Mississippi Posts
Southern Gospel Icon Dottie Rambo Dies in Crash
Southern Gospel singer-songwriter Joyce "Dottie" Rambo died early this morning (May 11, 2008) when the bus she was in ran read more...
New Features, Capricorn Records, Southern Rock Lists
We are happy to add a couple of new ongoing features here at GRITZ. The first is our
SEC Football Update, Memphis Style!
Ron Higgins was on fire over the weekend. He's one of the best writers about SEC football newspaper writers outside of Tony read more...
The Legends of Southern Rock, a Guide
Greetings from Carolina. We are happy to present our new
Why Swampland Sports Loves the BCS
Despite winning back to back national titles in football, the SEC susre seems to hate the BCS. Lately, this hatred has been read more...
Why I Love Bonnie Bramlett
I remember reading about Delaney and
Vintage GRITZ Articles Unearthed; Hatchet, Skynyrd, Tucker, Ricky Skaggs and More
It's time once again to add a few more Vintage Gritz articles to the archives, and I hope you'll check 'em out for a "blast from read more...
Snowflakes: What Are SEC Football Critics Going To Do Now?
With spring football in full gear, it’s never too early to look ahead to the upcoming season. We at Swampland have focused many read more...
Outward Bound
“The eye and mind would be functioning as a camera. The writing would be selective and necessarily interpretive—but once read more...
The Delaney Bramlett Interviews: Delaney On Janis, George, Eric and Duane
Well, I have been burning the midnight oil again, putting together and publishing
Billy Bob Thornton's Boxmasters Signed to Vanguard
Billy Bob Thornton and The Boxmasters have signed read more...
Delaney Bramlett Sits Down with Gritz: Part One
I have been a fan of Delaney and Bonnie since my early high school days, and of all the hundreds (thousands?) of celebrities I have read more...
Dickinson's Eats & Dylan's Prize
Bob Dylan Wins Pulitzer Prize & Jim Dickinson's Best On The Road Eating 4/7/08
A Shot of the Blues
A Daily Dose of Authenticity...Keith Richards...James Burton...MLK...Widespread Panic...The Black Crowes...Jim Dickinson...
Alabama Beat: Words and Music in the Deep South
The three poems currently appearing in the Poetry section of Swampland are by Mississippi born Pulitzer Prize winner
The Southern Foodways Alliance Needs Your Recipes!
Swampland has the utmost respect for the Southern Foodways Alliance so read more...
Season Summary: New Orleans Saints
Quick Summary: The Saints bombed out after their near-Super Bowl run in 2007. People can point to injuries, but
Video Clips: Tornado Hits Downtown Atlanta during SEC Tourney Game
Below is a clip of the game broadcast of Alabama vs. Mississippi State during the moment when a tornado hits the Georgia Dome and read more...
Snowflakes: Why SEC Hoops is No Longer Just Kentucky
With Mississippi and Florida both dropping first round games in the conference tournament, the SEC contingent for the Big Dance seems read more...
The Dickinson's Mojo & The Black Crowes' Voodoo
Mystery & Manners Investigates The Mojo of The Dickinson Family & The Black Crowes' Voodoo 3/11/02
"Mamo" Bramlett Has Passed Away; Delaney Interview Coming
I was on the phone with Delaney Bramlett this afternoon, conducting the first in a series for Swampland called "The Delaney read more...
Snowflakes: SEC Hoops
* I’ve written all season about the banner year for basketball in the state of Tennessee. The two best teams in the league read more...
Snowflakes: Small Conference Hoops
* We still have a great two-horse race in the Sun Belt Conference as both South Alabama and Western Kentucky try to prove they are read more...
Black History Month: Look Back, but Move Forward
“Look back but move forward” was the credo of civil rights activist
Another Call To Harry Crews & Beyond
...An Ongoing Pursuit & Recording of the Mystery And Manners Saga...Widespread Panic...Jim Dickinson...Harry Crews and read more...
Snowflakes: SEC Hoops
* After attending the Vanderbilt-Kentucky game Tuesday night in Nashville, all I can say is ‘Wow’. The Commodores are read more...
