Jackson Free Press

Hello from Clarksdale, Mississippi... America's Blues Crossroads. Here is your guide for North Mississippi Blues.

1. "LIVE" BLUES IN THE DELTA...
Our "Live Music" page has just been updated:
http://www.cathead.biz/livemusic.html
Including Puttin Hatchet's birthday party w/Super Chikan at Ground
Zero,
the Taborian Babies Benefit at Clarksdale City Auditorium, Bill Abel &
Monroe Jones at Leo's in Rosedale and much more!

FESTIVAL ALERT: We are one month out from Clarksdale's killer
Sunflower
River Blues & Gospel Festival, Friday-Saturday, August 13-14 with
educational events at the blues museum that Thursday and Cat Head's
Mini
Blues Fest that Sunday. For details, go to www.sunflowerfest.org and
www.cathead.biz ALSO, the festival is still looking for volunteers,
donations and sponsors. Please email festival co-chairman Jonathan
Masters if you can help this FREE, non-profit event in some way at
[e-mail missing]

2. COME TO CLARKSDALE THIS WEEKEND AND CELEBRATE THE BLUES...

FRI., 7/16 - Monumental new blues exhibit opens at the Delta Blues
Museum:
Fri., 7/16 (thru 10/15) - Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale, MS
(662-627-6820; www.deltabluesmuseum.org): Sweet Home Chicago: Big City
Blues 1946-1966 at the Delta Blues Museum. 9am-5pm, Mon-Sat. Admission
price is $7 for adults. An audio guide is available for an additional
charge of $3. Special rates are available for groups of twenty or more.
Discounts are offered for seniors and college students. This huge,
interactive exhibit originated at the Experience Music Project in
Seattle and comes to Clarksdale via the Museum of Science & Industry in
Chicago. Expect over 200 rare blues artifacts from both public and
private collections... and more! For more information on this MUST-SEE
attraction, contact the Delta Blues Museum.

FRI., 7/16 - "Card shark's" birthday bash starring Super Chikan at
Ground Zero:
Fri., 7/16 - Ground Zero Blues Club, Clarksdale, MS (662-621-9009;
www.groundzerobluesclub.com): GZBC is proud to present a Puttin'
Hatchet
Birthday Bash starring Super Chikan & the Fighting Cocks. Come on out
and celebrate with Clarksdale's most famous resident "card shark" ...
and enjoy one of the Delta's greatest rockin' blues bands.

SAT., 7/17 - "Taborian Babies Benefit" blues show at City Auditorium:
Sat., 7/17, 8pm - Clarksdale City Auditorium, Clarksdale, MS (Ticket
info at 708-308-3849 or [e-mail missing]): Efforts are underway in
the historically African-American Delta town of Mound Bayou to restore
Taborian Hospital. A huge percentage of African-American babies in the
area were born in that hospital while it was open. As part of this
effort, organizers are holding the "Taborian Babies Benefit" blues show
starring Jojo Murray & the Top Flight Band, Nellie "Tiger" Travis and
Sydney Jo Qualls. Tickets are $15 presale and $18 at the door.

ALSO... Other blues stuff in Clarksdale this weekend includes:
- Thurs. - blues at Sarah's Kitchen (8:30 or 9pm)
- Fri. - usually blues at Red's Lounge (9pm)
- Sun. - Blues Brunch with Big T at Ground Zero (noon)

3. FREE MUSIC LINE-UP AT DELTA CULTURAL CENTER IN HELENA, AR...

FREE Live Music at the Delta Cultural Center (141 Cherry Street,
Helena,
AR). Performers will appear on KFFA AM 1360's "Delta Sounds" radio
show
with Sonny Payne and Terry Buckalew at 1pm, then play in the Blues
Gallery there at 2pm. (While you're down there, be sure to check out
Bubba's Blues Corner nearby...)

