in his longtime interest in the battlefield’s statuary, which has been estimated by several sources to be valued well into the billions of dollars. Tom Pharr of the historic Anchuca Mansion and Inn, comments on the artwork’s possible estimated value. “In 2008, we had the Secretary of the Interior have dinner with us at Anchuca, and he mentioned to me that the collection was now valued at between three and four billion dollars.” That would be, of course, if there were even a
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Battle of Vicksburg
Sesquicentennial Commemoration
Vicksburg Commemorates 150 Year Anniversary:
• April 1-30: Tapestry: The Pilgrimage to Vicksburg tour of homes • April 5-7: Vicksburg Sesquicentennial Heritage Fair at Pemberton’s Headquarters, the Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation Complex and the Old Courthouse Museum • May 23-26: Vicksburg Sesquicentennial Signature Event at the Vicksburg National Military Park • June & July: Living History Presentations Fridays – Tuesdays at the Vicksburg National Military Park • July 3: Grand Illumination at Vicksburg National Military Park • July 4: Anniversary of Vicksburg Surrender • July 4: Fireworks Show at the Waterfront
www.keytothesouth.com www.vicksburg150.com www.facebook.com/visitvicksburg @VisitVicksburg
Scan the QR code to visit the Vicksburg Campaign’s Sesquicentennial website.
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The Attic Gallery, which is described as “Mississippi’s oldest independently owned art gallery,” is a quirky space filled with an eclectic mix of folk art painting, sculpture, jewelry and found object art. It provides a good opportunity for art fans to experience the contemporary soul of Vicksburg.
way to put a monetary value on work that marks what Pharr reverently describes as “hallowed ground.” Pharr, who runs the antebellum home and bed & breakfast with coowner Chris Brinkley, feels strongly that art enthusiasts can find much to enjoy on a visit to the military park. “If you’re not that keen on learning more about the strategic battle or the siege of the city of Vicksburg, you can be inspired by how we [America] became us … and this art commemorates that in a beautiful setting,” he says. And at the battlefield site, the darkest shadow of the struggle to become “us” was memorialized in 2003 with the African-American Monument. Erected by the state of Mississippi, this moving piece addresses our nation’s battle over slavery. Designed by the only Mississippi-based artist with work in the park, Dr. J. Kim Sessums, it pays tribute to African-American soldiers. According to “The Art of Commemoration,” it honors “the 1st and 3rd Mississippi Infantry Regiments, African Descent, and all Mississippians of African descent who participated in
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the Vicksburg campaign. This monument is the largest tribute of its type to honor African-American soldiers on any of the Civil War battlefields administered by the National Park Service.” The African American Monument, the newest of the park, seeks to heal some of the remaining scars that linger over our nation’s battle over both state’s rights and human rights. “Now that it is some 150 years after, emotions—the heartache, the sorrow—the emotions have settled down enough so we can start to enjoy it [the park] in other ways, and in new perspectives,” says Pharr. “The art can stand alone and be an attraction in its own right.” According to local tourism authorities, there is no better time than the present to enjoy the park from a new perspective. This year is the sesquicentennial—the 150th anniversary—of the Battle of Vicksburg. “In observance of the sesquicentennial of the Siege of Vicksburg this year, the Vicksburg National Military is presenting a series of special presentations, living histories, reenactments, lectures and concerts,” says
Bill Seratt, Executive Director of the Vicksburg Convention & Visitors Bureau. “The special events planned for 2013 will add to our visitors’ understanding of Vicksburg’s strategic importance on the Mississippi River.” But Seratt does not believe that enjoyment of Vicksburg should be limited only to the park; he describes it as interesting for those who seek to explore that connection that the city has to the visual arts. “Impressive works of art can be found throughout the city,” says Seratt. He references the murals found along the levee, as well as the work of the galleries found in Vicksburg, including downtown’s The Attic Gallery, which he describes as “Mississippi’s oldest independently owned art gallery.” A quirky space filled with an eclectic mix of folk art painting, sculpture, jewelry and found object art, it provides a good opportunity for art fans to experience the contemporary soul of Vicksburg. It is not only local authorities proposing that the sesquicentennial may be a good time to explore Vicksburg. Recently, the magazine for AAA,
Traveler, included Vicksburg on its list of the “13 Places to Visit in 2013.” Ranked with world-class cities such as San Francisco and Christchurch, New Zealand, this honor serves to further illustrate the rising status of Vicksburg as a more-than-respectable tourism destination. In the end, however, the statuary that stands in the park really is much, much more than art for art’s sake; it partially encapsulates the story of our country. The work in the park is not only symbolic, but, after 150 years, has almost become one with the land upon which it sits. And to many, it has a relevance that can seem at times, at least on the part of those who spend their lives studying and enjoying the park, almost holy. “The commemoration of the sesquicentennial of the Siege of Vicksburg is not only important to Vicksburg, it is important to America’s history,” Seratt says. “As President Lincoln said, ‘Vicksburg is the key, and this war will not end until that key is in my pocket.’ The events in Vicksburg in early July of 1863 defined the fate of our nation and ultimately defined us as one nation united.” And somewhere within that national creation, wrought of sacrifice, lies the true artistry of Vicksburg. L MISSISSIPPILEGENDS.COM
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ARTIST PROFILE
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the art of • • • • • • • • • •
CATRON WILLIAMS Inspiration and color straight from God’s palette WORDS BY JOE LEE PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL BARRETT
M
ississippi abstract artist Catron Williams spent her early years drawing with her father. The self-taught artist used that bonding experience to build the rewarding and lucrative career she has today.
“My dad was somewhat gifted as an artist, and we drew together when I was as young as ten or eleven,” said Williams, who grew up in Jackson and lives in the reservoir area of Rankin County. “I was always a doodler and a drawer and got in a lot of trouble at school.”
Fascinated with the work of Spanish artist Salvador Dali and his influence on the
Surrealist Movement, Williams began with acrylic paint (which remains the foundation of her artwork) and has experimented with a variety of mixed media through the years. “A lot of my inspiration comes from the outdoors,” Williams said. “My husband, Mark, and I have traveled all over, from the British Virgin Isles to Yellowstone. I’m always looking for new color palettes. Composition is very important in abstraction. And I love water, whether I’m at the beach or wherever. My inspirations are anywhere in the woods, and places like Ocean Springs, Rocky Springs (near Port Gibson) and Lake Bruin, LA.”
Williams also has found creative ways in which to market her work, a somewhat
unique set skill in the art world. Williams’ friend Penny Prenshaw, a marketing professor at Millsaps College, gives Catron high marks for getting her name out there.
“Catron was one of the first friends I made when I moved to Jackson in 1994,”
Prenshaw said. “I believe I was one of the first to commission her for a painting when my husband and I needed something with some blue and brown for a redecorated room in our home.
“She has innate artistic talent and ability, but she is so entrepreneurial and doggedly
pursues what she wants—she has a manic work ethic toward wanting to improve. Her creativity itself has grown over the years through sheer hard work. But she knew she had to get a web site and get her work in front of people. She has persistence and discipline and is always coming up with innovative new ideas.” MISSISSIPPILEGENDS.COM
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“
When you’re working in abstract art, you have to know where you’re going with it, have a vision for it.” Kim Caron
Jackie Ellens, owner of Southern Breeze Art Gallery of Ridgeland, has
Interiors in Orange Beach, Ala., Lyons Share and Patina’s in Fairhope, Ala.,
developed a friendship with Williams in recent years and through that
The Host Gallery of Mobile, The Showroom in Little Rock, Ark., and the
bond has watched Williams mature on a professional level.
Caron Gallery of Tupelo.
“Catron has shown the most growth of any artist in the gallery, and she’s
“I was looking for another abstract artist for the gallery and learned
one of our hottest sellers,” Ellens said. “She spends a lot of hours at the easel
about Catron through Jackie Ellens,” said Caron Gallery owner Kim
and understands the choices people make when they come into the gallery
Caron. “We had an abstract art show for her last September where I paired
and think about buying artwork.
her with Cliff Speaks, another Jackson area artist, to introduce their work
to north Mississippi. Catron sold several pieces the day of the event, and we
“She asked me for input, and sometimes that’s really uncomfortable for
an artist (to receive honest feedback). But she stood firm in the face of the
even sold one to someone the day before.
input and has grown from it.”