New CD's from Delaney, Bonnie and Whitlock
This may be the only time in history that the stars have lined up like this. Literally. If you check out the GRITZ CD read more...
Artist of the Week: Paul Thorn
Let me just cut to the chase. I am a huge fan pf Mississippi singer songwriter Paul
Jim Dickinson On The Line
Mystery & Manners Interview With Memphis Legend Jim Dickinson 2/9/08
Ryan Bingham Gets Help From Ford
Marc Ford & Son Join Texas Songwriter Ryan Bingham In the South 2/9/08
Snowflakes: SEC Hoops
* The Kentucky Wildcats finally look to be playing the kind of winning ball that Big Blue fans expect. It took a while to adjust to read more...
Delaney's Coming Soon to Swampland
I am very happy to report that GRITZ will soon present an all new interview with Southern music legend Delaney Bramlett. Delaney was read more...
Petty & Eli: Underdogs Triumphant!
I sat back Sunday ready to enjoy a Super Bowl without a "horse in the race," so to speak. All of our SPF teams had read more...
Adventures In The (Pig) Skin Trade On Super Bowl Sunday
Roving Notes On Super Bowl Sunday 2/3/08
Snowflakes: SEC Hoops
by Patrick Snow * Someone forgot to tell 2-time National Champion Florida that they were supposed to struggle this read more...
Lest We Forget: Four Spirits
January 30, 2008, marked the 60th anniversary of the assassination of India’s political and spiritual leader
Snowflakes: C-USA/Big East Hoops
by Patrick Snow * Could this week finally bring the contest where #1 Memphis actually loses a conference game? The read more...
Luther Dickinson: Night Before theTour...
Luther Dickinson Talks Present, Past & Future 1/16/08
My Favorite Southern Rock Song?
I was talking to one of my pals down Florida way the other day when the conversation shifted to great Southern Rock songs.We started read more...
Six Degrees of Separation
In the south we not only claim kin we also claim friends. I have learned that behind every new acquaintance there lies the read more...
LIghts, Camera, Action! Film Festivals and Film Debuts in the South
Late winter and spring of 2008 will see the blossoming of a host of film festivals in the South. A number of the festivals read more...
GRITZ Best Albums of The Year
Lots of great music rocked my world in 2007. Here are my choices for the 15 best of the best. Feel free to log on and comment. Let me read more...
Blues Trail Marker For "Nighthawk" McCollum
A New Blues Marker Tribute 12/19/07
...Into The Deep...
Mystery & Manners Dispatch 12/05/07
TF Rivalry Week Preview
Rivalry games define college football. More than bowl games or even conference championships, a win against your rival means read more...
TF Saturday Preview: The Year of Transition Nears An End
The wild year continues. In many ways this was just a sign of the transition college football around the Footprint has read more...
The Word Returns
The Word Returns In December 11/14/07
TF Saturday Preview: Everything's Still To Be Decided
Patrick Snow has it right. This year's
Tiger Rag
In the spring a young man’s fancy may turn to baseball, but in the fall in the South everyone’s fancy turns to read more...
TF Saturday Preview: Pole, er.. Bowl Position
If you aren't a Florida or Georgia fan, this weekend might be a good one to spend with the kids. This is a pretty thin weekend read more...
TF's Saturday Preview: Act Like You've Been There Before!
It's the old saying when a player celebrates a little too much - act like you've been there before. This rules seems to also read more...
It Was 30 Years Ago Today: Last Flight of The Free Bird
I only saw Lynyrd Skynyrd, the original Lynyrd read more...
TF's Saturday Preview: The History Behind SEC Dominance
Tribal Fever would like to start this weekend's festivities by directing everyone to a fantastic series on
Tribal Fever's Weekend Slate (10/6/2007)
Let's start with this week's College Football Preview from Athlon. Swampland's own Patrick Snow hosts each read more...
William Eggleston: The Father of Color Photography
The Photography of William Eggleston 10/4/07
People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs 1913-1938
Tompkins Square Releases Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs This Week 9/29/07
Blues Great Memphis Minnie Honored
Blues Great Memphis Minnie Honored 9/28/07
Swampland welcomes Tribal Fever!
