Lore Dispatch Archives
New Allman Brothers Documentary Premiere May 16
New Allman Brothers Documentary Premieres May 16 5/7/08 This afternoon Allman Brothers Tour Mystic
Mavis Staples To Headline Blind Willie McTell Blues Festival
Mavis Staples To Headline Blind Willie McTell Blues Festival 5/5/08 “I know no one can sing the blues
Mystery And Manners Honorary Southern Artist(s) Part Six: Clarence White
Mystery And Manners Honorary Southern Artist(s)—PART SIX Clarence White By James Calemine “Tempted and tried
Mudcrutch & Gram Parsons' Florida Roots
Mudcrutch & Gram Parsons’ Florida Roots 4/27/08 This
April in Alabama
Nothing could be more beautiful than April in Alabama and, in my case, nothing could be more exciting. I recently returned from the Alabama Studio Weekend in the
...Night Before Widespread Panic On The Beach...
A Prelude To The Spectacle 4/17/08 Before I take off for the three
The Blessing of Mavis Staples
The Blessing of Mavis Staples 4/14/08 Mavis Staples serves as a beacon of light in the sinister music business. Her golden voice appears on read more...
Alabama: Places to Be and People to See
The Alabama Book Festival held in Montgomery, Alabama, is only in its third season and already it offers a unique opportunity for participants to meet and listen to over seventy authors, among them read more...
A Shot of the Blues
A Daily Dose of Authenticity...Keith Richards...James Burton...MLK...Widespread Panic...The Black Crowes...Jim Dickinson... 4/4/08 As Spring read more...
The Legacy of Ardent Records
The Legacy of Ardent Records 4/2/08 In light of my recent interview with the great
The Road To Hell Is Paved with Good Intentions
A Few Insights For The Faithful On A Thursday Evening 3/27/08 Pollen read more...
Bound For Glory
“I was thirteen when I went to live with a family of thirteen people in a two-room house. I was going on fifteen when I got me a job shining shoes, read more...
The Southern Foodways Alliance Needs Your Recipes!
Swampland has the utmost respect for the Southern Foodways Alliance so we thought we would share this recent request for recipes that they have sent out to folks around the Footprint. Help them out if you read more...
Mudcrutch: Tom Petty's Florida Roots
The surprise announcement of Mudcrutch's reunion is welcome news to the Swampland Footprint. Mudcrutch is an essential chapter in Tom Petty's career. Mudcrutch evolved out of an early Gainesville, FL band of Petty's called the Epics. The Epics also featured a read more...
Alabama's Going Green: "Let's Get Dirty"
Huntsville, Alabama, has chosen “Let’s Get Dirty” by the Huntsville country music band
Chris Robinson's "Inhale! Inhale! Rock N Roll" Article
Chris Robinson's 1993 Article "Inhale! Inhale! Rock N Roll" 3/15/08 In light of the Black Crowes' new release,
The Dickinson's Mojo & The Black Crowes' Voodoo
Mystery & Manners Investigates The Mojo of The Dickinson Family & The Black Crowes' Voodoo 3/11/02 "Don't bring down the read more...
Alabama's Going Green
Holden Caulfield wanted to know where all the ducks go in winter. Ann (Andie MacDowell) in Sex, Lies, and Videotape was read more...
Dylan Organizes Recordings of Unfinished Hank Williams Songs
Bob Dylan Discovers Unfinished Hank Williams Songs 2/28/08 "Odds and ends, odds and ends, Lost time is not found read more...
Black History Month: Look Back, but Move Forward
“Look back but move forward” was the credo of civil rights activist Johnnie Carr who died Friday at the age of 97.
Latest Releases From James McMurtry & Otis Redding
Latest Releases From James McMurtry and Otis Redding 2/27/08
Down In the Groove with Widespread Panic's Todd Nance (PART TWO)
Down In The Groove with Widespread Panic's Todd Nance (Part Two) 2/26/08 I'd like to announce the second part of Mystery And Manners' read more...
Down In The Groove with Widespread Panic's Todd Nance (Part One)
Mystery & Manners Interview with Widespread Panic's Todd Nance (Part One) 2/25/08 I'd like to mention Mystery And read more...
Poetic Felony
MAXIM Magazine Reviews Black Crowes' Warpaint Without Hearing The Album 2/23/08 For some folks it's easy to hate the Black Crowes. Everyone read more...
Water, Water, Everywhere, Nor Any Drop To Drink
Today the New York Times ran an article entitled “Georgia Claims a Sliver of the Tennessee River.” The quarrel is not just about boundaries. It is about water, read more...
