PIEDMONT BLUES PRESERVATION SOCIETY
w w w. p i ed m o n t b lu es .o rg 2019 EDITION
MAY 18-19, 2019 No. 33 | 1 Section | 4 Pages
What is the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society?
MISSION: The Piedmont Blues Preservation Society (PBPS) is a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit dedicated to the preservation and presentation of the music known commonly as the Blues; this form of music having evolved historically from the work songs and spirituals of the Black African-American race. This society strives to document and preserve both the Black American and North Carolina Blues traditions, and to present educational programs, seminars, and workshops meant to revive, maintain, and grow interest in Blues in the local community.
Letter from President: What’s up, blues fans and friends!? Atiba Berkley here to thank you all for your continued and growing support of Piedmont Blues Preservation Society, our mission and programs. It’s been a whirlwind year since last year this time and so much has changed. New board members, new fundraisers, a new website and some great opportunities to execute our mission of spreading blues culture over the Piedmont region of N.C.! Some of you supported through Pop-Up Jams, many of you donated money, and so many attended shows and volunteered.
Those types of support are what keep us going so thank you! We’re very excited to have some great new sponsors and some amazing We hope you find what we do for our community as interesting as we do and that you would like to join in the fun. Aside from fundraising, we provide a taxdeductible annual membership that helps us to continue the many programs mentioned. Memberships provide discounts at PBPS sponsored events and at selected clubs and restaurants. Our weekly e-Blast Bluesletter will give you up-to-date information on local artists, clubs, and events,
Blues & Foods Market Food and Craft have always been a part of Blues culture in America and around the world. The PBPS wants to celebrate the culinary legacy of the blues so we support our regional food entrepreneurs. Crafts people of all sorts are also on hand to sell their jewelry, cigar-box guitars, clothing, weavings, and all sorts of handmade and local goods! Our Blues & Foods Market is just outside the festival grounds on Davie Street. There are a wide variety of delicious food choices with Southern and international flavors, terrific arts and crafts vendors selling their wonderful creations. Check out and even buy some great artisan crafts, and grab some snacks or dinner even from the many food trucks at the Blues and Foods market. Take in the amazing blues lineup we will have! All we ask is that you enjoy yourselves, be kind and have a little fun.
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FOOD VENDORS
MAY 18 — Grilled Delights, Ghassan’s, & Porter House Burger Co MAY 19 — Succotash Durham (Durham, N.C.) — CockADoodleMoo (Wake, N.C.) — Virgil’s Jamaica (Wake, N.C.) — Frank’s Top Secret Chicken & Waffles (Davidson, N.C.) — Mack Ave Eats — Emergensweets (Cabarrus, N.C.) — Kona Ice (Guilford, N.C.)
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 2 p.m. 3 p.m. 4 p.m.
4:15 p.m. 5:15 p.m. 5:30 p.m. 6:30 p.m. 6:45 p.m.
Gates Open House of Dues Proclamation and Mike Carr Jr Bluesman Award Melva Houston Tribute to Logie Meachum Jon Shain Keeping the Blues Alive Lifetime Achievement Award Clark Stern and The Musical Rewards
7:45 p.m. Blind Boy Fuller-NC Music Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony 8:15 p.m. Dom Flemons The “Mike Carr Jr. Bluesman Award” is presented each year to upcoming young blues artists. The award recognizes emerging youth talent who are keeping the blues alive by their music and JUMPED TO NEXT PAGE
including some bonuses for “members only.” Donations and/or becoming a member are greatly appreciated. Proceeds are used to make our children’s lives and our community more enjoyable. For more information, to become a member, or to make a donation to the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society, you may do so online at: http://piedmontblues.org, via PayPal Sales@piedmontblues.org or our mailing address is: Piedmont Blues Preservation Society P.O. Box 9737 Greensboro, NC 27429
Blues in the Schools This free education program for students educates by demonstrating the blues genre and it’s history. Our goal is to bring these children the joy of music and to attempt to get them involved with music. Research has shown that music involvement settles the mind, helps in education, and provides an outlet that could keep the child from going back to the streets and staying out of trouble. Coming from the oral traditions of African-American folk music, field hollers, and spirituals, the blues is the foundation for many other popular music forms students listen to today. These early country blues men and women created beautiful poetry that responded to the conditions of their world. Sometimes the lyrics express the anger they could not speak. Other times, they painted a vivid picture of African-American life their songs, stories, and lives. Through the Blues In The Schools, students & teachers can learn this history. Our Parker, Speas, Welborne Music Scholarship is a program for music students at Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU). Consistent with the PBPS mission statement that, encourages “...preservation of North Carolina Blues music; revival of interest in blues in the local communities, especially African American communities; and the presentation of educational programs, forums and workshops on the blues...” this Scholarship is created for the purpose of assisting college students attending any one or all of Bennett College, NC A&T State University, and Winston Salem State University. *Member-Volunteer Personnel (MVPs) are needed and welcomed to assist in managing and staffing these programs. Please contact info@piedmontblues.org if you would like to volunteer. MAY 8-14, 2019 YES! WEEKLY
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CLARK STERN AND THE MUSICAL REWARDS FEATURING CHUCK COTTON AND MOOKIE BRILL
DOM FLEMONS public displays of talent and are the future of the blues. The presentation is made in honor as a memorial of former board member Mike Carr who encouraged the PBPS to reach out to the young musicians in the Piedmont. The Award is sponsored by Summerfield Family Chiropractic.