It was only a matter of time before Swampland Sports starting covering the colleges in earnest. Today marks the start of Tribal read more...
The Shadow And the Truth
9/19/07 ...THE SHADOW AND THE TRUTH...
Luther Dickinson Flies With The Black Crowes
Luther Dickinson Flies With The Black Crowes 9/17/07
CD and DVD releases for week of August 21, 2007
New Releases Galactic
CD and DVD releases for week of August 14, 2007
Darren Kozelsky
DEATH WEEK
The 30 year anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death falls on August 16, 2007. Like it or not, Elvis ranks as a southern icon. read more...
Turtle Tracks
In the fall of 2005, my sister Peggy bought a 1985 Toyota Dolphin RV from her son in Seaside, CA, and in late October Peggy, our read more...
CD and DVD releases for week of August 7, 2007
New Releases Bruce Hornsby/Christian McBride/Jack DeJohnette
CD and DVD releases for week of July 31, 2007
New Releases 10 Mile Crossing
Thursday Night with Paul Thorn and Something Heavy
I knew going in that it was going to be a busy, busy weekend. What I also knew was that it would be one of the most music filled, read more...
Swampland Sports Six-Pack for the week ending 7/15/07
Your weekly filter for the top sports stories around the South 1. The college sports “arms race" read more...
CD and DVD releases for week of July 17, 2007
New Releases Raul Malo
Look Homeward, Angel: In Memoriam Doug Marlette
On Tuesday, July 10, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Doug read more...
07-07-07
Isn't seven the most powerfully magical number? -- Tom Marvolo Riddle to Horace Slughorn Harry read more...
CD and DVD releases for week of June 26, 2007
CDs New Releases Charlie Daniels
Fire On The Mountain
6/25/07
Po Monkey's: One of the Last Great Juke Joints
Swampland Gets The Blues
Ain’t nothin’ like the blues. From the distant wail of Son House, to the darkness of Robert Johnson running from the Hell read more...
...Story of Blind Lemon Jefferson On New York Stage...
2/21/07 A New York Theater Company presents a musical revue based on the life of Blind Lemon Jefferson. The show began last read more...
Folkstreams-The Land Where The Blues Began
2/20/07 Folkstreams.net encapsulates many great films based read more...
"Honeyboy" Edwards Still Playing The Blues At 91
2/19/07 David "Honeyboy" Edwards, born June 28, 1915, in Shaw, Mississippi, began playing the guitar at an early read more...
Rough Guide To the Blues
2/10/07 Rough Guide To The Blues serves as a fine starter kit to some of America's greatest read more...
Third Annual Robert Johnson Blues Festival Set For May
2/9/07 Born May, 8, 1911, in Hazelhurst, Mississippi, Robert Johnson's legend radiates from his 29 compositions. In Johnson's read more...
Fat Possum Reissues Townes Van Zandt
2/5/07 Fat Possum records will be re-releasing vital Townes Van Zandt albums on May 1, 2007. The albums include For the read more...
B.B. King Released From Texas Hospital
1/27/07 On Thursday night, blues legend B.B. King was admitted to The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston for read more...
Rich Robinson, Luther Dickinson, and Patti Smith
1/21/07 On Friday, January 19, Circle Sound performed at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. Circle Sound comprises Rich read more...
...5th Annual Music Maker Relief Foundation Fishing Tournament Approaching...
1/14/07 Music Maker Relief Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting musicians rooted in southern read more...
Bye Bye Sonny...Williamson's Final Recordings with Clapton and Page
1/7/06 Born on December 15, 1899, in Glendora Mississippi, Aleck Miller (aka Sonny Boy Williamson) ranks as one America's read more...
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band Comes Marching In...
12/24/06 On December 28, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band plays an intimate gig at George Street Grocery in Jackson, Mississippi. read more...
Leon Russell Rolls On, Lucinda's Latest, and Robinson & Dickinson Collaborate
12/10/06 Leon Russell plays in Athens, Georgia, on December 14 amid a run through the south. The Oklahoma legend's touring read more...