“People are very positive about her work. Catron is easy to work with,
“Jackie’s a mentor and taught me the business as well as being a very
and she can adapt her paintings to work with interior decorators and
good friend,” Williams said. “She taught me how to get into galleries, and
customers’ homes. When you’re working in abstract art, you have to know
how to get to know and work with gallery owners.”
where you’re going with it, have a vision for it. Catron is very good with
In addition to Southern Breeze, Williams’ work is on display at
color and patterns and texture. She’s really growing as an artist and has a lot
Negrotto’s Gallery in Biloxi, The Gallery in Ocean Springs, Merrill Millers
of potential.”
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“I love networking with other artists and am always reading a bio and
studying other artists’ work,” said Williams, who has two children and one grandchild. “I study up on marketing— if you’re going to make a living, you have to go for it. Mark has been a source of support through the lean times as well as the good times.” Williams has more than 1,000 paintings to her credit and says she works constantly. In addition to eight to 10 pieces of her work at each gallery, there are 20 to 30 at her home. As far as the future is concerned, just about everything is on the table.
“You find your niche and go with it, make it your strength. I started
out with acrylics— they’re very fast-drying and durable.” Williams said. “But there isn’t much I haven’t tried. I’ve used sand, crushed shells, coffee
Our menu of art and artists is as varied and satisfying as the food that makes Mississippi famous. Using local ingredients, our artists create one-of-a-kind pieces that reflect our rich culture. Whatever your taste, we Our menu of artit and is as and satisfying can satisfy withartists prices tovaried fit any budget. asWe the also food that makes Mississippiindividual famous. Using offer art classes, exhibitions, special events and custom local ingredients, our artists create one-of-a-kind framing to satisfy all your artistic cravings. pieces that reflect our rich culture. Whatever your So come in today and savor the flavor of taste, canofsatisfy it withart. prices to fit any budget. the we best Mississippi
grounds and paper bags in my mixed media pieces.
So come in today and savor the flavor of the best of
“A friend sent me a book on birds not long ago. The colors were
Mississippi art.
inspiring, especially the tropical colors. There is no better painter than God.”
L
Find Catron Williams on Facebook, and visit her web site at www.catronwilliams.org.
Caron -Prince Gallery ad 3.875x9.875.indd 1
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12/7/12 2:09:57 PM
THE
BIG CHALLENGE Mississippi bluesmen smokin’ hot at this year’s IBC
Photograph by Emily Tillman, Vicksburg Blues Society.
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MUSIC FEATURE BY SHIRLEY B. WARING
I
t took more than eight hours to work through the line-up at this year’s International Blues Challenge in Memphis, but the audience was bolted to the blues and ready for the smokin’ hot entertainment. In the months leading up to the IBC, Vicksburg had its own brand of blues challenge to prepare for the real deal in Memphis. The real heat came with the Band Division. One by one, seasoned professionals took to the Bottleneck Blues Bar stage. Bluesmen from the Vicksburg region brought their “A” game -- Bernard Jenkins, Mark “Muleman” Massey, The Bluesaholics of Ruston, Dr. Dee and the always fabulous Eddie Cotton, who later told me how pleased he was to share our stage with top-flight bluesmen. “Shirley, we were all there fighting and playing to win,” he said. When Castro Coleman took the stage, I was surprised to see the image he had created for his new blues band, Mr. Sipp and Kin Folk. I had seen pictures of him on his gospel web site wearing long braids. The long hair was gone. So was the urban wear. He wore a suit and skinny tie. Cousin Lance Cain wore a bundle of golden braids tied in a knot and a plaid sweater vest. They wore black, Buddy Holly eyeglasses with white tape wrapped at the bridge as part of their new signature look. I was convinced they were wearing high-priced designer frames, but discovered to my amusement, their intent was to present themselves as blues “nerds.” Castro later told me they “don’t dress up, they dress out.” It worked. They showed up to show out. And then they played. It was like lightning struck the stage; the energy, the vibe, the choreography. Their stage persona
was riveting. Playing original tunes, Castro danced and moved and finessed his guitar like he was the child of Chuck Berry, Michael Jackson and Buddy Guy all rolled into one bundle of blues joy. It was remarkable to see this mild-mannered guy turn it on and electrify the crowd. It was obvious the music flowed from his heart. When Mr. Sipp and Kin Folk earned their way into the IBC semi-finals on Beale Street, Bill McPherson, Blues Commission board member from Indianola, said, “When he stopped, I couldn’t wait for him to do all those moves he does some more.” He got that chance. On the last night, Mr. Sipp and Kin Folk landed on the grand stage at the Orpheum Theatre for the finals. “I am so proud to make it this far in the IBC,” Castro said. “ It was an amazing experience. It felt so good.” And likewise, so did we. What an honor it had been to have Castro represent us at this 29th annual event that this year attracted more than 240 acts from 40 states and 17 countries – along with thousands of fans from around the world. Mississippi was well represented, creating a banner year for the Vicksburg Blues Society, for the IBC and for Mississippi. By our sides were the Central Mississippi Blues Society, presenting The Jarekus Singleton Band, the Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola, presenting the All Night Long Blues Band and the Crossroads Blues Society of Rosedale, presenting the Ghost Town Blues Band. In 2008, when blues guitarist and band leader Lucille Ridges handed me the reins to the Vicksburg Blues Society, she stressed the importance of having a Vicksburg presence at this important international event. I took her words to heart.
Participation in the IBC is limited to acts sponsored by affiliates of the Blues Foundation – which are required to hold a local challenge with the winners advancing to the international event. Through the years, the Vicksburg Blues Society has established a concert series which eventually expanded to the stage at the Ameristar Bottleneck Blues Bar, an upscale juke with ambiance and real mojo. By the time registration for our last challenge closed, we had 12 acts signed to a roster that read like a blues Who’s Who. Beautiful storyteller Redd Velvet, accompanied by Bobby D. Benison, were a highlight in the Solo/Duo Division. Sam Joyner, performing regularly on Bourbon Street, melted the keyboard in his bid for the win. Young soloist Zechariah Lloyd touched our hearts. The Evol Love Duo, David Dunavent and Josh McDowell, took the honors, winning narrowly over soloist Wes Lee. Evol Love Duo took their act to Memphis and made us proud. Industry recognition is only a portion of the reward. The real sweetness lies in the momentum created, in keeping the candle lit, the enduring flame that spread worldwide from the place where it all began … Mississippi, the birthplace of the blues. L Shirley Waring is president of the Vicksburg Blues Society, Inc. WANT TO HEAR THE BLUES? Mr. Sipp and Kin Folk, along with other IBC favorites, are scheduled to perform in the Vicksburg Blues Society Heritage Music Series, Friday and Saturday nights, 8 p.m. until midnight, at the Bottleneck Blues Bar. Visit www.VicksburgHeritage.com for more information. MISSISSIPPILEGENDS.COM
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Whether it’s music or Civil War history that interests you, we’ve got it at the Delta Cultural Center, with events and exhibits that showcase the rich heritage of the Delta. Make plans to visit and experience what makes the Arkansas Delta so special! Delta Cultural Center 141 Cherry St., Helena, AR 72342 Phone: (800) 358-0972 www.deltaculturalcenter.com www.facebook.com/DeltaCulturalCenter
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®
© EPE Reg. US
. Pat. & TM Off
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Lemuria, located in Banner Hall in northeast Jackson, always receives a boost when a new John Grisham book is released. The bookstore sold nearly 2,000 autographed copies of “The Racketeer,” thanks to the efforts of John Grisham. (Photograph by Michael Barrett).