DOM FLEMONS
Flemons co-founded the Carolina Chocolate Drops who won a GRAMMY for Best Traditional Folk in 2010. He left the group to pursue his solo career in 2014 and in 2016 the Carolina Chocolate Drops were inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. Flemons has performed with leading musicians such as Old Crow Medicine Show, Taj Mahal, Guy Davis, Mike Seeger, Joe Thompson, Martin Simpson and Boo Hanks. He’s been a professional touring musician for the past 10 years and has traveled around the nation and the world presenting traditional folk and roots music to diverse audiences. He’s performed as a soloist at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Cecil Sharp House, the Grand Ole Opry, the Opening Ceremony for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Newport Folk Festival and represented the United States at the 2017 Rainforest World Music Festival in Kuching, Malaysia. In 2018, Flemons released his solo album titled Dom Flemons Presents Black Cowboys on GRAMMY Award winning record label Smithsonian Folkways. This recording is part of Folkways 70th Anniversary and the African American Legacy Recordings series in conjunction with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. The album has spent 31 consecutive weeks on Billboard Bluegrass and YES! WEEKLY
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charted on both Folk radio and Traditional Folk radio charts. Flemons was featured on syndicated radio broadcasts World Café and NPR’s Here and Now to discuss the history of black cowboys and the new record. Flemons’ website TheAmericanSongster.com was selected by the Library of Congress for inclusion in the American Music Creators Web Archive. In 2017, Flemons was featured on David Holt’s State of Music on PBS and performed as bluesman Joe Hill Louis on CMT’s original hit television show Sun Records. In 2016, Flemons released a duo album with British musician Martin Simpson titled Ever Popular Favourites, on Fledg’ling Records. Flemons launched a podcast, American Songster Radio, on WUNC Public Radio and filmed two instructional DVD’s through Stefan Grossman’s Guitar Workshop. In 2014, he released a critically acclaimed solo album Prospect Hill through Music Maker Relief Foundation.
CLARK STERN AND THE MUSICAL REWARDS FEATURING CHUCK COTTON AND MOOKIE BRILL
Genuine blues and boogie-woogie piano has taken Clark Stern around the world, entertaining audiences, performing on chart-topping albums, and learning from true masters of the art. Clark cares deeply about carrying on the legacy of the great piano performers, proudly continuing the tradition of piano as a central part of blues music. The Musical Rewards feature two of the world’s leading blues artists on vocals: legendary drummer Chuck Cotton, and Handy Award-winning bassist Mookie Brill.
JON SHAIN
Last August at Durham’s Blue Note Grill, Jon won the 2018 Triangle Blues Society‘s Blues Challenge in the solo/duo category,
JON SHAIN allowing him to advance on to the 2019 International Blues Challenge in Memphis where took FIRST PLACE in the solo/duo category, besting over 260 competitors for the win. Jon Shain is a veteran singer-songwriter who’s been turning heads for years with his words, his fiery acoustic guitar work, and his evolved musical style – combining improvised piedmont blues with bluegrass, swing, and ragtime. Shain’s latest solo disc, Gettin’ Handy with the Blues – a Tribute to the Legacy of WC Handy, was released in January, 2018. Shain’s newest release is Tomorrow Will Be Yesterday Soon, with long-time collaborator FJ Ventre.