Robinson & Dickinson Collaborate
12/10/06 Rich Robinson (Black Crowes) and Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi All-Stars) will perform as Circle Sound on read more...
Mississippi Reviews
The Very Best of Outlaw Country
(Legacy) The thing that sets this compilation apart from the plethora of others that are always being flooded into the read more...
Third And A Mile
Third And A Mile by William C. Rhoden ESPN Books
Brothers of the Southland
Brothers of The Southland is one of the best of the plethora of “all star” bands playing today, and their debut CD is a read more...
Margie Joseph
Margie Joseph Margie Joseph Collector’s Choice Music By James Calemine This read more...
A Long Way from Tupelo
(Perpetual Obscurity) Paul Thorn hails from Tupelo, Mississippi, in the heart of the Delta country. A former read more...
Being Dead Is No Excuse
Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting The Perfect Funeral Hyperion Press, 2005
A New Kind of Blues
(Magnolia Gold) Delaney Bramlett is nothing less than a musical treasure. Now into his fifth decade as a musician, writer, read more...
Lovers
(www.bobbywhitlock.com) Joined by a stellar group of musicians, music icon, Bobby Whitlock and wife, CoCo Carmel, have read more...
Big Bad Love
Big Bad Love Larry Brown Vintage Books By James Calemine Mississippi writer Larry Brown wrote read more...
Lantana
Caroline Herring Lantana Signature Sounds SIG-2010 Caroline Herring knows exactly who she is, though her read more...
Hernando
Hernando North Mississippi Allstars Songs of the South By James Calemine Hernando is read more...
Darius Goes West
“Something’s gonna happen like…Just spark the whole world,” exclaims Darius, the star of the read more...
Blues Sweet Blues
Blues Sweet Blues Various Music Maker Artists Music Maker Series #91 & #92 By James Calemine
Meat Market
The Woodstock Album
The Woodstock Album Muddy Waters Chess/MCA Records By James Calemine Recorded in two days at read more...
Song of America
Song of America Various Artists 31 Tigers Records By James Calemine This 50-song, 3 CD read more...
Killers From Space
Killers From Space James Luther Dickinson Memphis International Records By James read more...
Black Snake Moan
Come Early Morning
Red Dirt Marijuana & Other Tastes
The Complete Recordings
Breakin' it Up, Breakin' it Down
(Epic Legacy) If I had to describe Breakin’ it Up, Breakin’ it Down in two words, I’d simply call read more...
Portraits and Songs From the Roots of America
Enclosed within the new Music Maker book titled Portraits and Songs From the Roots of America rests a CD featuring 22 read more...
Electric Blue Watermelon
The Dickinson Brothers pay homage to their Hill Country brethren and Memphis musical kin on Electric Blue Watermelon. The read more...
The Legends, Live in 1971
Ike and Tina Turner The Legends - Live in 1971 (Eagle Vision) Red hot, read more...
Smiling Assassin
John “JoJo” Hermann’s new record, Smiling Assassin, consists of eleven country-hearted blues songs, and read more...
Home
Delaney and Bonnie Home (Stax) For their second album back in 1969, Delaney and Bonnie read more...
Amsterdam Live
Big Bill Broonzy Amsterdam Live (Munich Records) The Big Bill Broonzy boxed set read more...
Shell-Shocked
David Kimbrough Jr. Shell-Shocked (Blues Cool Records) David Kimbrough, the son of the read more...
Under Pressure
Duwayne Burnside and the Mississippi Mafia Under Pressure (Blues Cool Records) Duwayne read more...
Lee Gates and the Alabama Cotton Kings
Born in Pontotoc, Mississippi in 1937, Lee Gates moved to Milwaukee as a teenager where he’s been playing juke joints for over read more...
Friends Of Old Time Music
Friends Of Old Time Music The Folk Arrival 1961-1965 (Smithsonian Folkways) Between read more...
Hooker
John Lee Hooker Hooker (Boxed Set) (Shout! Factory) In a beautiful 4-CD set that both read more...