Fri., 7/16 - Steve Cheseborough
Fri., 7/23 - Jimbo Mathus
Fri., 7/30 - John Weston
Fri., 8/6 - The Delta Cats (Billy Gibson and David Bowen)
Fri., 8/13 - C.W. Gatlin and Friends

4. VICKSBURG BLUES SOCIETY MEETING July 26. at 5:30pm...

The Vicksburg Blues Society will hold their monthly meeting, July 26.
at
5:30pm in the conference room at Century 21 Realty's new offices 3040
Halls Ferry Rd. (across from the Sonic.) Our Regional Blues Challenge &
The raffle for 25th W.C. Handy Blues Awards autographed Gibson guitar
will be the topic of discussion. Updates have been posted on our
website
www.VicksburgBlues.com regarding our Regional Blues
Challenge plus there is an opportunity for a lucky blues act to perform
at the King Biscuit Blues festival. There are also updates regarding
the International Blues Challenge where our regional winners will
compete for $25,000 in cash and prizes and the title of "Best Unsigned
Blues Band" and "Best Unsigned Solo/Duo Act." The judges also present
the Albert King Award (A Gibson Flying V) to the most promising
guitarist. In addition to the long-standing live performance component
of IBC, The Blues Foundation is for the first time presenting an award
for the Best Self-Produced CD. We'd like to thank those blues bands and
solo/duos who are making plans to participate in our Challenge this Oct
3rd & 4th. Lots of opportunity for those interested, but "YOU GOTTA BE
IN IT TO WIN IT". Email or call us if you've any questions or you can
attend our meeting and join in the discussions.
Attached is our printable Blues Challenge Flyer. Pass it along!

Lu Ridges, Director, Vicksburg Blues Society, P.O. BOX 820724,
Vicksburg, Mississippi, 39182
Ph. (601)634-1921, fax (240)597-8977, website: www.VicksburgBlues.com

5. WWW.DELTABLUESLEGENDSTOURS.COM (GREENWOOD, MS)...

From the Delta Blues Legend Tour web site:
Join me, Sylvester Hoover as we celebrate the legend of this great
blues
artist. Follow the footsteps down the soulful and untouched Mississippi
Delta and feel the essence of the Mississippi Blues history maker,
Robert Johnson. Come ride on a journey back into time to pay homage to
the man, the myth and the legend. We will also go to the sites
featuring
the gravestone of John Hurt and his homestead, and sites where Eddie
"Guitar Slim" performed. Click on the links to visit some of the main
attractions that you will witness. Bring your friends and your cameras,
this is a tour you will never forget. The tour will take approximately
3-3 1/2 hours. After our great tour, visit Hoover's Grocery for a great
Country meal. Menus will be subject to change. Meals could consist of:
Fried Chicken/Catfish, cornbread, collard/mustard/turnip greens,
black-eyed peas/pinto beans and sweet tea. Call now and book a tour!

6. JACQUELINE TURNS 13 PLAYING MUSIC IN L.A. ...

Clarksdale's 12-year-old blues/rock guitar prodigy Jacqueline will turn
13 at the Hollywood Park Casino in Inglewood, California this weekend.
She is headlining a big party thrown by The Junction Blues Club's (near
Clarksdale) owner Peggy Sturdivant. Jacqueline and Peggy both share
birthdays at around the same time. If you plan to be in the Inglewood
area this Saturday night, July 17, call 310-345-9372 for
tickets/reservations. Happy birthday, Jacqueline!

7. NEWS COURTESY OF THE CLARKSDALE PRESS REGISTER...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Blues exhibit draws regional media
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regional media got a personal tour of the Delta Blues Museum's Sweet
Home Chicago: Big City Blues 1946-1996 traveling exhibit Monday.
(By DAVID HEALY - Staff Writer)
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12322665&BRD=2038&PAG=461&dept_id=
230617
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Traveling blues exhibit to open on Friday
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Take a trip through the 20 most influential years in blues music
history
starting Friday when the Delta Blues Museum officially opens a major
travelling exhibit, Sweet Home Chicago: Big City Blues 1946-1966.
(By EMILY Le COZ - Staff Writer)
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12295499&BRD=2038&PAG=461&dept_id=
230617
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Press Register wins 17 awards for news coverage
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Clarksdale Press Register won 17 Mississippi Press Association
awards Saturday including two first place honors. In the category of
newspapers with less than 9,000 circulation, only one other paper in
the
state won more awards.
()
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12295498&BRD=2038&PAG=461&dept_id=
230617