MELVA HOUSTON
Since the American jazz, blues and gospel singer Melva Houston made her debut in Germany in 1996, she has been a regular guest in jazz clubs and at jazz festivals each year. Melva Houston even has a special relationship with insiders on the Jazz
and Gospel scene in Germany. Concerts in neighboring countries like Switzerland, the Netherlands and Spain show Melva’s increasing crowd of followers and it’s no wonder, since a combination of a jazz and blues voice of her capacity combined with brilliant entertainment, complemented by a band consisting of high-class jazz musicians turn Melva Houston’s concerts into an extraordinary live event. The singer Melva Houston was born in Memphis/Tennessee, home of many black blues celebrities. Being the youngest daughter of large family, she grew up in the tradition of gospel, blues and jazz. At age 13, she won a young talent competition, after having made herself a name by performing regularly on a popular radio show. Melva began to experience a meteoric rise. At age 15, she was a background singer for the record company Stax-Records. By age 16 she was singing for Isaac Hayes and went on to become such a popular background singer that she made numerous recordings with stars
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MELVA HOUSTON
like Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Sam and Dave and other celebrities of the Stax Record Labels. In the 80s, she accompanied The Platters on their European tour and from 1988 thru1996 she went on long tours in Spain, where she achieved overwhelming success as a soloist. Here in North Carolina, Melva Houston is a permanently sought-after star on renowned jazz festivals. During the last years, Melva devoted herself more and more towards the blues, whereas she still felt obligated to her musical roots. Here she is an expert when it comes to combining the blues with the idioms of jazz. This way, it is not surprising that she knows how to interpret Broadway songs with the same persuasiveness as the jazz standards of Gershwin, Ellington and Cole Porter or compositions from Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver. As a singer, Melva Houston was able to detach herself through her unique style from her examples Dinah Washington, Ernestine Anderson, Carmen McRae and Nancy Wilson, without wanting to deny their influence on her.
HOUSE OF DUES
House of Dues came about through a Fat Tuesday/Mardis Gras celebration and and stuck together. In January 2012,
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the band won the Piedmont Triad Blues Competition and went to Memphis, T.N. to compete in the International Blues Competition. Since then they have been a powerhouse blues and funk band for the Greensboro music scene. They now have a monthly residency at Fisher’s and can be found playing all sorts of festivals and special events in and around NC. Their first album, “Gimme Some Hotcakes” began as a demo project, but the recording was so easy and enjoyable, the CD was released and includes a dozen blues and R&B standards, including updates of “Spoonful”, and “Fire on the Bayou”. The title track is an original tune, which was recently featured on the soundtrack for the film, “Find A Way.” Their latest release is “Cross That Line” includes the track, “Ballad for Billy Hobbs” a memorial to a local blues legend and friend of the band, Billy “Ransom” Hobbs who was killed in a house fire, and whose killer is still at large HOD released “Cross That Line in the fall of 2013. Greensboro based House of Dues brings together the genres of blues, funk, R&B for a satisfying blend of jams. Keyboard player Chris Robinson fuels the band with New Orleans infused funk and blues organ. Veteran drummer Chuck Cotton’s solid playing has supported many of the greats in blues music throughout the years, but he has carved out new ground with HOD. Chuck’s soulful singing and playing is top notch. Steve Blake on Tenor sax, is another regional talent who stretches from jazz to Latin, and blues in between. Philly based bass player via South Carolina is AJ Diggs, who brings the funk and soulful singing to the band, and who had, among others, a stint with the Blue Notes and Roy Roberts. David Bolton on Guitar, steel guitar and vocals rounds out the band.
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The Carolina Blues Festival, is the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society’s signature fundraising event. We’ve been bringing the blues to Greensboro since 1985 and we’re thrilled to keep bringing great shows to our community and bringing people from across the United States to our city. The Piedmont Blues Preservation Society is also pleased to host Blues Week as declared by Proclamation of the Office of the Mayor of the City of Greensboro in an event filled with local, regional, and International headliners, food, craft vendors, beverages, and fun for the family. The proceeds from the event help with the educational projects that we do, Blues in the Schools, it’s community outreach project named Share the Music, and the Parker, Speas, Welborne Scholarship fund. PBPS has ZERO PAID STAFF. All funds go directly to the programs and not to any salaries as we are a 100% volunteer-run organization. MAY 8-14, 2019
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