FEATURE
FROM
BOOKS TO NOOKS Mom & pop booksellers face challenges in the digital age WORDS BY JOE LEE
M
ost movie buffs recall the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan romantic comedy “You’ve Got Mail,” in which Hanks, a bookstore magnate tried to put Ryan, the owner of a small children’s bookstore, out of business. That was 15 years ago during a time when our national economy was, by nearly all standards, stable. Nowadays, independently-owned bookstores may find themselves struggling in an unfriendlier economic climate. Big box companies offer deep discounts; downloads to Nooks and Kindles are increasingly popular. And mom and pop bookstore owners like Mary Emrick are finding more creative ways to cater to a clientele that still appreciates the textured feel of a book cover and the turn of a
page. “Big-box stores with their deep discounts and national presence are, in some areas of the business, at a disadvantage to small independent stores,” said Emrick, owner of Turning Pages Books in Natchez. Emrick opened her store on Washington Street in 2001 and moved to her present location on Franklin in 2006. “They receive inventory that has, for the most part, been pre-selected for them by the corporation. We select every book in our store with our customers and friends in mind.” Emrick said her biggest competition is Amazon.com, the vastly popular web site which not only offers deep discounts, but has many of the same resources (to locate rare and collectible
ABOVE: A display at Lemuria complements the store’s commitment to find rare and collectible books and offer signings from authors like Lee Child and Ace Atkins. Each member of the staff specializes in a certain genre, which means they’re adept at finding just the right books for their customers. (Photograph by Michael Barrett).
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books) that Emrick and her contemporaries use when trying to satisfy a customer. “The advent of e-books has turned the independent bookstore business on its head,” Emrick said. “It is very difficult—and a financial loss for us—to provide a venue to sell e-books, so most of the independents choose not to sell them. “That does not keep the reader of e-books from coming in our store to look at and handle the physical books, then leaving to go order the e-books. But occasionally the e-reading customer needs a fix and will actually purchase a book from our store.” Emrick has sold many copies of Bill O’Reilly’s “Killing Kennedy,” which can be purchased wherever books (and downloads) are sold, but “Sweet on Texas,” written by Natchez natives Denise Gee and Robert Peacock, is also a hot seller at Turning Pages. In addition, national bestselling author Greg Iles is a Natchez native and a friend of Emrick. “Greg is wonderful about signing copies of his new books for me,” Emrick said. “All of them sell well, especially ‘The Quiet Game.’” Lemuria, located in Banner Hall in northeast Jackson, always receives a boost when a new John Grisham book is released. “We’ve sold nearly 2,000 autographed copies of “The Racketeer,” thanks to John’s continued willingness to stop in and sign them for us,” said Lemuria general manager Joe Hickman. “We run a true bookstore, with rare and collectible books and signings from authors like Lee Child and Ace Atkins. Each member of our staff specializes in a certain genre, which means we’ll easily find that unique, just-right book for our customers.” The supply of autographed Grisham books doesn’t mean Hickman and Lemuria owner John Evans can prop their feet up and watch the cash roll in. “Barnes & Noble (at the Renaissance of Colony Park in Ridgeland) is in the best location at the nicest shopping center in the state,” Hickman said. “We’re very aware of them, especially when I go in there and see our customers. But everyone that sells books is a competitor, and there are plenty around Jackson. “We rely on social media to stay connected to our ever-growing fan base. Customers can follow us on Facebook and Twitter and enjoy our blogs on the web site.” An avid reader, Mississippi author John Floyd is based in Brandon and has shopped at Lemuria for years. “I own more than a thousand hardcover books, most of which line the shelves of my home-office and some of which I’ve stashed at the home of one of our sons,” Floyd said. “This seemed a good compromise, because I can’t really bring myself to get rid of them. I recognize the convenience of the Kindle, iPad and Nook, but I just love the feel and weight and smell of real books. “Lemuria seems more like a cozy library run by your friends, as opposed to the glitzy and impersonal discount stores that are just as
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interested in selling trinkets and games and DVDs as in selling books. Lemuria is the quiet and dignified Mercedes parked among all the Chevys and Fords.” An especially hot item at Mississippi independent bookstores is Marshall Ramsey’s “Fried Chicken and Wine,” a book of essays Ramsey wrote after the death of his beloved dog Banjo. Not only are Evans and Hickman helping sell loads of copies at Lemuria, they served as sounding boards as the nationallysyndicated cartoonist developed the project. “I pitched the idea to John, who has a long history in the book business,” Ramsey said. “He thought it sounded like a good one so I proceeded. I showed him the cover and talked marketing strategy. John and Joe have helped me with distribution to other bookstores as well. “Fried Chicken & Wine” has been successful for all of us. “Of course, the nice thing about independent bookstores is that you are closer to the ownership and the people making the decisions on what to buy. Independent booksellers, like John and Joe, are walking encyclopedias about the book business. I knew they weren’t going to sugarcoat their advice. If the book wasn’t going to fly, they would have told me.” “Fried Chicken and Wine” is available at independent stores throughout the state, including Reed’s Gum Tree Bookstore in Tupelo. Former Newsweek magazine editor-inchief Jon Meacham signed there in December and sold more than 200 copies of “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power,” but that blockbuster day paled in comparison to the more than 500 copies sold in December 2011 when Mississippi State University broadcasting legend Jack Cristil stopped in with biographer Sid Salter to sign copies of “Jack Cristil: Voice of the MSU Bulldogs.” “Our marketing of ‘Jack Cristil: Voice of the MSU Bulldogs’ was completely an in-house effort,” said Salter, the director of the Office of University Relations at MSU. “The success of the book was based on two factors: the love the MSU fan base felt toward Jack Cristil, and the invaluable help of independent bookstores like Lemuria, Square Books, Reed’s Gum Tree Books, The Book Mart and many others. They were our champions and they worked with us to bring the book to market at the right time and in the right way.” “The small independent stores may be doing better in some ways because we support Southern writers so much,” said Camille Reed Sloan, executive vice-president of R.W. Reed Company. “We give the authors—and our customers—the personal touch. OPPOSITE: The owners of Turning Pages Books in Natchez pre-select each book by hand with their customers and friends in mind. (Photograph by Sally Durkin). ABOVE: Bay Books in Bay St. Louis has had great success with self-published authors. BELOW: Kayla Cook, 9, places a book on the shelf in the Children’s section at Bay Books. The store has recently expanded their children’s section as sales of children’s books are up. (Photographs by James Edward Bates). MISSISSIPPILEGENDS.COM
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We’ve sold a lot of ‘501 (Little Known Facts, Obscure Trivia, World Records & Historical Minutia from the state of Mississippi)’ by D.K. White, and children’s books are always a hot item.” Children’s books are also a strong seller at Bay Books in Bay St. Louis, a store owned by husband and wife Jeremy Burke and Kristen Tusa. The couple bought the store in spring 2011. “Our sales have increased,” Burke said. “We’ve expanded our children’s section, and sales of hardback children’s books are up. What’s down is fiction novels. That’s what avid readers download most onto a Kindle or Nook. “We offer a personal touch, and we read what’s on the shelves and can recommend books, especially regional and local authors. We value every single customer who comes in the door—we will do everything we can to help that customer find what he wants, and we’ll look all over the Internet to find something rare or out of print and get it here. “A lot of big-box stores don’t want anything to do with self-published authors, but we find a home for them,” Burke said. “John Cuevas’s book, ‘Cat Island: The History of a Gulf Coast Barrier Island,’ is $45 in (trade) paperback, and we sold several hundred copies. I got a nice call from the publisher, who said the book sold better in our store than it did anywhere else.” Burke, 26, was a freshman at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., when he became acquainted with Facebook. The wildly popular social network was only beginning to take hold back then and began on college campuses, and Burke—in addition to growing up with cell phones, laptops and the Internet— said he strongly believes in using Facebook to reach book buyers. “It’s like a spider web,” Burke said. “Authors who are signing send out their (status) updates. Their own Facebook friends respond, and it brings in customers we don’t know.” Carolyn Brown Abadie of Starkville manages The Book Mart, an independent bookstore that recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. Her mother, Jimmie Brown, owns The Book Mart, and she and husband, Dr. Joe Brown, own and operate Campus Book Mart locations in Starkville, Oxford and Hattiesburg. “We owe our success to our wonderful, supportive customers that have continued to support us despite Amazon and other online booksellers as well as Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million,” Abadie said. “We have customers who literally grew up in our store. My mother has a large following of customers who started out reading children’s board books
in the kid’s section of our store and now come back to visit with their grandchildren. It really is fun to see the different generations that loved spending time in our store.” Jerry and Diane Shepherd opened Main Street Books in Hattiesburg late 2002 and moved across the street to their present location in July 2006. Like her fellow independent booksellers, Diane puts a strong emphasis on customer service, and she, too, gets results from social media. “We’re doing a lot more Facebook than we were even two or three years ago, and it works when I stay on top of it,” said Shepherd, who hosts the annual Christmas Extravaganza multi-author event in her store each December and typically brings in 20 or more authors to sign their books. “In the beginning, we didn’t think digital downloads would affect us. But it has affected us a lot in the last two years. We have rare and collectible books and we’ll order any book a customer wants.” Jamie Kornegay opened Turnrow Books in Greenwood in 2006, taking over the Howard Street location once inhabited by Dancing Rabbit Books. Kornegay worked at Square Books in Oxford prior to moving to Greenwood and has been in the business more than a decade. While times have been difficult for indie store owners recently, the Delta has been hit especially hard with high unemployment. “Folks are much more cautious about spending money right now, and they’re looking for deals,” Kornegay said. “We’re focusing on customers who like personal service and regional and local titles you can’t get anywhere else. We have a passion for what we’re selling, and we’re always reading and researching the art form we respect—that’s what this is.” Kornegay said that a decision by a big-box retailer paid off handsomely for him in 2012. “‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ was not available at Walmart—there’s no erotic literature at Walmart,” he said. “So we had a lot of folks coming in looking for it all summer long, and it gave us a chance to say, ‘Hey, this is who we are and what we do, and we hope you’ll come back and let us help you find something you’ll enjoy reading.’” Loyalty to one’s local independent bookstore, of course, is a tremendous component in the overall success of that business. “I prefer The Book Mart because they’re a locally-owned shop, and the owners are involved in and support the community,” said Barbara Coats of Starkville. “I go there to give back to them.” L
“I recognize the convenience of the Kindle, iPad and Nook, but I just love the feel and weight and smell of real books.”