Mississippi ArticlesThe Top Ten Guitarists of the Southern Rock Era
The Greatest Guitar Slingers of The Southern Rock Era by Michael Buffalo Smith 1. Duane Allman
GRITZ Southern Rock Lists
SWAMPLAND'S SOUTHERN ROCK LISTS We love lists! This is your one-stop index page for all of our lists. read more...
Southern Sporting "Events"
by Patrick Snow As I attended a Kentucky Derby function this past Saturday, it was never more evident that Southerners must throw a pretty good party. We are probably more known nationally for our college football crowds and pageantry, but the spring read more...
Gritz Legends of Southern Rock
A handful of bands from the Southern Rock Era have earned the title of "Legend." These are the bands that defined the genre and set the bar for all other bands in their wake. These are the few, the originals, the Legends of Southern Rock.
The BCS: A Friend to the SEC (and the Rest of the Footprint)
We at Tribal Fever find it odd that it would be the SEC who would call for a playoff system. We wonder how the SEC can be so blind to the fact that the BCS has been great for that conference. For those that love the idea of a playoff, we will list the reasons why most every proposal for a college playoff is a horrible idea for college football at large and especially read more...
Snowman's 2008 Draft Wrap Up
The annual NFL Draft is now over, and the critics will have a field day with opinions on who did well and who faltered with their choices. I thought I would take a look at the Draft from the collegiate view and see who from our region will have the biggest impact on their new read more...
Jim Dickinson's All-Star Music & Film
In Jim Dickinson’s first contribution to Swampland/Mystery And Manners, he wrote an indelible piece on Memphis barbecue. For his second installment Dickinson cites his favorite pianists, films and a desert island music stash. The High Priest of Memphis Mojo offers a timeless blueprint for anyone seeking musical pots of gold. James Calemine
Record Stores of the Swampland Footprint
ALABAMA CD Cellar Anniston AL Oz Music Tuscaloosa AL ARKANSAS Sound Warehouse Fayetteville read more...
The Delaney Bramlett Interviews 2008 (Part Two) Duane, Janis and Eric
The Delaney Bramlett Interviews: Part Two Read Part One Here by Michael Buffalo Smith Tell me about the time Jimi Hendrix played in your band. I had Jerry McGee for a guitar player, and we were getting ready to do a read more...
Jim Dickinson's Best Memphis Barbecue & Favorite Meals On The Road
When I interviewed the High Priest of Memphis Mojo—Jim Dickinson—I asked him if he’d be interested in submitting his inimitable insight on barbecue, music and movies. Mr. Dickinson sent along some very interesting details on these cultural topics. His expertise in these read more...
The Delaney Bramlett Interviews 2008 (Part One)
by Michael Buffalo Smith Delaney Bramlett was born on July 1, 1939, in Pontotoc County, Mississippi. His mother taught him the guitar, and he moved out to Los Angeles in 1959 where he became a session musician, later joining Shindogs, the house band for the ABC-TV series Shindig! (1964-66), read more...
Natasha Trethewey—Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
by Penne J. Laubenthal Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey is a poet who gives voice to the voiceless, names to the nameless, and who creates monuments in words for those whom history has forgotten. Relying on photographs, personal memory, read more...
Poems by Natasha Trethewey
Miscegenation In 1965 my parents broke two laws of Mississippi; they went to Ohio to marry, returned to Mississippi. They crossed the river into Cincinnati, a city whose name begins with a sound like sin, the sound of wrong, mis in Mississippi. A year later they moved to Canada, followed a route the read more...
The Top Ten Albums of Southern Rock
Southern Rock’s Top Ten Welcome to a new feature at GRITZ called Southern Rock’s Top Ten, where we will be asking the stars an journalists associated with the genre, as well as some of today’s country music stars, to share their Top Ten all time favorite read more...
The Top Ten Albums of Southern Rock According to...
On the heels of my own Top Twenty Five Southern Rock albums, we asked a few of our friends to share their own lists of Favorite Southern Rock albums, and we got a few real surprises, but one fact remains, The Allman Brothers Band Fillmore East album has a heck of a lot of fans read more...
