10/12 – annual King Biscuit Blues Symposium – FREE!
Helena, AR
http://www.kingbiscuitfestival.com/blues-symposium
Heldat the historic Malco Theater (Cherry St., downtown), featuring blueslegends from the festival talking blues history and more on the stagewith moderators Don Wilcock and Roger Stolle. Free, fun andinformative!
Blues Symposium Participants
NOON – Don Wilcock co-moderator, Part One:
Bobby Rush
Carl Weathersby
Blind Mississippi Morris
Brad Webb
Matt Marshall
1PM – Roger Stolle co-moderator, Part Two:
Earnest “Guitar” Roy Jr.
Bill “Howl-N-Madd” Perry
Robert “Dr. Feelgood” Potts
David Malone Kimbrough Jr
(Helena, Arkansas) — “Aman can live a long time without water or food, but a man cannot getalong without hope.” So says blues legend Bobby Rush, one of 11participants in the third annual Call and Response Blues Symposium beginning at noon on Saturday, October 12 at the Malco Theater, in Helena, Arkansas, a featured event at the 28th annual King Biscuit Blues Festival, the foremost showcase of authentic blues.
Howdo artists like Bobby Rush, Chicago blues guitarist Carl Weathersby,Beale St. veteran Blind Mississippi Morris, and Memphis producer andguitarist Brad Webb stay true to their muse and survive in the 2013music world? Join King Biscuit’s own award winning blues journalist Don Wilcock and Matt Marshall, editor of American Blues Scene,the most popular blues website in the world, as they ask the toughquestions about staying in the game of pouring your heart out on bluesstages around the world from Carnegie Hall to juke joints in Helena, Arkansas.
RogerStolle, filmmaker, columnist, oft quoted authority on Delta blues andowner of Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art in historic Clarksdale,Mississippi hosts part two of the symposium at 1:00 p.m.with four of the most colorful Delta bluesmen carrying on the richtradition of the fertile birthplace of America’s music. Earnest “Guitar”Roy Jr., Bill “Howl-N-Madd” Perry, Robert “Dr. Feelgood” Potts, andDavid Malone Kimbrough Jr. are all Mississippi born and bred. Each grewup in the blues tradition advancing a legacy that includes work withsuch authentic traditional bluesmen as Big Jack Johnson, Frank Frost,Little Milton, Willie Dixon and Junior Kimbrough.
The third annual Call and Response, The Blues Symposium begins at noon on the third day of the 28th Annual King Biscuit Blues Festival at the Malco Theater on Cherry St. in Helena and is free to the public thanks to the support of these wonderful sponsors: The Scoular Company and Economy Drugs.
Call and Response Participants:
Bobby Rush
Ayearly performer at the Biscuit, Bobby Rush is known as “The King ofthe Chitlin Circuit.” The AllMusic Guide refers to this veteranfolk-funk entertainer as “among the most colorful characters n thecontemporary chitlin circuit.” Hewas a childhood friend of Elmore James, was Luther Allison’s firstproducer and Freddie King was in his Chicago band. At 78 years old, hehas recorded 259 records – some 78s, some 45s, some LPs, some CDs, someDVDs. In the 1980s when many blues artists were migrating to Chicago, hemoved from Chicago back to Mississippi. Equally at home with festivaland juke joint audiences, Bobby Rush likes to say he crosses over, butnever crosses out.
Carl Weathersby
Hisfirst gig was with Albert King whose left-handed and upside-downplaying was like watching someone run backwards. Carl is a Vietnamveteran and has worked as a Louisiana policeman and a prison guard. Hebrings a tough but sophisticated edge to gigs with acts like MississippiHeat, Nora Jean Bruso and Billy Branch’s Sons of the Blues. He’sreleased seven solo CDs and has toured China with the late, great Swissjazz band leader George Gruntz describing the experience as likestanding on the edge of a worm hole ready to go into cyberspace at anymoment.
Blind Mississippi Morris
ABeale St. regular for years, Morris was born in Clarksdale, Mississippiand has been blind since he was four. Named one of the 10 bestharmonica players in the world by Bluzharp, he is the cousin to bothWillie Dixon and Mississippi Sheiks leaders Robert and Mary Diggs. He’s a30-plus year performing veteran and has several albums including Walk with Me.
Brad Webb
Producer,guitarist, singer/songwriter Brad Webb was born in 1951 and raised inMemphis. He often plays guitar for Mississippi Morris and The PocketRockets and has owned his own studio since 1985 where he has capturedfor posterity recordings by forgotten Memphis fan favorites like WillieFoster recorded at the Airport Grocery near the airport runway inCleveland, Mississippi or 40-year Memphis regular Fred Sanders. He hasperformed in England, Norway, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece,France, and Canada. He has played with Teenie Hodges from the Hi RhythmSection and with Roland Robinson of the Eddie Floyd/Buddy Miles Band.