Another Call To Harry Crews & Beyond
...An Ongoing Pursuit & Recording of the Mystery And Manners Saga...Widespread Panic...Jim Dickinson...Harry Crews and beyond... 2/19/08 “In the time I was with read more...
Levon Helm's Dirt Farmer Wins GRAMMY
Dirt Farmer Wins GRAMMY 2/11/08 Levon Helm's latest album,
It's Not Easy Being Indie
I always thought that in my next incarnation I wanted to come back as an independent documentary filmmaker. I held on to that dream until I sat in an darkened room in a warehouse in Huntsville, Alabama, on Friday afternoon and listened to independent filmmaker
Jim Dickinson On The Line
Mystery & Manners Interview With Memphis Legend Jim Dickinson 2/9/08 "She shivers just like jelly in the bowl."
Adventures In The (Pig) Skin Trade On Super Bowl Sunday
Roving Notes On Super Bowl Sunday 2/3/08 "There is some kind of back-door connection in my head between Super Bowls and The Allman read more...
The Day The Music Died
The day was February 3, 1959. At approximately 12:55 AM, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, the “Big Bopper,” and their twenty-one year old pilot boarded a small plane near Clear Lake,
Lest We Forget: Four Spirits
January 30, 2008, marked the 60th anniversary of the assassination of India’s political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi. It was Gandhi whose name was most invoked
The Best of All Possible Worlds or Is There Balm in Gilead?
I live in the boonies, the hinterlands of Northern Alabama. For years, I made do with erratic reception from local television stations, and then one day satellite TV and DSL changed my life. This week, thanks to a relatively new channel called
Luther Dickinson: Night Before theTour...
Luther Dickinson Talks Present, Past & Future 1/16/08 Things have been quite busy as of late. I've just about completed my interview 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 possibility of finding an old friend—not to mention discovering a new one. Such was the case this week when I was working on a feature about read more...
...A Rising Tide of Georgia Rock And Roll...
A Rising Tide of Georgia Rock And Roll: David Barbe, The Drive By Truckers, Bloodkin & The Black Crowes 1/10/08 "Every read more...
2008 Year of The Crowe
...Atlanta's Black Crowes Prepare for the Warpath... 1/7/08 Today the Black 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 showcase original films and present cash awards to the best new films. Others bring classic, hard to find, topical, or thematic films to the read more...
Criteria Studios: 50 Years Later
Legendary Miami Studio 50 Years Later 12/30/07 Jazz fanatic Mack Emerman started the Miami, Florida, Criteria Studio 50 years ago. The read more...
Lead Belly: A Life In Pictures
A New Lead Belly Book Hits The Streets 12/29/07 A new 250 page book on blues great
Country's Top 100 Heartbreaks
A List of Country Music's Greatest Hurtin' Songs 12/28/07 Here's an interesting
White Pelicans on Elk River
White Pelicans are a rarity on Elk River. I have never seen one north of Gulf Shores, but on Christmas morning a friend down the river called to say that a dozen White Pelicans were winging our way in the midst of a flock of cormorants. I had despaired of ever sighting pelicans read more...
Full Moon Fever With Stanley Booth
Full Moon Fever With Stanley Booth 12/24/07 Full moon on the Little Satilla River...I return to my homesoil for the holidays, and it ain't the read more...
Music and Movie Making in Alabama
Sorry to have been incommunicado since Thanksgiving. This time I was overwhelmed by the holiday madness and computer problems (my three year old monitor died). But now all is well, and I am looking forward to an exciting 2008 on Swampland. Today I am posting a read more...
Honeydripper Star Plays Hometown
Gary Clark Jr. Plays Austin 12/21/07 Musician Gary Clark, Jr.
George Porter Celebrates 60th Birthday
New Orleans Musician Celebrates 60th Birthday 12/21/07 The great George Porter Jr. will celebrate his 60th birthday next week at The read more...
Blues Trail Marker For "Nighthawk" McCollum
A New Blues Marker Tribute 12/19/07 In Friar's Point, Mississippi, a
New Willie Nelson Album Out January 29, 2008
New Nelson CD, Moment of Forever, Hits Streets Early 08 12/19/07 Great American read more...
Mama Hill of H&H in Macon Passes Away at 94
Mama Inez Hill, the co-owner of Macon's H&H Restaurant has passed away at 94. Inez Hill, 94, died early this morning (Tuesday, December 18th) of natural causes at The Medical Center of Central Georgia. Hill, and her sister "Mama Louise" read more...