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MUSIC FEATURE
Photo by Candise Kola.
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s that The musical geniu
is
D O O L B G N U O Y N I V AL HART Corbett Words by Stephen
A
Keb’ Mo’
lvin Youngblood Hart commands almost as much attention with his 6-foot, 5-inch frame as he does when he picks up a guitar. “In terms of talent, devotion, character or drive, he came to this earth in a large way,” says Candise Kola, his girlfriend and a driving force in his career. “His father likes to make jokes about raising a baby elephant.” Despite his size, his contemporaries say he’s known for his quiet, gentle nature. “He’s a giant man,” laughs Keb’ Mo’. “He puts you in the mind of Howlin’ Wolf when you’re in his presence. But he’s kind of a quiet dude – almost shy. He’s not loud or in your face. You really have to be around him a while to get close to him. There are things on his mind that are only in his mind. He listens more than he talks, which is what makes him so smart. He’s a gentle giant. “He’s like Clark Kent,” Mo’ adds. “You almost have to sniff around to learn anything about him. Taj Mahal might know more about him than anyone. He’s the father of this whole thing, and the rest of us are just his sons and daughters. Taj knows everything about everyone.” “I love Alvin,” says Mahal. “He has a style – very interesting. An older style. It’s almost an older string band style at the base that people don’t play
anymore, but he’s brought a lot of other stuff to it. I know immediately that it’s him when I hear one of his songs. But he’s a quiet guy. I know him very well in professional situations. Not much about him personally.” Mo’ is quick to offer the differences between himself and Hart. “A lot of people used to think I was from Mississippi,” Mo’ says. “The record label had put out something saying that I was the modern link to Robert Johnson and the Delta. But I’m from Compton, California. Alvin is Mississippi.” At times, Hart’s vocals bear a strong resemblance to those of Howlin’ Wolf. Also like Wolf, Hart is a stepping stone in the evolution of the blues into something new. “When you break it down, Wolf is really the father of hard rock,” explains Hart. “It starts with Charley Patton. Then Wolf took what he was doing and amplified it. Then Zeppelin took what Wolf was doing and ran it through a Marshall. I’m just taking all of it and adding to it and coming out with my own thing.” Unlike Wolf, however, and contrary to what many people may believe, Hart is not a Mississippi native. Hart was born Gregory Edward Hart in Oakland, Calif., on March 2, 1963. Although both of his parents are from
Taj Mahal
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Hart playing with Luther Dickinson at the Mississippi governor’s inaugural ball, 2008. The pair have since released two albums as a part of the trio The South Memphis String Band with Jimbo Mathus and Luther Dickinson. (Photograph by Marianne Todd).
Mississippi, they met each other for the first time in the Bay Area of California. Like a lot of Southerners, after World War II Hart’s parents migrated to California in search of better jobs. “Most of our neighbors were from the southeast,” he says. “And a lot from Texas and Oklahoma. We lived on the edge of the county, on the last paved road. It wasn’t as rural as Carroll County, Mississippi, but it was still pretty rural. Everybody liked to hunt and fish. They brought the food, language and culture with them.” Those roots were strengthened from regular road trips to Mississippi to his maternal grandmother’s house in Carroll County. “The first pilgrimage we made out there, I was 3 years old. I immediately knew, ‘Oh, that’s home.’ When I was growing up, I thought everyone’s grandmother lived in the 19th Century. She didn’t have any indoor plumbing. People were still driving horse-drawn wagons. I loved going there. It was fun at grandmother’s house. Running around in the woods chasing poultry. It was better than Disneyland.” Hart’s parents moved around a lot, but they always came back “home” to his grandmother’s house in Carroll County. As easy as it would be to believe that Hart’s musical training came in the fertile grounds of the Hill Country, that was simply not the case.
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“I never saw any live music down there except for in the church. I was asked to contribute to a Mississippi John Hurt tribute record years ago, and so I did “Here Am I, Oh Lord, Send Me.” I remember singing it in church with my grandmother back in ’69. John Hurt used to play it as well, and he’s also from Carroll County. Aside from that, I didn’t really get much live music from there. I do remember looking around thinking, ‘This place looks like a Jimmy Reed song.’ But the music I got there were things like the rhythm of the horses’ hooves. Lucinda Williams has an album called “Car Wheels On a Gravel Road.” I know what that sounds like. I know the excitement of that sound. Those were the things I got musically from the trips home.” Neither of Hart’s parents were musicians (“They were born adults”), but they were both music lovers. Between his folks and the other Southeastern transplanted adults in the neighborhood, he heard a lot of Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Albert King and B.B. King growing up. “I remember when my mom got an 8-track player in the glove box of her 1971 Ford Pinto. The first tape she bought for it was ‘The Best of Jimmy Reed.’ Because she and my brother liked it, so did I. ‘Down in Mississippi where the cotton grow tall/On the other hand, baby, boll weevil wearing overalls.’ I heard a lot of that.” Hart also had the good fortune of growing up in the Bay Area of
Kenny Brown · North Mississippi Allstars · Bobby Rush Alvin Youngblood Hart’s Muscle Theory Jimbo Mathus & The Tri State Coalition · Blue Mountain Robert Belfour · Eric Deaton · Duwayne Burnside · Garry Burnside David Kimbrough · Rocket 88 · Blue Mother Tupelo Reverend John Wilkins · Ian Siegal And more to be announced!