8. OTHER NEWS FROM THE GREATER DELTA REGION...

- Check out the www.jamesmathus.com home page (well, the second page,
anyway) for a great photo of Buddy Guy and Jimbo together. Notice
Jimbo's cool "Cat Head" cap. Notice that Jimbo's hat is much cooler
than Buddy's. ALSO, you have to check out the photos of Jimbo and
Wesley Jefferson playing at Red's juke joint here in C'dale recently.
Go to http://jamesmathus.com/pages/moremisc.html Note the lady dancing
with the toilet paper. (I'm the guy with the green striped shirt
sitting back at the bar, by the way.) Thanks to Jimbo's Uncle Guy for
telling me about the new photos on the site.

- The Clarksdale-born author of classic songs like "Mustang Sally" sat
in briefly with the Larry Lewis Blues Mojo Band at Ground Zero Blues
Club on Friday. Sir Mack Rice was in town for a family reunion and
came
to the club both nights last weekend.

- This week, another Clarksdale-born musician, soul-blues performer
David Brinston, bid farewell to his father who passed this last week.
Our sympathies go out to the family.

- Friend and customer Thom Woodward passed this Blues Highway article
along from the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
http://www.startribune.com/thedrive/

- Here are some photos from the Duck Hill "Grassroots Blues Festival"
held this past Saturday. The line-up looked pretty killer.
http://tweedsblues.net/fieldhollars/read.php?f=2&i=17642&t=17642
I asked DSU bassist Barry Bays to share a few words on the 2nd Annual
Grass Roots Festival 7-10-04 Duckhill, MS:
"I had a blast at the festival performing with Willie King, Slick
Ballinger, and also Little Willie Farmer. Eddie Cusic sounded great,
as
always. Being in a pasture in the hills was a nice change from
the Delta festivals. It was HOT, but there was a breeze and a lack
of mosquitoes. Some people found a shade tree, but most sat out in the
sun with maybe a tent or umbrella for protection. Party people danced
in front of the stage. There was plenty of good Bar-B-Que and Catfish,
of course. It featured lots of local Mississippi talent. Musicians
from the Delta as well as other parts (and states) were represented. I
am sure this festival will continue to grow as the word gets around."

- Blues Society of the Ozarks review of new CD courtesy of Robert Lynn,
KSPQ radio (Springfield, MO):
Floyd Lee & His Mean Blues Band, "Full Moon Lightnin'" (Amogla
Records): This is the third release by the 70 year old Bluesman who
calls New York City home. But Floyd Lee's childhood roots are in Lamar,
Mississippi and also Memphis. With Full Moon Lightnin' he has come full
circle as this was recorded in Clarksdale, Mississippi at the old WROX
building, home to legendary DJ Early Wright. By using just two
microphones to record with, it has a feel of days gone bye when Muddy
Waters and John Lee Hooker called Clarksdale home. Also Sam Carr, the
best Delta Blues drummer, is keeping the beat on the entire cd. Doing
mostly cover songs of Blues classics, Floyd Lee's scratchy soulful
vocals put the songs in a new light. The first two tracks were penned
by
guitarist Joel Poluck who also works at Amogla Records. If you're tired
of all the over produced Blues cd's and want something that is true to
the music, then I highly recommend Full moon Lightnin'. Visit their
websight amoglarecords.com and also head to Clarksdale August 13th and
14th for the Sunflower Blues Festival. Floyd Lee is part of a stellar
lineup. For more info go to sunflowerfest.org. Robert Lynn, KSPQ

- You can now email questions/comments to the Clarksdale Visitors
Station (in the old Greyhound Bus Station) at [e-mail missing]

- This from Cat Head customer Trish: "I read the item in the last
update about Mary Shepard's stroke. We had become friends working on BB
King Homecoming for the last 20 years or so. Anyway, I called to check
on her and she's much better, getting around again. She tells me
that Denise LaSalle and some other artists are going to do a benefit
for
her at the Club Ebony on Saturday the 17th."