Matt Marshall
Matt Marshall is the Steve Jobs of tomorrow’s blues journalism. The Editor of The American Blue Scene,the most popular blues website in the world, Matt breaks news storieswhether it’s a two-hour interview with Gregg Allman for whom he drove 13hours straight to get the rock icon’s view of his blues heritage or thestory of an on-stage attack of Lester Chambers of the Chambers Brothersthat was read by 20,000 fans in one day. He understands therelationship between contemporary culture and social networking. It’s asmuch about Twitter and Facebook as it about the webpage and The American Blues Music website has more than 300,000 visitors a year and 80,000 fans on Facebook.
Don Wilcock co-moderator, Part One
Don Wilcock has played an active role in the King Biscuit Blues Festival for almost two decades, first as editor of King Biscuit Time Magazine and more recently as organizer and co-host of the Call and Response Symposium. Today, his articles appear regularly in The American Blues Scene, The Audiophile Voice and as a weekly columnist for two dailies in New York’s Capital Region. He is the author of Buddy Guy’s authorized biography Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues and is founder and past president of the Northeast Blues Society.
Earnest “Guitar” Roy Jr.
Earnest”Guitar” Roy Jr. was born in 1958, in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Hisfather, guitarist Earnest Roy Sr., worked with Jackie Brenston, IkeTurner, John Lee Hooker, Wade Walton, Raymond Hill, and many of theother Clarksdale bluesmen. Earnest’s father taught him bass guitar atfive, and when Earnest turned eight, he began playing in his father’sband, Earnest Roy & the Clarksdale Rockers, whose members includedBig Jack Johnson (who he later recorded with). Through the years, healso played with Albert King, Frank Frost and others. His most recent CDis “Going Down to Clarksdale” from 2011.
Bill “Howl-N-Madd” Perry
Bill”Howl-N-Madd” Perry was born in 1947 near Abbeville, Mississippi, onland where his ancestors once worked as slaves. His father (a moonshinerand farmer) gave Bill his first guitar (won at a dice game). At 14, hisfamily moved to Chicago where Perry wrote for musicians like Lil JohnnyTaylor, Ted Taylor and Cash McCall. Through the years, he worked forLittle Milton’s band, Phil Chess, Willie Dixon, and Sonny Thompson. Hetaught his son and daughter to play music and, at times, they played as afamily band. He has several CDs out and played a blues club owner inthe 2009 Cuba Gooding Jr. film “Way of War.“
Robert “Dr. Feelgood” Potts
Robert”Dr. Feelgood” Potts was born into a family of cotton sharecroppersnear Greenwood, Mississippi, in 19?? (He’s shy about his age) . Heremembers his father singing in the fields. For Christmas one year, thePotts children received a “juice-filled” wax harmonica. Potts kept his,learning to play a few notes. Soon, his parents bought him a realharmonica. In 1967, he moved to Memphis to start his career in music. Heauditioned at Stax Recording and Hi Records, and in 1970, he wrote andrecorded his first 45 single. He has released several CDs, and his daughter, Sheba Potts-Wright, is also a singer.
David Malone Kimbrough Jr
DavidMalone Kimbrough Jr. was born in 1965 in Holly Springs, Mississippi.His father is Hill Country Blues legend Junior Kimbrough. Under hisfather’s influence, David Kimbrough Jr. began singing and playing drums,bass, keyboard and guitar. He left home as a young man, lived inChicago for a spell and eventually ended up in trouble in Mississippi.Kimbrough served several years at Parchman Penitentiary where he taught ayoung Mark “Mule Man” Massey to play guitar. He went on to recordalbums for labels like Fat Possum and Lucky 13 Records. Today, he livesin Arkansas and continues to perform.
Roger Stolle co-moderator Part Two
Roger Stolle owns Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art in historic Clarksdale, Mississippi. He is a Blues Music Magazine columnist, Juke Joint Festival co-founder, Hidden History of Mississippi Blues author, and co-producer of the blues music films M for Mississippi and We Juke Up in Here. He is co-creator of the blues reality show Moonshine & Mojo Handsand a past recipient of both Keeping The Blues Alive and Blues MusicAwards. An authority on Delta blues and tourism, he has been quoted inpublications such as The New York Times, The Economist and Travel+Leisure. His web site is www.cathead.biz.
####
