Al Green show cancels
Just got this email from the Lyric Theater in Oxford: We regret to inform you that the show: Cannon Motor Company Presents Al Green with Jackie Wilson Martin has been cancelled. A full refund will be...
View ArticleBig Freedia, the Queen of New Orleans bounce, has a message for Miley Cyrus
Click here to view the embedded video. Yes, I’m giving a hat tip to my daughter, Sarah Simonson, for this video. I am pretty sure I’ve posted about New Orleans bounce before, but I can’t find it…
View ArticleJohn Lydon, then and now
Here’s John Lydon today. Click here to view the embedded video. Here he was in 1977. Click here to view the embedded video. He means it, man. Oddest footnote: So I search in Google Videos for “Sex...
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“Old weird America”– an intellectual cliche that should be stomped out
I was reading a local blog I’ve grown to like, Deep Fried Kudzu, and hit a phrase (from a press release) that sets my teeth on edge. Discussing a show of paintings by Memphian Carroll Cloar, the press...
View ArticleSome music
A great Randy Newman song you might have missed, “Potholes.”Click here to view the embedded video.
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Blues, just off the Square, with Leo “Bud” Welch
Last night, Joyce and I co-hosted a party at our office just off the Square for Representative Bobby Moak. If you are interested in Mississippi blues, the biggest thing was that we had bluesman Leo...
View Article“it was on like a pot of neckbones”– Robert Gordon’s Stax book on Thacker...
Robert Gordon’s fascinating Stax book is going to be featured on Thacker Mountain Radio tomorrow, with some YalaSoulwackers Stax music to go with it. I’m going to be there. The quote is from Isaac...
View Article“if I ever get my hands on a dollar again, I’m going to hold on it till that...
Click here to view the embedded video. Some Bessie Smith, in response to Anderson’s comment. But it is always a good moment to listen to Bessie Smith. While on music topics, my iPhone’s random play...
View ArticleSome thoughts about what is great about Johnny Cash, from Michiko Kakutani at...
Michiko Kakutani has a really moving review of a new Johnny Cash biography, by Robert Hilburn, that is as good as anything I’ve read for describing the strengths of Cash’s music. It begins: Johnny...
View ArticleParty for Santa Claus
thanks to Lord Nelson. Yes, Anderson. Lord Nelson. This one was from Tobago (I wrote Trinidad before I got the link). Click here to view the embedded video.
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W.C. Handy’s Orchestra, in Memphis, circa 1910
Handy’s Orchestra This is the orchestra the year after they’d moved from Clarksdale, Mississippi, where they had been the Knights of Pithias Orchestra, and about four years before Handy adapted “Mr....
View Article“I might have been a lawyer…”
Here’s a bit of video from Bill Kitchen (thanks to Ben Sandmel on Facebook). Lyrics below Click here to view the embedded video. I might have been a lawyer (but I couldn’t pass the bar) No one’s sworn...
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The Music of the South Conference at Ole Miss April 2nd and 3rd
There’s a lot going on in Oxford later this week. Wednesday and Thursday, Southern Studies is holding the annual Music of the South conference, starting with a brown bag lecture at noon “Songwriter’s...
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An amazing amount of blues at Lamar Lounge on Thursday April 3
This is quite a list of folks who will apparently be at Lamar on Thursday in the poster below. There is a ridiculous amount going on this week in Oxford.
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Madonna records bluegrass album for Cracker Barrel
Mandolin Cafe has the most interesting report of the day: Lebanon, Tenn. — Cracker Barrel and pop legend Madonna have announced collaboration on a new project entitled Bluegrass Material Girl, a...
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Bobby Rush, Vashti Jackson, and Jesse Robinson play the Lamar Lounge in Oxford
Today was an over-the-top Oxford day– the Southern Culture Center’s Music Conference, Thacker Mountain, a reception for the blues show at the University Museum, a Mississippi all-star blues concert at...
View ArticleCountry guitarist Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith has died
Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith has died at 93. Probably his most important recording (as opposed to his most famous) was “Guitar Boogie,” which was close to the first country record with guitars playing...
View ArticleArthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith gets a New York Times obituary
Last weekend, I wrote about the death of Arthur “Boogie” Smith, a pioneering country music figure, great guitarist, and songwriter. Today, he got a New York Times obituary.
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