9. BLUES NEWS COURTESY OR WWW.BLUESWAX.COM (edited for space)....

- The 2005 International Blues Challenge (IBC) will be held February
3-5
in Memphis, Tennessee. The Keeping the Blues Alive (KBA) Awards
ceremony
will take place Saturday, February 5. The 21st annual International
Blues Challenge semi-finals and finals bring to Memphis the culmination
of months of regional competitions staged by Blues Foundation
affiliates
around the world. Over 90 acts compete for $25,000 in cash and prizes
and the title of "Best Unsigned Blues Band" and "Best Unsigned Acoustic
Act." The judges also present the Albert King Award to the most
promising guitarist. In addition to the long-standing live performance
component of IBC, The Blues Foundation is for the first time presenting
an award for the Best Self-Produced CD. Each affiliated Blues society
is
able to further support and encourage a deserving Blues musician by
submitting a release for judging by a panel of Blues authorities. The
Keeping the Blues Alive (KBA) awards honor the men and women who
preserve, celebrate and support Blues music. The KBAs, presented in 19
categories, are the opportunity for the Blues community to congregate
and recognize its peers and the accomplishments of supporting
organizations. More information on the IBC is posted at blues.org.

- The Greenwood Commonwealth reported recently that Greenwood,
Mississippi mayor Harry L. Smith recently presented Greenwood native
and
Blues guitar legend Hubert Sumlin the city's first Heart of the Blues
Award. The presentation took place June 10, the first day of the 21st
annual Chicago Blues Festival, and honored Sumlin for his lifetime
contributions to the Blues. Sumlin, best known for his tenure playing
guitar for Howlin' Wolf, has also shared the stage with such artists as
Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, and Muddy Waters. He was even listed
at No. 65 in Rolling Stone's September 18, 2003, special edition, "100
Greatest Guitarists of All Time," which claimed his work on Wolf's
classics "inspired Keith Richards and an entire generation of British
bluesman."

- The Commonwealth reported that Wesley Smith, son of Mayor Smith and
membership chairman for The Blues Foundation in Memphis (and a good
friend of BluesWax), came up with the idea of honoring Sumlin. It's
overdue," Wesley Smith said. "A lot of these guys are recognized around
the world, so it's important for their hometowns to embrace them." At
Smith's suggestion, and with the help of his father, the Greenwood City
Council passed a resolution on June 1 that honored Sumlin with the
Heart
of the Blues Award. Thanks from all of us, Wesley!

- The tapes for this year's W.C. Handy Blues Award recipient in the
Historical Album category, Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live, were stored
in a cave in upstate New York for over 20 years by the defunct Blue Sky
label and were rescued by Sony/Legacy producer Bob Irwin just before
they were discarded as having taken up space for no reason for too
long!
The Handy winner was released by Legacy thanks to Blues Foundation
Advisory Board member Steve Berkowitz with a huge hand from former
Foundation Board member Bob Margolin, who wrote new liner notes,
co-produced it, and incidentally played on the original recordings.
Margolin also accepted the award!

- Jim Fricke, the last of the original curators at Seattle's Experience
Music Project, has taken a new position with Harley-Davidson. Fricke
curated many of EMP's major exhibits, including the very successful
"Sweet Home Chicago, 1946-1966" exhibit. He is a fan of the Blues, and
last year hosted Honeyboy Edwards and Ernest Withers in July 2002, and
the first Blues concert in the building with Pinetop Perkins' 87th
birthday in 2000. Fricke, who doesn't ride motorcycles and doesn't own
a
Harley, will run help develop Harley's new museum outside Milwaukee.

10. CAT HEAD DELTA BLUES & FOLK ART...

- Custom guitars: Drew, Mississippi slide guitarist Jim Ellis is now
building custom electric guitars from old, found Delta wood and
recycled
guitar parts. I'll try to provide more information and links to photos
in next week's column. He plans to offer these via special order at
Cat
Head in the near future.