Montgomery Dedicates New Year's Eve To Hank Williams
On New Year's Eve Hank Williams Fans Gather In Montgomery 12/17/07 "The eeriest thing I ever had to do in my life was at Hank's funeral when read more...
Ike Turner Dead at 76
Ike Turner Dead at 76 12/12/07 The story of guitarist/songwriter
Southern Greats Play Post Led Zeppelin London Gig
Sam Moore, Ben E. King, Percy Sledge and Solomon Burke Perform Post Led Zep Gig 12/11/07 Ex-Rolling Stone Bill Wyman's band, the
John Sayles Interview
Mystery & Manners John Sayles Interview 12/8/07 On Thursday I interviewed John Sayles. Sayles' new movie Honeydripper was filmed in Alabama. Honeydripper read more...
No Country For Old Men Voted Best Film
Joel & Ethan Cohen's Film Earns High Praise 12/06/07 Southern writer
...Into The Deep...
Mystery & Manners Dispatch 12/05/07 Today marks the birthday of southern writer
The Black Crowes Put On Warpaint
The Black Crowes New Album Warpaint Set For Release 11/27/07
TF Rivalry Week Preview
Rivalry games define college football. More than bowl games or even conference championships, a win against your rival means bragging rights for a year. That is why this weekend's game can often be the hardest to call. A team with a losing record can suddenly make read more...
Swampland Salutes Great Southern Writer Paul Hemphill
Mystery & Manners Highlights Writer Paul Hemphill 11/21/07 I'd like to take this opportunity to direct everyone's attention to the read more...
Johnny Cash's First Wife's New Book
New Book From the Late Vivian Cash 11/19/07 Vivian Cash,
Confessions Redux
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of Auburn’s 1957 National Championship. Not only did the Tigers go undefeated that season, but they also held Alabama scoreless in the Iron Bowl while running up an astounding forty points. Saturday, November 24, is the golden read more...
Jerry Wexler Talks Bob Dylan, Doug Sahm and Muscle Shoals
Jerry Wexler Talks Dylan, Doug Sahm and Muscle Shoals 11/15/07 In these interview clips, the great Jerry Wexler discusses recording
Mystery & Manners' Honorary Southern Artist(s) PART FIVE: The Band
Mystery & Manners' Honorary Southern Artist(s) PART FIVE: The Band “Hail is beatin’ on the roof The bourbon is a hundred proof read more...
Music Maker Relief Foundation's Latest Project
Music Maker's Built For The Blues 11/13/07 Music Maker Relief Foundation operates as a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting poor read more...
Coen Brothers Adapt Cormac McCarthy's Book No Country For Old Men Into Film
Coen Brothers Adapt Cormac McCarthy's Book No Country For Old Men Into Film 11/11/07 A new Coen Brothers movie, based read more...
Mystery & Manners' Honorary Southern Artist(s) PART FOUR: The Rolling Stones
Mystery & Manners' Honorary Southern Artist(s)PART FOUR: The Rolling Stones 11/8/07 "Will all your money Keep you from read more...
Blind Boys of Alabama 70 Years Young
Blind Boys of Alabama: 70 Years Young The Blind Boys of Alabama read more...
A Day In The Life of A Great American Guitarist (Marc Ford) PART THREE
A Day In the Life of A Great American Guitar Player: PART THREE Marc Ford In San Francisco 11/05/07 "Featherweight read more...
Mystery & Manners Dispatch From San Francisco
Dispatch From San Francisco 11/3/07 Notes written on a back porch facing Mt. Tamalpais, known to locals as "Mt. Tam". I arrived read more...
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 football, and in Alabama there is only Auburn and
Mystery & Manners' Honorary Southern Artist(s) PART THREE--Tom Waits
Mystery & Manners' Honorary Southern Artist(s) PART THREE 10/31/07 "The quill from a buzzard The blood writes the word
Mystery & Manners' Honorary Southern Artist(s) PART TWO--Jerry Garcia
Mystery & Manners Honorary Southern Artist(s) Part Two 10/30/07 "I love the Dead. As far as Jerry Garcia, Jerry Garcia could walk read more...
SWAMPLAND Goin' Out West...Frisco Bound...
Mystery & Manners Goin' Out West To San Francisco 10/25/07
It is Raining on the River!
I guess I rattled my rain stick enough this weekend to wake up the clouds. We In North Alabama are reveling in what the Navajos call a gentle “female” rain, and I pray it continues all week. I especially hope it rains profusely on Atlanta, Georgia, where they are having read more...
