Mississippi Day 3, Just the Blues

Day 3

Saturday, April 12, 2025

    Sunrise over West Helena, shot from the motel walkway.

    After you've done the Juke Joint Festival a few times, you get to know a few tricks.  Even though the first bands aren't scheduled until 10A, you get there nice and early.  

     A twenty square block area is cordoned off and close in parking can be interesting.  So, I left early, ditched the car in a free lot and walked down to the coffee shop.  Vendors were setting up their tables.  A few were selling guitars and you could hear them tuning up.  

     While I realize the parking lot lines haven't been repainted in quite a while, but I caught someone parking behind me again this morning.  Fortunately, they had just pulled up and I was able to shoo them away.  Who knew parking could be this challenging.  But, I moved the car to a different spot anyway.

     There's a small makeshift stage adjacent to the lot.  Theo "Boogieman" Dasbach was performing in fifteen minutes and warming up on his electric piano.  Based solely on his noodling, I bought one of his CDs and changed my plan for the morning.  Definitely the right choice.

     There's surprisingly little on Youtube from him.  This is from a series of back porch concerts he did during the Covid lockdowns five years ago.  

      He used to run an art gallery and blues museum here in town with it's own small stage.  You can see some of his work here:

    

    Outside Hambones was a woman who performs under the name Cricket.  She played a mix of blues and Joni Mitchell songs.  I couldn't find anything about her, or any videos to share.  Talented performer though.  

     Last year, I only caught the end of Coyote Motel's set.  This year, I knew I needed to see more.  It's not often you hear a blues band like this.

    This is the only blues band I've ever seen using a Theremin, as well as a Glockenspiel.  

     That's Ted Drozdowski on guitar and Laurie Hoffman on Theremin.  Later in the day I was sitting in the shade, listening to someone else and they walked up.  They had their lunch and asked if they could join me at the table.   We wound up having a great conversation about old juke joints.  In hindsight, I should have also asked him about this guitar.  

      Every year at the festival, Team Ghost Riders performs.  This is the first time I actually saw them.  Imagine if you can, sheep being herded around a pen by monkey riding dogs.  You can see video of a performance at a minor league baseball game here:  It's exactly what you think.

      Wade Walton was an institution around Clarksdale.  This was the site of his combination barbershop and lounge.  He cut hair by day, played the blues at night.  Even though he recorded a couple of albums, he claimed he didn't make enough off them to quit his day job.  You can see him performing his song "Rock Me Baby" in his barber shop back in 1975.

     The site is now an outdoor venue.  Earl "Guitar" Williams was playing when I walked up. 

     There used to be an old juke joint outside Birmingham, Alabama called Gip's Place.  Henry Lee "Gip" Gipson spent twenty-five years building rail cars for Pullman.  In the evening, he'd sit on his porch playing the blues.  

     Eventually, other musicians started joining him and it became jam sessions in the back yard.  A local contractor decided they needed a proper place and built a small club out back.  That became Gip's Place.  You could hear the music from two blocks away.  The neighbors didn't complain, but the city told him he could only open on Saturdays.  Then the city tried to crack down on crowd size.  You can watch a documentary on Gip here:

      I made the drive out a few times and it was always a lot of fun.  Earl Williams even wrote a song about it.  

     Gary Burnside was playing outside the new Red Panther Brewery.  Someone had recommended him along the way.   But, I only caught the last few songs.  Definitely next time.  You can see him performing "Going Down South" here:

     One of the great things about a festival like this, every performer brings their own flavor.  Case in point, Rising Stars Fife and Drum band.  That's Sharde Thomas on fife and her husband on drums.  Her grandfather, Otha Thomas had toured the world with his band and even appeared on an episode of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.  You can see more of Sharde's story here:  You can see them perform here:

     Around the corner, Libby Rae Watson was performing.  She's another musician I would have loved to see do a full set.  You can hear her play "It's a Dream" here:

    From here it was back to Wade's Barbershop.  Peggy Hemphill goes by the stage name Lady Trucker.  And yes, that's her day job.  Here she is performing "Skinny Man" from last year's Juke Joint Festival.

      What struck me was her use of that fan.  It would make a pop whenever she snapped it open or closed.  There were times she used it as it's own percussive instrument.  

     While Lady Trucker was finishing her set, I realized Libby was standing three feet away from me, watching as well.

     We got to talking.  I asked if she had any CDs.  Few people buy them anymore, but she did have some in the car.  So yeah, I bought both them.

     A few miles from downtown is what was once Hopson's Plantation.  What used to be the commissary is now a music venue.  

 

      There was a half hour until Blue Mother Tupelo was to go on.  So, I went to get a beer.  The Bartender looked strangely at my Stone Pony T-shirt and said, "so that's where the Stone Pony is."  

      Fifteen years ago, a new pizza place opened in the heart of the music district.  Unfamiliar with the Jersey Shore venue, the owner named it The Stone Pony.  He was surprised by the inevitable lawsuit.

      The pizza owners explained it's a very old Mississippi slang term.  It references a family member who's considered useless or dead weight.  The owner of the music venue laughed and agreed to drop the lawsuit, with one concession.  The place in Jersey is THE Stone Pony.  The restaurant would shorten their name to just Stone Pony.  And everyone went away happy.

     And the pizza... really good.

      By the time Blue Mother Tupelo started their set, the place was filling up fast.  I was three tables from the stage and could barely hear them.  All around me were loud conversations.  It was as if very few were actually paying attention to the band.  

     The band is really good and I would have liked to hear them.  It kind ruined the moment.  You can hear them play "Older" here:

      

    Super Chikan came on next and played a bit louder, drowning out some of the conversations.  You can here him perform "Poor Boy" here:   By the time he finished, I was spent and called it a day.  I knew I still had that drive to West Helena ahead of me.