Dixie Fried with The High Priest of Memphis Mojo Jim Dickinson
JIM DICKINSON INTERVIEW DIXIE FRIED WITH THE HIGH PRIEST OF MEMPHIS MOJO By James Calemine "Some people say worried blues ain't tough, If they don't kill you they handle you mighty rough."
Luther Dickinson Interview: The Secret Code of Memphis Guitars
Luther Dickinson Interview The Secret Code of Memphis Guitars By James Calemine "I'm gonna leave Memphis and spread the news/Memphis women don't wear no shoes."
Darius Goes West: Twelve Guys and a Dream
Once in a great while, just when you think there is no reason to get up in the morning and that there is no hope for humanity, and that people will just go on killing one another forever, and that tomorrow will be probably be even worse than today, then something happens to turn your world around. For me, that something was seeing a feature length documentary read more...
Fifth Annual Oxford Film Festival
The Fifth Annual Oxford Film Festival (OFF) will open Wednesday evening, February 6, in Oxford, read more...
SEC: Conference King Once Again
By Patrick Snow It’s an argument that will never end-whose Conference is better? Fans will debate this topic vociferously every season, and the answer always tends to lie close to your address. I’m not sure that the Bowl games are the best way to evaluate league strength across college football, but it is basically all we have. Here’s my opinion read more...
Huge Hires for the SEC Old Guard
By Patrick Snow It has already been quite the postseason in the SEC coaching ranks, and it’s only going to get more interesting. With the recent additions of Nick Saban and Bobby Petrino along with Houston Nutt and Les Miles staying in the conference, wins are going to be harder and harder to come by in the nation’s toughest gridiron league. Each read more...
Goodbye, Babylon: A Patchwork Quilt of American Music
GOODBYE, BABYLON A Patchwork Quilt of American Music By James Calemine
SEC Coaching - None Better
In the end, it was a surprise. But the surprise came in the school chosen, no the destination - the SEC West. Bobby Petrino finally made it to the coaching promised land when he was named the head coach of Arkansas late last night. Fresh off of a Monday Night Football debacle against New Orleans, Petrino made the move. Today, the SEC stands as the read more...
Reality Check
By Patrick Snow Some schools in our Swampland Region are currently learning a harsh lesson: if you are going to make a major change like firing your football coach, you must have a better alternative ready to go. Arkansas, Southern Miss(and Michigan on a national level) are finding out the hard way that not every coach in the country is beating down the door to fill read more...
Coaching Carousel
By Patrick Snow The end of the college football season always brings with it unfulfilled goals which translates into coaching changes. There has been quite a bit of movement in our region. Some of the firings were inevitable while others showed us just how unrealistic certain fan bases are with their expectations. I thought I would examine each job, and how it matches up read more...
The Great Southern Sportswriters Series
Writing and storytelling have always been deeply ingrained in Southern culture. The people that combined that art with the Swampland Footprint's passion for sports make the whole experience more special and unique. Swampland Sports is proud to offer this series of profiles of the best sportswriters our Footprint has to offer. You've already probably read them read more...
Truck Driving Man (An American Roadsong)
Truck Driving Man (An American Roadsong)
Enjoy the Season
By Patrick Snow Another college football season--another initial release of the BCS standings. This annual ritual seems to send everyone running to call a local talk show to scream about a Playoff system and how the middle letter should be removed from ‘BCS’. Enough already. If all that you’re worried about is how January turns out, you’re read more...
SEC: Top Level for Coaches?
By Patrick Snow Many of us who grew up in the South have always believed that the SEC was King when it came to sports and our allegiances. We watched and cheered for professional teams, but our passion was always at the collegiate level. For many years, coaches have moved from the Amateurs to the ‘Pros’ mainly for monetary reasons, but you read more...
The State of Baseball in the South
By Patrick Snow (editor's note: Swampland Sports considers the following teams to be part of the Footprint: Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Florida Marlins, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, and Washington Nationals) I do want to sound too negative about a game that I absolutely read more...