- New photos: We now offer a selection of framed/matted large format,
color blues photos by German photographer Axel Kustner. Prices range
from $250 to $275 each. Subjects include Big Joe Williams, Jack Owens,
Maxwell Street Jimmy, Willie Foster, Muddy Waters and others. We also
offer unframed color and B&W prints at various prices. Please email
for
more information or quick digital shots. If you think you don't know
Axel's work, just pull out a few of your Music Maker label CDs or some
back issues of Living Blues Magazine. (We also offer the book Music
Makers that features many fine Axel photos as well as his imported post
card book.)

- New book: 91-year-old King T. Evans, an African-American gentleman
born in Alabama and raised up in Mississippi, came by Cat Head last
week. He brought along copies of his professionally printed soft cover
book "Backroads of My Memory." I haven't read the 145-page book yet,
but I sure want to. Just talking to him was a fascinating experience.
Hearing firsthand about the Great 1927 Flood that Charley Patton and
Bessie Smith wrote songs about was enough to peak my interest.
(Incidentally, he could still recite some of Bessie's more violent song
lyrics that he heard as a youth.) Chapter titles in his book include
"Games," "The Flood of 1927" and "The Hanging." Signed copies are
$14.95.

- New magazine: The new Blues & Rhythm magazine has just arrived from
England. It contains a story on T-Bone Walker, an interview with
Robert
Belfour (he's the coolest!) and reviews of CDs by guys like Cadillac
Caldwell and Sam Carr. It's $8... seeing as it's from across the pond
and all.

- Other stuff: Incidentally, we also carry "No Depression" magazine...
just voted number 20 in the Chicago Tribune's Top 50 Magazines listing.
(Congrats to Grant Alden and the team at ND.)

Email for s/h info, etc.

11. MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT HONORED WITH MARKER (courtesy Steve Chez and
others)...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Mary Hurt Wright, 662-453-4892, Art Browning, 662-455-3958,
Steve Cheseborough, 757-880-3239

AVALON, Miss. – Mississippi John Hurt, a giant of American music and a
hero to guitarists everywhere, has been honored with a state historic
marker at Avalon, the hamlet where he spent most of his life.

It reads: "John S. Hurt, 1893-1966, was a pioneer blues and folk
guitarist. Self-taught, Hurt rarely left his home at Avalon, where he
worked as a farmer. Although he recorded several songs in 1928,
including "Avalon Blues" and "Frankie," he lived in relative obscurity
before he was rediscovered in the blues revival of the 1960s."

The green sign, bearing Mississippi's state flower, the magnolia, was
installed July 7 on the west side of state Highway 7 between Grenada
and
Greenwood. A small installation ceremony at the site featured live
performance of Hurt songs by Art Browning, curator of the Mississippi
John Hurt Museum; Steve Cheseborough, a Greenwood musician and author
of
Blues Traveling; and Phil "Delta Dan" Ratcliffe, a Scottish zoologist
who was visiting the area. There also were appearances by local
dignitaries and remarks by Hurt's granddaughter, Mary Hurt Wright.

"This sign marks an important period in my life, because it confirms
the
historical and heroic attempt my grandfather made toward a completion
of
life," Wright said. "It confirms what an individual can do if he or she
believes in himself and his willing to sacrifice enough to accomplish
his dreams. I hope people, as I have, use my grandfather as an example
to continue to endeavor and persevere in whatever their dreams may be."

The sign and installation were sponsored by the Mississippi John Hurt
Foundation, which had just held the second annual Mississippi John Hurt
4th of July Blues and Gospel Festival. The festival is held next to the
Hurt Museum, which is housed in a shotgun shack that Hurt lived in for
decades.

The museum's latest major acquisition is an oil painting of Hurt by
artist G. Bilger. It also recently acquired a plaque from the Folk
Alliance, giving Hurt a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Wright said it was not Avalon itself, but Hurt's art and determination,
that matter. "It could be Anyplace USA – everybody has a beginning and
an end," she said. "Whatever circumstances you're born in, if you dream
the difference you can make the difference."