California at a time when the music was flourishing with artists like the Grateful Dead, Sir Douglas Quintet, Jefferson Airplane, Sly and the Family Stone and Janis Joplin. “In the late ‘60s, it was like an atomic bomb had dropped there. These people were all local heroes to us. I went to school with Sly’s bass player’s son. You’d hear these guys on the radio and feel a sense of pride. Not only that, radio was still a free forum back in those days – the early days of FM. You’d hear Frank Sinatra and Jimi Hendrix on the same frequency. There are a few pockets of resistance where you have adventurous people who will play anything, but not many. It’s like they try to make it difficult to get played because they separate and narrow everything down to the point where it all sounds the same. I guess it’s the American way. It started with people segregation, and now it’s genre segregation. I do listen to Little Steven Van Zandt’s ‘Underground Garage’ show on satellite radio a lot. It reminds me of how radio used to be.” Compared to a lot of virtuosic musicians, Hart was relatively late in seriously throwing himself into playing and writing music. “I had a lot of false starts. In 1970, I got this weird guitar toy thing. It was a cheesy, red plastic solid-body made to look like a Fender. There were no working electronics, but it did have a whammy bar and a cardboard amp. Heavy duty cardboard, like they used to make 1960s record players out of. The amp was covered in this multicolored wallpaper covering. It ran on a 6-volt battery. I’ve never seen another like it – not even on eBay. There was no instruction book or anything. My brother tuned it for me once, and that was it. I ended up breaking almost every string on it. A year or two later, I figured out how to pick out a Jimmy Reed song on it. But that was it for a while. “Another false start happened when I was about nine. A door-to-door salesman comes to the door. He was selling a guitar with free lessons. Our parents weren’t at home, and I was a smart-ass kid, so I just shut the door right in his face. ‘We don’t want any.’ When I told my brother, he ran out after him. My parents let him sign up, and he started taking lessons on this cheap plywood guitar. At Christmas, they bought him a better guitar, so I got the hand me down.” Hart found himself more drawn to this instrument than he had been to the plastic guitar. “This is the way my father tells the story. It was 1974. He was laying in bed one night, and he heard someone practicing the guitar. He assumed it was my brother. He got up out of bed and peeked into the room, and it was me playing.” Hart’s next breakthrough would come from an unlikely source. “I was 11 years old, and I was watching ‘Hee-Haw.’ Roy Clark comes out playing slide guitar with one of those jelly jar drinking glasses. It was interesting. I thought, ‘Man, this sounds good.’ So I ran into the kitchen and grabbed one and started messing around with it. I was picking up bits and pieces and putting them in the bank, waiting to withdraw.”
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The years that took Hart from middle school to high school also took him to an increasing obsession with the guitar. He began visiting pawn shops and found a solid body Galanti guitar, similar to the one played by Howlin’ Wolf ’s guitarist Hubert Sumlin, in the trash that had been badly burned. Hart and his friends began trading Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix and Cream guitar riffs with each other. Soon, they became the recipients of a drum kit that had been discarded by a Catholic Church. According to Hart, “That’s when it got serious.” Before long, Hart would have his first public performance. “It was the spring of 1980. I was living in central Ohio. I was about 16 years old. I started playing with this kid I knew who played bass and another played drums. They both played in the school jazz band. The drama club was having an after-party for the cast of their production of ‘The Sound of Music.’ They asked us to play. Keep in mind, this was at the height of the disco era. We were up there doing Thin Lizzy, the Stones, Hendrix, Humble Pie. They absolutely hated us. Finally, someone said, ‘Just stop. We’ll play the radio instead.’ And I’ve been going in that direction ever since.” Hart continued to forge ahead with bands in various configurations, until he finally hit a brick wall. “There was a point when I was 21 years old, where I got frustrated with trying to find people to play with. It was about that time that I came upon a very serendipitous accident. I had just gotten my tax return and went to a guitar store. I found a 1931 National style resonator guitar. It was only $400. About four or five months later, the Dire Straits’ album ‘Brothers in Arms’ came out. It has that same guitar on the cover. It brought a lot of attention back to that type of guitar, and suddenly they were $1,500.” The purchase of that guitar was a major turning point in Hart’s artistry as he began adding new instruments to his resume. He also began performing as a solo act for the first time. “After I bought that guitar, I started messing around with the mandolin and banjo also. I eventually stopped playing electric guitar altogether. That post B.B. King style of blues wasn’t doing anything for me. It still doesn’t, either. So I taught myself to sing and play by myself.” In 1986, Hart began a 7-year tour of duty as a member of the Coast Guard that would prove to be fruitful. He spent the first three years stationed in Natchez. His aunt lived three hours away, and after his grandmother died, she filled that role. When he relocated back to the San Francisco area, he brought the sounds he’d soaked up in Mississippi with him. “I started out playing at open mic nights. It was always the same thing. A bunch of bad singer/songwriters. You sign up and sit all night, waiting for your turn to play. I tried playing on the streets of Berkeley, but busking just attracted a bunch of weirdos.” Hart’s luck would change considerably in 1990 when he was asked
“
The funny thing is that my parents were not overtly pleased with my occupational choice ... But it was a total different experience when I introduced them to Bobby Rush. He is held in high esteem among every blues fan in Mississippi. Same thing when I worked with Denzel Washington on ‘The Great Debators’ or Samuel L. Jackson on ‘Black Snake Moan.’ When I played with Bo Diddley on his last tour, as well. Suddenly it became, ‘Our son, the musician.’ I know they’re proud.” Photograph by Candise Kola
Photograph by Marianne Todd
to open for Joe Louis Walker at the legendary Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse in Berkeley. Walker asked Hart to go on tour, but because he was tied to the Coast Guard for another three years, he was unable to join him. Discharged from the Coast Guard, Hart decided to stay in California’s Bay Area taking odd jobs during the day and playing music at night. “At one point, I was working as a tree cutter – removing trees from over people’s pools and such,” he laughs. “In retrospect, that was not a reasonable job for a musician, wielding around chainsaws.” He continued building on his reputation as the premier opening act for blues-based artists playing in the area. “It’s a lot easier to get an opening gig as a solo artist. I opened for Ali
Farka Touré, Roy Rogers, guys like that. I kept making contacts here and there, hoping it would lead to something more. I had a friend who was bartending at Yoshi’s in Oakland, and he got me an opening slot for Taj Mahal.” “It was a solo gig in the early ‘90s,” Mahal recalls. “A friend of mine asked me if I’d ever seen him. I hadn’t. I checked him out, and he was out there hammering on it. It was nice to see someone doing that. Some people don’t know there is an audience. He feeds off of the audience. It was exciting and interesting to see. He has thunder in his hands.” That night, Hart met some “managerial characters” that led to a record contract with Okeh Records, home to Keb’ Mo’ and G. Love & Special Sauce. In 1996, Alvin Youngblood Hart released his debut “Big MISSISSIPPILEGENDS.COM
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TOP: Hart often visited his grandparents, Carmilla and Wilson Wall, in rural Carroll County. BOTTOM: Big Mama’s house in Carroll County, where Hart spent much of his childhood. He wrote the song, “Big Mama’s Door,” based on his childhood experiences here.