A Modest Proposal: Southern College Conference Realignment
Now that Swampland Sports has launched Tribal Fever (TF), our dispatch dedicated to college sports in the South, we figured it was time to do weigh in on the current state of college football conferences. The college football conference landscape in the Footprint has become downright confusing. It used to be that there were three main conferences, the read more...
Athletic Directors: Be Ready To Ante Up
Southern college football-we live it and breathe it year-round, and it has become abundantly clear that the stakes of the game have been raised with some of the recent coaching hires. The ‘price of poker’ is increasing steadily, and if your school is not ready to ante up, your team will be left behind. We’re witnessing a changing of the guard when it comes to read more...
The King Is Dead! Hang The Doctor!
The King Is Dead! Hang the Doctor!
W.C. Handy Music Festival, Florence, Alabama, July 22-29
“If Beale Street could talk Married men would have to take up their beds and walk…” Beale Street Blues W. C. Handy wrote those words when he was living in Memphis in 1916. It had been a long road from Florence, Alabama, to Memphis, Tennessee, read more...
The Bayou Sideshow
The Bayou Sideshow By James Calemine read more...
Clifton Taulbert at the 6th Annual Writers Conference
Ah, April in Alabama---blistering sun one day, pouring rain the next. A certainty regarding the South is that one just has to wait long enough and the weather will change. Outside the conference building at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Alabama, a precious rain is falling, soaking the parched cotton fields and drenching the freshly turned gardens.
Luther Dickinson 2006
Luther Dickinson Of The North Mississippi Allstars By Derek Halsey May 2006 The self-described ‘world boogie’ sounds of the North Mississippi Allstars have been flowing out of this trio for ten years now. This electric blues-based group is touring behind their latest release, “Electric Blue read more...
Marty Stuart Takes Charge of His Music
MARTY STUART TAKES CHARGE OF HIS MUSIC by Derek Halsey February, 2006 Marty Stuart has entered what may be the golden age of his career. He has taken hold of the reins of his musical visions and ideas by starting his own record label, Superlatone Records. Even though he is still in his 40’s, this has been a long read more...
Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars)
LUTHER DICKINSON TALKS ABOUT HIS DAD'S MUSICAL LEGACY, ELECTRIC BLUE WATERMELON AND TOURING WITH JOHN HIATT By James Calemine October 2005 Luther Dickinson called me from Texas while the North Mississippi Allstars bus rolled onto their next destination during a tour with John Hiatt behind his new album Master of read more...
The Paul Thorn Interview
by Michael Buffalo Smith (Originally appeared in GRITZ print magazine issue #11, Summer 2005) Paul Thorn is one of a kind. A good ol’ Southern boy who was raised in Elvis’ home town of Tupelo, Mississippi, Thorn has a mighty voice and a knack for writing songs that can make you laugh one minute and cry the next. We caught up with read more...
Mudcat: Shake 'Em On Down
MUDCAT: SHAKE ‘EM ON DOWN By James Calemine October 2004 Daniel “Mudcat” Dudeck sits in a wooden chair on the small stage playing Blind Willie McTell’s “Savannah Mama”, sliding the brass cylinder up and down the neck of his acoustic Gibson guitar. His read more...
Hot Tamales and They Red Hot
Hot Tamales and They Red Hot by Ron Williams December 2002 On Friday, November 27, 1936, in a hotel room in San Antonio, Texas, Robert Johnson recorded "They’re Red Hot." While this song remains one of the least covered of his immortal recordings (along with "Dead Shrimp read more...
John Lee Hooker Memorial
John Lee Hooker (1917-2001) The Man is Gone, But The Boogie Lives On by J.C. Juanis June 21, 2001 The music community lost a great one today, when news of the death of bluesman John Lee Hooker began to spread through the music community. Hooker was perhaps the last living link to a generation of read more...
Delaney Bramlett
DELANEY, CLAPTON, ALLMAN AND FRIENDS A Conversation with Delaney Bramlett by Mitch Lopate Fall 2000 One can't say the name "Delaney Bramlett" without thinking of an ever-growing family of musicians and their music - hence the slogan, "Delaney and Bonnie and Friends." The read more...