Weirdness Way Down South
Weirdness Down South 10/22/07 People do crazy things, and every now and then I'd like to highlight their singular accomplishments. Recently, read more...
Birthday Cheers To Tom Petty
Mystery & Manners Cheers To Tom Petty 10/20/07 ...Raise a glass to Thomas Earl Petty, born October 20, 1950, in Gainesville, read more...
Ryan Bingham And The Drive By Truckers Hit the Road
Ryan Bingham and The Drive By Truckers Hit The Road 10/17/07 Ryan Bingham and the
A Day In The Life of A Great American Guitarist (Marc Ford) PART TWO
A Day In the Life of A Great American Guitarist Part Two 10/15/07
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 ESPN.com about the SEC. Which leads us to this week's focus - the historical read more...
Thelonious Monk's North Carolina Roots
Thelonious Monk's North Carolina Roots 10/11/07 Yesterday marked 90 years since the birth of
Mystery & Manners' Honorary Southern Artist(s) PART ONE--Bob Dylan
...Mystery & Manners' Honorary Southern Artist(s)...PART ONE... 10/11/07 "Beat a path of retreat
Haggard's Horizon
Merle Haggard Gives Insight To Future In Billboard Q & A 10/9/07
A Pearl in the Heart of South Carolina
Down the road from me in Bishopville, South Carolina, there lives a man named Pearl. Pearl Fryar, a sixty-six year old African American who literally defines the term “self made man.”
Marc Ford Burns Through Atlanta
A Day In The Life of a Great American Guitarist: Marc Ford Burns Through Atlanta 10/7/07
William Eggleston: The Father of Color Photography
The Photography of William Eggleston 10/4/07 Born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1939,
Ray McKinnon Randy and the Mob Blog
Ray McKinnon's Recent Blogs About His Latest Film, Randy and the Mob 10/3/07 As posted
The Paintings of Woodie Long
The Paintings of Woodie Long 10/2/07 Today I'd like to bring the reader's attention to the work of Woodie Long. Born in 1942, Long read more...
Otis Redding Film Premier October 8
Dreams To Remember Premier October 8 10/1/07 The new Otis Redding documentary, Dreams To Remember: The Legacy of Otis read more...
Arrivederci Roma, Ciao Athens (Alabama)
I have just returned from ten days in Italy (Venice, Florence/Tuscany, and Rome) and am way behind on my blog, so please bear with me. I am somewhat jet-lagged, and I am preparing to leave for Jackson, MS, on Wednesday to participate in the
People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs 1913-1938
Tompkins Square Releases Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs This Week 9/29/07 This week Tompkins Square released this
Blues Great Memphis Minnie Honored
Blues Great Memphis Minnie Honored 9/28/07 In Walls, Mississippi, the female guitarist and songwriter Memphis Minnie was honored with a read more...
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 Fever, Swampland.com's dispatch dedicated to college sports in the South. We have new features up including Patrick Snow's latest read more...
Goin' Home: A Tribute To Fats Domino
GOIN' HOME: A TRIBUTE TO FATS DOMINO 9/26/07 Yesterday Vanguard released
Excerpt from Paul Hemphill's The Good Old Boys
Excerpt from Paul Hemphill's The Good Old Boys 9/24/07 In preparation for my upcoming article on
Ray McKinnon's Randy and the Mob
Ray McKinnon's New Film Randy and the Mob 9/22/07 From Capricorn Pictures...Here's the trailer for Adel, Georgia, native Ray McKinnon's new comedy Randy and the Mob. The Drive By Truckers' Patterson Hood contributed a song to the soundtrack. read more...
SPF Friday Fishwrap-up: the Cowboy/Redskin paradigm
We've just posted a new analysis of the Wayne issue in Florida, Weaver in Jacksonville and Huizenga in Miami. Team Identity is our focus as always. That's why we start our Friday dispatch with read more...
Dylan Plays The Ryman
BOB DYLAN PLAYS THE RYMAN AUDITORIUM IN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 9/21/07 Thursday Bob read more...
CD and DVD releases for week of September 18, 2007
New Releases Doyle Bramhall Is It News (Yep Roc) Jim Dickinson
The Shadow And the Truth
9/19/07 ...THE SHADOW AND THE TRUTH... It's important to realize how blurred the fine line between reality and illusion co-exist. At read more...
Emmylou Harris Retrospective "Songbird" Hits Streets Today
Songbird: Rare Tracks & Forgotten Gems Out Today 9/18/07 A new Emmylou Harris, 4 CD-1 DVD, retrospective was released today. read more...