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Mama’s Door” to mass acclaim from both critics and fellow musicians. “The first time I heard his record, it was just like, ‘Wow. He’s the real deal,’” says Mo’. “I love his recording technique. It was a mind-blowing album. It was very true to who he is.” “The first time I met Alvin was in 1996,” says Corey Harris. “I was excited to see another young brother playing the blues. I felt like I wasn’t alone. He’s so inspiring to be around. We have a recurring joke about how we always get mistaken for one another – even at the same show. Sometimes it’s stupid, but a lot of times we get a laugh out of it. It happened as recently as last week. I guess people see a black man with a beard and dreads, and they think they have a 50/50 shot. I don’t know.” Despite winning several accolades, including the W.C. Handy Blues Award for Best New Artist in 1997, Hart would experience the first of many unlucky record company experiences. “Okeh was owned by Sony Music,” he explains. “Well, they killed that imprint. The story that I got from the label was that Michael Jackson had spent too much money on a music video so they had to cut out the lesser artists to make the budget work. I think Sony kept a few people on Okeh, but most of us got cut.” Hart’s next two releases would come out on the Rykodisc label. His 1998 release, “Territory,” was met with praise and derision. People expecting to hear the Hill Country blues of “Big Mama’s Door” were no doubt surprised as the album leads off with the honky tonk swing of “Tallacatcha,” before running through a gamut of musical styles including rock and reggae. Hart does include a few numbers reminiscent of his debut album, such as a cover of Skip James’ “Illinois Blues,” but the album is a clear departure. Despite the album’s detractors and the fact that it wasn’t a blues album, it still topped many critics’ lists for Best Blues Album of 1998. His 2000 release, the Jim Dickinson-produced “Start With the Soul,” expanded his musical palate further by adding soul and funk to the mix. It was also his first album to include more electrified songs than acoustic songs. In many ways the album’s hodge-podge of styles can be seen as Hart’s tribute to the FM radio to which he grew up listening. Rock critics praised the album, and it was named the BBC’s Blues Record of the Year -
despite being his least blues-oriented release at that point. “When ‘Big Mama’s Door’ came out, it was on the tail end of the unplugged phenomenon,” he explains. “That was my version of unplugged. I didn’t plan on the next two records being that different – it just happened that way. Some of the songs on those records were written years before. It just so happened that I started playing electric again and liked it.” Unfortunately, he would find himself in search of a new label once again, this time by his own choice, when Rykodisc was purchased by media company Palm Pictures. “When I signed with Ryko, it was very artist friendly. I got to do a lot of cool things while I was there. I played Royal Albert Hall. I opened for Ladysmith Black Mambazo. I toured England with Richard Thompson. Anyway, they had purchased the rights to release the entire Frank Zappa catalog on CD, and apparently it didn’t pay off for them. Anybody who was into Zappa already had all of those albums on vinyl and didn’t care about CDs. Well, anybody but me. Part of my record deal with them was that I get the entire collection of Zappa CDs. How many people make that part of their deal? They looked at me like I was crazy. ‘Don’t you want money?’ Once Palm Pictures purchased them, it became some New York high-powered record company looking for people making dance music in tight pants. So, I left.” Hart’s next release was 2002’s “Down in the Alley” on the small Memphis International label and was a solo/acoustic collection of obscure blues tunes from artists like Son House, Charley Patton and Leadbelly. Hart received his first Grammy award nomination for the album in the Best Traditional Blues Album category. In 2004, Hart was recruited to play on Bobby Rush’s “FolkFunk,” which was not only generally regarded as the best blues release of the year, but also as the best recording of Rush’s career. “The funny thing is that my parents were not overtly pleased with my occupational choice. My dad was always telling me that I needed something to fall back on, and my mom still tried to get me to go straight. But it was a total different experience when I introduced them to Bobby Rush. He is held in high esteem among every blues fan in Mississippi. Same thing when I worked with Denzel Washington on ‘The Great Debators’ or Samuel L. Jackson on ‘Black Snake Moan.’ When I played with Bo Diddley on his last tour, as well. Suddenly it became, ‘Our son, the musician.’ I know they’re proud.” Hart’s next and latest release was 2005’s “Motivational Speaker.” The album is the hardest rocking record of his career to date, but is still a diverse affair, featuring covers of Doug Sahm, Otis Redding and Johnny Paycheck. It also begins with an electric reinterpretation of his classic “Big Mama’s House” done as “Big Mama’s House (Might Return)” in a nod to Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return).” The album was Hart’s fifth release for his fourth label. “Motivational Speaker” has been hailed by many as Hart’s greatest solo release, and
he toured behind it extensively with his backing band, Muscle Theory. Hart loves the album, but he doesn’t recall the making of it in a very positive light. “I’m still recovering from that experience. It was very Spinal Tapish with the label executive in the studio overseeing every little thing. He was constantly throwing in his opinion like, ‘Maybe I should play harmonica here in this song,’ when there was no place for it. They didn’t promote the album, either. I stood behind it for as long as was humanly possible and used every resource to promote it. I don’t even think it’s in print any more. They just didn’t care.” In the 12 years that have passed since that release, Hart has been anything but inactive. He participated in Otis Taylor’s 2008 release “Recapturing the Banjo” with Guy David, Harris and Mo’. He has also released two albums as a part of the trio The South Memphis String Band with Jimbo Mathus and Luther Dickinson. He’s also been touring relentlessly and trying to expand the minds of music listeners the world over. “The narrow-mindedness is really annoying. Sometimes we’ll sound check with a country song and have the club owner come to us and say, ‘You can’t do that song. This is a blues club.’ I am not a blues musician. Blues is just one part of what I do.” “Alvin does a lot of what I do,” Mahal says. “You play music every way you can – all the things you listened to back home. For some reason, British guys can experiment with it, but African-Americans can’t. There’s a double standard. A lot of it has to do with marketing. You see a black guy with a guitar and he’s blues.” This year, in addition to touring as a solo artist and with Muscle Theory, Hart will be featured in the documentary “True Blues,” headed up by Harris. Mahal, Davis, and Shemekia Copeland will also be featured in the documentary and soundtrack. He also in the process of writing material for a new album, which he says will be “more of a rock ‘n’ roll thing.” “Keep an eye out for me,” he says defiantly. “I’m not done yet.” L WANT MORE? Hart is scheduled to be an instructor at the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic in June, along with Jimbo Mathus, Luther Dickinson, Kenny Brown and Duwayne and Garry Burnside. The event is scheduled for June 28th and 29th in Waterford.
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the
JULIET COLLECTIVE WORDS BY STEPHEN CORBETT PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARIANNE TODD
F
or most children, taking
building my own. As part of my
things apart is something of a
occupational therapy, I worked on
destructive act. For Meridian
building these things, even though
native Robbie Spears, it turned
I still couldn’t play guitar. As I got
out to be a rather constructive
better, I had to relearn how to play
hobby – even if he didn’t always
guitar. I also enrolled into Meridian
put the things back together at
Community College to work on
the time.
electronics tech. After spending
Now as an adult, when his
about six years of playing guitar
love for music rivals his love for
in other people’s bands, I got tired
creation, Spears has come a long
of couch surfing and decided that
way from tinkering with toys. He
I wanted to make a living out of
now finds himself at the helm of The Juliet Collective offering some
building pedals.”
of the most innovative guitar pedals on the market.
Spears enrolled into the electrical engineering program at
Mississippi State University.
“I began playing guitar when I was 13 years old – badly,” Spears
says, tongue in cheek. “My granddad bought me my first guitars.
That’s kind of the start of The Juliet Collective, but I guess the real
pedal makers out there. But a lot of people will just sell you a clone
start was in 2000. I was 18 years old. It was on the night I graduated
of a Tube Screamer in a hand painted box. I love tone and sound as
from high school. I ended up in a car accident. I broke my neck, and
an instrument, but I didn’t want to be another clone company. I felt
it caused my arms to draw up and get all gimped out to the point
disingenuous building clones for people when they could just go out
where I couldn’t even hold a guitar anymore.”
and get a reissue.”
As a result of his neck injury, Spears had to wear a halo vest and
“The boutique market is huge,” he says. “There are some good
Spears started work on the pedal that became the Circadia. From
his upper body strength was so badly affected that his initial rounds
the graphics, which are screen-printed onto a thin piece of plastic
of physical therapy involved him pulling pennies out of silly putty.
and then applied to the round metal chassis, to its unique sound
and functionality, there is no other guitar pedal on the market that is
While in recovery, he spent a lot of time on the Internet and
became interested in the schematics of guitar pedals.
anything like it, he says.
“I was surprised to learn that there were other people out there
“The Circadia was the seed of The Juliet Project. I wanted to
who were building their own effects pedals,” he says. “I used my
make a pedal that was not a clone of anything. In some ways, it’s like
graduation money and bought up a bunch of equipment to try
a wah and a tremolo in one, but more programmable. It lends itself
Robbie Spears, the creator of The Juliet Collective, with the guitar pedals he designed. The Circadia is designed for musicians who are into polyrhythmic music; This Kingdom by the Sea is a fuzz pedal that pays particular attention to mid range frequencies; Set Adrift on Memory Bliss is a modulated delay pedal and Rainbow Crash is an overdrive pedal. All of the pedals are as distinctive as their name and come with unique artwork printed onto a metal casing - and they are all handmade.
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MISSISSIPPILEGENDS.COM
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very well to ambient or mood music. Something ethereal. Then again, every
the Edgar Allan Poe poem ‘Annabel Lee.’ It’s one of my favorite poems.”
time I say, ‘This is what this is,’ somebody comes along and does something
else with it.”
conventional but is no less distinctive.
The Circadia is designed for musicians who are into polyrhythmic
Unlike the Circadian, This Kingdom by the Sea manages to be more “The Circadia was like, ‘Hey, we’re different.’ This is our answer to the
music with unusual time signature changes with several preset polyrhythms.
fuzz, but the clipping circuit is what sets it apart. A lot of fuzz pedals take
It is also completely programmable. The pedal has ten program slots
the mids out – the E.Q. looks like a smiley face. So the meat of the guitar,
with room for up to a thousand beats in each of the slots. These beats, or
which is in the mids, disappears from the mix. In order to have any meat in
polyrhythms, play behind the guitarist affecting various frequencies of the
the band, you have to over track the guitars in the studio. With this pedal,
guitar. The Circadia also has a glowing “J” indicator light on the left side,
you get a fuzz that sits up in the mix without scooping. Then again, that
representing the selected rhythms. For even more customization, the colors
might be me drinking my own Kool-Aid,” he adds with a laugh.
of the indicator light are also changeable.
Collective pedals, few Mississippi retailers carry them and in fact Spears
“It’s a pedal that really pulls you out of the box you’re in,” Spears says.
Because of the time and money invested in the hand-crafted Juliet
“It’s very inspiring. It’s a great pedal to use for songwriting.”
jokes that there are more retailers carrying the pedals in Japan than in
Mississippi.
The Juliet Collective also currently manufactures three other pedals: a
fuzz pedal called This Kingdom by the Sea; a modulated delay pedal called
Set Adrift on Memory Bliss; and an overdrive pedal called Rainbow Crash.
important to keep them the best,” he says. “At the same time, in order to
All of the pedals are as distinctive as their name and come with unique
survive, you need to be in stores. Right now, our pedals do not cater to a
artwork printed onto a metal casing – and they are all handmade.
beginner clientele.” It is for this reason The Juliet Collective is poised to
introduce its mid-price range line of pedals.
“All of the names of my pedals come from some sort of inspiration – as
“I oversee what happens with each pedal that we make. It’s always
do the sounds they produce,” Spears says. “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss was
inspired by the group P.M. Dawn. This Kingdom by the Sea was inspired by
handmade with the difference being found in the number of options each
The new line will still be housed in metal casing and will still be
The Juliet Collective creator Robbie Spears with the fuzz pedal “This Kingdom by the Sea,” and “Set Adrift in Memory Bliss,” a modulated delay pedal. “I love tone and sound as an instrument, but I didn’t want to be another clone company. I felt disingenuous building clones for people when they could just go out and get a reissue.”
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pedal offers.
“Having fewer options will make the pedals easier to make and easier
to use,” he says. “They will be something for everyone, but they will still be made right here and by hand. You will never buy a pedal from us that comes off an assembly line or where the manufacturing was outsourced somewhere else. I will never do a low-line product. No candy shop lines. No plastic boxes.” Spears credits the entrepreneurship center at Mississippi State University as helping with the business end of things.
“They really helped me out with the push and know-how,” he says.
“I didn’t know a thing about business. They got me to the point where I was at trade shows like NAMM (the National Association of Music Merchants). I knew that I didn’t want to be an engineer for another company.”
L
WANT TO KNOW MORE? The Juliet Collective guitar pedals can be found at Mainly Music in Louisville and Backstage Music in Starkville. Or, pedals can be ordered from www.TheJulietCollective.com, www.PedalGeek.com and www.FXPedal.com. Juliet sound samples can be found at www.tonepedia.com.
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CUISINE
IT’S ALL ABOUT
THE FOOD BY JAMES DUKE DENTON
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOE WORTHEM
Private booths remain a favorite, a leftover from the days of Prohibition. Customers can opt for the intimacy of the booths or enjoy live music.
at Vince’s Restaurant
A
t Vince’s Restaurant in Leland, it really is all about the food. Yes, the atmosphere is great, and the people are of the friendly,
setting with candlelight, private booths and live music is all well and good. But did we mention the food is not to be believed?
genuine variety – but it really is about the food.
Proprietor Will Gault has a passion that permeates his dishes.
The old building makes the mind wander and ponder about what
He works each of the four nights the restaurant is open, and he has
might have transpired over the years under that roof. There are tales
owned and operated the place since he and Joe Robert Campbell
of ghost stories in nearby buildings and steamier tales of Prohibition
purchased their first building there three years ago. They have done
handed down through the years. None of that matters as much,
wonders with the once vacant buildings. What he does best, though,
though, once you start eating the food.
is prepare the food.
The revitalization of a few vacant storefronts in this Delta
“I have been cooking for about 20 years,” he said, in between runs
downtown between Greenwood and Greenville on Highway 82 is
to the kitchen to keep tabs on the night’s fare. “I like to get out in
a shot to the arm for the local economy and tax base. The elegant
the front when I can, but to make sure our food quality is up to my MISSISSIPPILEGENDS.COM
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standards, I like to be back there. It is a lot of work, even just doing it for four nights a week. I work every day.” Valerie Sanders likes it so much she comes in two or three times a week. She teaches in Cleveland, but she is originally from Biloxi, so seafood is right up her alley. “This is one of the best places to get a decent meal,” she said, following one of her trips in January. Her husband, she offers, is a first cousin of Otis Redding. Danny House of Arcola, also frequents the place whenever he can. He says that Vince’s is, “one of my favorite restaurants in the Delta. I like the atmosphere, but this is one of the best places in the Delta to get a steak.” Be it shrimp and grits (the grits are made locally), or the venison or even the grilled scallops, there is a fan endeared to each dish. And some of the best food you will ever eat at Vince’s is not even on the menu. You have to ask for it. “The food is fabulous,” said Michelle Wright, Gault’s girlfriend and co-worker. “We have a redfish that is one of our top sellers (but don’t look for it on the menu). And he cooks at home like that. Everything is original and everything is fresh. The seafood is driven here. I have worked here about a year and a half. I started out as a hostess. I am now behind the bar.” ABOVE: Left to Right: - Blackened redfish served with a sauteed shrimp sauce over a bed of rice. - Seared venison with greens and polenta. - Classic Southern shrimp and grits. - Burritos with a twist - these are made with venison. LEFT: Baked oyster medley.
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“
Because of a nearby railroad and two highrise hotels, the little café was a bustling place in a thriving community for many years.”
Debra Short of Shaw, has worked at Vince’s almost as long as Gault has
nson Robert Joah cy Tour Life & Leg
ven years and He lived twenty-se ine songs that recorded twenty-n ver. Come see changed music fore d his music. the land that shape
Scan here for our free self-guided tour map.
owned it. She also sings its praises. “Will is an exceptionally good cook and really easy to work for,” she said. “He is easy on the eyes, too. It is like taking care of family. The people love the décor, the history and the building.”
Customers frequent the restaurant from Cleveland, Clarksdale, Belzoni, Inverness, Indianola, Grenada, Vicksburg and Batesville and from Arkansas. “Everybody here is easy to get along with customer-wise and employeewise. I am probably the oldest one here,” Shaw continued. “When we had this original side it stayed packed. It was tight and cozy. When we enlarged, we filled it up instantly. He (Will) has not done a lot of advertising. We have a lot of good word-of-mouth advertising. We have
Image of Robert Johnson derived from the photo booth self-portrait © 1986 Delta Haze Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.
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ABOVE: LEFT - Loyal customers make trips to Vince’s from all over the Delta, parts of Arkansas and as far south as Vicksburg. CENTER - Will Gault preparing a venison dish. • The decor of Vince’s is intimate and charming with red and gold hues and soft lighting for ambiance. RIGHT - Chef Will Gault is in the kitchen each night the restaurant is open. RIGHT: Private booths established during Prohibition are still a favorite with customers.
great local entertainment.” Vince’s was originally a café that opened in the 1930s, initially occupying one-third of the current space. Because of a nearby railroad and two highrise hotels, the little café was a bustling place in a thriving community for many years. It was named Vince’s for Vince Gardina, an uncle of one of the original owners. The other two-thirds were vacant until Gault decided to stop turning
to the main course, the marvelous food.
away customers each night due to limited space. Nowadays, the original
“We don’t charge a cover charge. We do music almost every night.
restaurant that once seated 50 has tripled in size to seat 170.
We strongly recommend reservations,” Gault said. “We have some really
“We have a lot of customers who like the booths,” said Gault, whose early
good customers. Ninety percent of our business is from somebody who
restaurant experience had humble beginnings – from dishwasher to head chef
has been driving a while. That is why we are open Thursday through
- at Proud Larry’s in Oxford. “The curtains date back to Prohibition where
Sunday. Our business is so heavily influenced by people driving.”
L
people could sit in the booths and drink. These buildings had actually been connected by a natural archway. We chipped away to the original brick from
WANT TO GO?
the 30s.”