Macon's Tribute To Otis Redding
Macon's Tribute To Otis Redding 9/16/07 At the Georgia Music Hall of Fame read more...
More Alabama Authors: Eric Smith
Eric Smith is assistant professor of English at the University of Alabama-Huntsville where his speciality is Post Colonial Literature. Over ten years ago, Eric was a student in my classes at Athens State University. After completing his B.S. at ASU, Eric attended read more...
Steve Gaines' Birthday Today: The Late Ace Mooreland Talks About Steve (Video)
Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Steve Gaines has been gone from us for 30 years now, this October. Today, September 14, is would have been Steve's 58th birthday. Another late great guitarist, read more...
Patterson Hood Song In New Ray McKinnon Film
Patterson Hood Song In New Ray McKinnon Film 9/12/07 Patterson Hood read more...
"When I die, the brush dies": Remembering Jimmie Lee Sudduth
Jimmie Lee Sudduth, celebrated Alabama folk artist, died Sunday, September 9, in Fayette, Alabama, at read more...
Blind Willie McTell Named Stateboro's Second Legend In the Arts
9/9/07 Blind Willie McTell Named Statesboro's Second Legend In the Arts On September 7, 2007, the blues great Blind Willie McTell was read more...
Sounds of the South
9/8/07 Sounds of the South "Jack of diamonds told Queen of spades Gwine with me, Be on yo creepin way."
Lost Gram Parsons Shows From 1969 Set For Release
Lost Gram Parsons Shows Found For over a year dust of rumor circulated that lost Gram Parsons performances were unearthed...turns out this is true. This read more...
Breakfast With Paul, Drinks With Dan
8/19/07 Yesterday proved noteworthy. I met up with southern writer Paul Hemphill at
Hot and Wet or Hot and Dry?
The state of Alabama made the national news on two consecutive days this week: first regarding the referendum that could have reversed the legal sale of alcohol in the city of Athens (billed as "Alabama City Mulls Return to Prohibition") and secondly for the read more...
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. Elvis changed the way people looked at music the way Ted Turner changed the way people look at TV.
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 friend Carol C, and I flew out to California to drive the vintage RV the three thousand miles from the west coast to north Alabama.
...A Call To Harry Crews...
7/27/07 One of my heroes remains the Georgia writer Harry Crews. Some of Crews' books such as Feast of Snakes, Florida read more...
CD and DVD releases for week of July 24, 2007
New Releases Billy Bob Thornton Beautiful Door (New Door) Billy Ray Cyrus
West "by God" Virginia and The Free State of Winston
Is West Virginia really a part of the south? Jason Headley in an article entitled "A State of Confusion" pleads the case for his home state in the recent issue of Oxford read more...
Look Homeward, Angel: In Memoriam Doug Marlette
On Tuesday, July 10, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Doug Marlette was killed in a car wreck on a rain soaked road in north Mississippi. Marlette and the driver of the truck, the theatre director at Oxford read more...
The Last Outpost of Time
7/9/07 “All that we see is but a dream within a dream.”
Fire On The Mountain
6/25/07 read more...
The Rise And Disappearance of Sly Stone
6/20/07 Few groups ever attain the musical power and wide commercial appeal of Sly & The Family Stone. From 1967-1974, the group proved a formidable band whose music crossed all social and musical barriers.
Johnny Cash Radio & Elvis Auction Items
6/18/07 The Sun Records boys are in the news again... Bill Miller is now hosting
Fathers Day: Hot Fun In the Summertime
6/17/07 Happy Father’s Day… …A few scattered notes from a spot overlooking some hills here in north Georgia on a read more...
The True Adventures of Stanley Booth
6/10/07 THE TRUE ADVENTURES OF STANLEY BOOTH As I wrote in the intro to my Charlie Louvin
A boom for Jacksonville's economy?
A new day may be dawning in Jacksonville. Long a home for north Florida and south Georgia farmers looking for a better economic future, Jax has been a "deep South" stronghold in read more...
Arkansas athletics in turmoil
ESPN is known for its quick soundbite-style of sports journalism, but they have many fine writers on their website, ESPN.com.
New Carter Family Documentary Released
3/25/07 A new hour long documentary on the Carter Family--Will The Circle Be Unbroken--highlights the career of the legendary country group.
Appalachian Culture: Shaped-note Singing
3/20/07 In this Asheville, North Carolina, news article, old vocal traditions are highlighted and how they integrate with Appalachian culture. These vocal traditions are old as storytelling, or beating on a drum. James Calemine