Vince’s Restaurant is open Thursday through Sunday from 5:30 to
There are the quiet and private booths on the original side of the place, and
11:59 p.m. Located at 297 N. Main St., Vinces offers American, Italian,
then there are the ones closer to the live music. “They love the booths,” said
seafood and steaks. For more information, or to make reservations
Wright. “The booths over there (in the original café area) are hotspots. The
(recommended), call (662) 686-2112.
younger crowd requests to be over here (near the live music).” Gault said they ask customers to be specific when reserving a booth because of the different atmospheres each give. Jimmy Phillips and Bub Branton, who often play at Vince’s, also described the food in glowing terms. Yes, the entertainment is nice, but it is a side dish
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MARCH. APRIL 2013
Visit Greenville-Washington County and experience a blues pilgrimage you will never forget. From juke-joint inspired blues festivals and Highway 61 Blues Museum to the winding Mississippi Blues Trail, meet the living bluesmen that call this little part of the Mississippi Delta home. Leland Crawfish Festival / May 11 MS Jazz & Heritage Festival / Sept. 7 Delta Blues & Heritage Festival / Sept. 21 Highway 61 Blues Festival / Oct. 5-6, Leland, MS Hollandale Sam Chatmon Festival / Sept. 28
www.visitgreenville.org 1-800-467-3582 MISSISSIPPILEGENDS.COM
63
IF YOU ARE AGE 50 OR OLDER, YOU NEED TO BE SCREENED NOW. SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT WITH GI ASSOCIATES TODAY. COLON SCREENING SAVES LIVES.
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JACKSON 601.355.1234
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What’s shakin’ around the state? bay st. louis Apr 6.......................Stella’s Blues & BBQ Festival - Depot District - www.gulfcoast.org - (228) 467-0855 Apr 13.....................Percy Sledge - Hollywood Casino - www.hollywoodbsl.com - (800) 229-2683
biloxi Mar 16....................The Moody Blues - Beau Rivage Casino Resort - www.beaurivage.com - (228)386-7444 Mar 22....................Yes - Hard Rock Casino - www.hardrockbiloxi.com - (228) 374-7625 Mar 22....................Vince Gill - Beau Rivage Casino Resort - www.beaurivage.com - (228)386-7444 Mar 22....................Doobie Brothers - IP Casino Resort - www.ipbiloxi.com - (800) 436-3000 Mar 23....................Trace Adkins - Hard Rock Casino - www.hardrockbiloxi.com - (228) 374-7625 Mar 30....................Gretchen Wilson - IP Casino Resort - www.ipbiloxi.com - (800) 436-3000 Mar 30....................Elton John - Mississippi Coast Coliseum - www.mscoastcoliseum.com - (228) 594-3700 Apr 5.......................LeAnn Rimes - Hard Rock Casino - www.hardrockbiloxi.com - (228) 374-7625 Apr 6.......................Roots and Boots Tour - IP Casino Resort - www.ipbiloxi.com - (800) 436-3000 Apr 13.....................Loretta Lynn - IP Casino Resort - www.ipbiloxi.com - (800) 436-3000 May 3......................Joan Jett - Beau Rivage Casino Resort - www.beaurivage.com - (228)386-7444
clarksdale Mar 16....................Phillip Carter and The Blues Underground - Ground Zero - www.groundzerobluesclub.com - (662) 621-9009 Mar 23....................Reba Russell Blues Band - Ground Zero - www.groundzerobluesclub.com - (662) 621-9009 Mar 23....................Mudflap King - Hopson Plantation - www.hopsonplantation.com - (662) 624-5756 Mar 30....................Juke Joint All Stars - Ground Zero - www.groundzerobluesclub.com - (662) 621-9009 Apr 13.....................Juke Joint Festival - Downtown Clarksdale - www.jukejointfestival.com - (662) 624-5992 Apr 14.....................Cat Head Mini Blues Fest I - Downtown Clarksdale - www.cathead.biz - (662) 624-5992 Apr 20.....................Stan Street and The Hambone Band - Ground Zero - www.groundzerobluesclub.com - (662) 621-9009
cleveland Apr 11.....................Steve Azar - Bologna Performing Arts Center - www.bolognapac.com - (662) 846-4626
columbus May 3 & 4..............Market Street Festival - Downtown Columbus - www.marketstreetfestival.com - (662) 328-6305
greenwood Jan 26-Aug 31.........War Comes to the Mississippi Delta: The Sesquicentennial of the Yazoo Pass Expedition - Museum of the Mississippi Delta ...............................www.museumofthemississippidelta.com - (662) 453-0925 May 3 & 4..............River to the Rails - Downtown Greenwood - www.greenwoodms.com - (662) 453-7625
jackson Apr 2.......................Music in the City - Mississippi Museum of Art - www.msmuseumart.org - (601) 960-1515 Apr 13 & 14...........Crossroads Film Festival - Various Locations - www.crossroadsfilmfestival.com Apr 23 & 24...........Elvis Lives - Thalia Mara Hall - www.kesslerbroadway.com - (601) 981-1847
meridian Apr 12.....................Aaron Neville - MSU Riley Center - www.msurileycenter.com - (601) 696-2200 Apr 19.....................Boz Scaggs - MSU Riley Center - www.msurileycenter.com - (601) 696-2200 Apr 26.....................Jewel - MSU Riley Center - www.msurileycenter.com - (601) 696-2200
natchez Mar 9-Apr 9............Natchez Spring Pilgrimage - Historic Natchez - www.natchezpilgrimage.com - (601) 446-6631 May 4-26................Natchez Festival Of Music - Various Locations - www.natchezfestivalofmusic.com - (601) 445.2210
oxford Apr 26-27...............Double Decker Festival - Downtown Oxford - www.oxfordcvb.com - (800) 758-9177
pascagoula Apr 13-20...............Pascagoula River Nature Festival - Pascagoula Audubon Center - www.gulfcoast.org/events - (228) 475-0825
philadelphia Apr 19-20...............Ham Jam Arts Festival - Downtown Philadelphia - www.hamjamartsfestival.com
rosedale May 11....................Crossroads Blues & Heritage Festival - Rosedale - www.visitthedelta.com - (800) 626-3764
tunica Mar 23....................Vince Gill - Gold Strike Casino Resort - www.goldstrikemississippi.com - (662) 357-1111 Apr 19 & 20...........Tunica Rivergate Festival - Downtown Tunica - www.tunicachamber.com - (662) 363-2865 Apr 27.....................B.B. King - Gold Strike Casino Resort - www.goldstrikemississippi.com - (662) 357-1111
tupelo Apr 12 & 13...........Azalea Festival - Veterans Park - www.tupelo.net - (800) 533.0611 Apr 19.....................Brantley Gilbert’s Hell On Wheels Tour - www.bcsarena.com - (662) 841-6528 May 2-4..................Bye Bye Birdie - Tupelo Community Theatre - www.tct.ms - (662) 844-1935 May 3-5..................Blue Suede Cruise - Downtown Tupelo - www.welovetupelo.com - (800)533-0611 May 7......................Gumtree Festival - Downtown Tupelo - www.welovetupelo.com - (800)533-0611
southaven Mar 19....................Songs of the Old and New World - Hernando Public Library - www.firstregional.org - (662) 429-4439 Mar 26....................9th Annual Taste of DeSoto - Landers Center - www.thetasteofdesoto.com - (662) 910-6732 Mar 27....................Alicia Keys - Landers Center - www.desotociviccenter.com - (662) 470.2131 Apr 27.....................Dave Matthews Band - Snowden Grove Amphitheater - www.snowdengroveamphitheater.com - (662) 892-2660
starkville Apr 20.....................Cotton District Arts Festival - Historic Cotton District - www.cdafestival.com - (662)324-3080 Apr 22.....................Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet - Bettersworth Auditorium - www.lyceum.msstate.edu - (662) 325-2930
vicksburg Apr 19 & 20...........26th Annual RiverFest - Historic Vicksburg - www.visitvicksburg.com - (601) 634-4527 Apr 20 - 33rd..........Alcorn State Jazz Festival - Vicksburg Convention Center - www.alcorn.edu/jazzfest - (866) 822-6338
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MARCH. APRIL 2013