12. MADIDI CHEF FEATURED AS A "RISING STAR OF AMERICAN CUISINE"..

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CLARKSDALE, MS — Lee Craven, Madidi's Chef de Cuisine, will be
featured as a "Rising Star Of American Cuisine" Thursday, August 5 at
the James Beard House in New York.
Madidi, co-owned by actor Morgan Freeman and businessman Bill
Luckett, opened in 2001 and has since become one of the South's
premiere
fine dining establishments. The restaurant has been featured in such
national publications as Bon Appetite, Food & Wine, Southern Living and
USA Today, to name a few. Segments on the restaurant have aired on CNN,
Turner South Broadcasting, the Food Network and the Travel Channel. An
upcoming episode of the Food Network's Inside Dish is dedicated to the
restaurant and its sister establishment, Ground Zero Blues Club.
"We are excited about this opportunity to showcase both Madidi and
Chef Craven on a national level," said Luckett. "Being invited to the
Beard House in New York is like the Academy Awards of restaurants.
Morgan and I are proud of the job Lee does for Madidi, and we are
delighted he will be representing the best of Mississippi cuisine in
the
a city known for its culinary excellence."
Craven joined Madidi in June, 2003, after having attended the
Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York and serving as
sous
chef under French Master Chef José Gutierrez at Chez Philippe in
Memphis. His culinary approach mixes an appreciation for traditional
Southern recipes and ingredients with a European flair.
"This is definitely an honor," said Craven, "but for me, the most
important thing is that my bosses believe in me enough to sponsor
Madidi's appearance at the James Beard House. The event will help the
Beard Foundation raise money for culinary scholarships and to promote
culinary arts in America."
The James Beard Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in
1985 by Julia Child and Peter Kump to honor the legacy of Beard,
considered to be the father of American gastronomy. The Beard House is
located in the chef's brownstone home in the heart of Greenwich
Village.
In addition to serving as a place to showcase the nation's leading
chefs
and restaurants, the James Beard House houses a culinary library and
archives open to the public, students and journalists from around the
world.
For more information on Madidi's appearance at the James Beard
House, contact Robin Rushing at . Reservations are still available by
calling the James Beard House in NYC at 212-627-2308.

13. MESSAGE FROM FOLK ART MAYOR OF ALABAMA (tell him Cat Head sent
ya)...

Hello All... For about 10 years I have been accumulating the art of
James (Buddy) Snipes and of John Henry Toney. I have LOTS of their
work. Until Buddy got so well known, I was his only outlet for his
art. While i did sell a lot of his all along, I have ended up with
about 25 or 30 pieces of his earlier work. Many of these are fairly
large, bulky and rougher than his more recent work. They are prime
examples of pure outsider art before the influence of the marketplace
on Buddy's work.

For years, I have kept these pieces in my warehouse. I sold the
warehouse a couple of weeks ago and now must do something with this
work. I have been having recurring health problems and also turned 72
last April. My family is not particularly interested in my
collection, so it has come time to find a home for these things.

Some of the early items of Buddy's that I have are : 3 benches made
from scrap lumber and tree limbs and barrell staves; a 'stove wood'
wagon made with wooden wheels and limbs; a yard swing; a homemade
bed
made from limbs and old bed parts; 4 or 5 small tables made from
roots, sticks and scraps; a 'Jesus trough', lawnmower man, mirrors
and several small items. Also included is his 'Devil Stump' ... his
depiction of the devil tempting Eve (It is pictured on my website).

I also have hundreds of John Henry's pieces on plywood and poster
board(and he still comes by every week with more!!). He lives hard (no
running water,etc.) and needs this extra money to live, so i keep
buying. He is incapable of representing himself very well, so is
dependent on help from others to promote his work. John Henry's art
stacks and stores easily, so while I do need to do something with it ,
it is not the problem right now that Buddy's is.

I would like to realize some of the value out of this collection of
Buddys work. It Would be nice to sell it all at one time. I will
consider donating some or all of this work to an acceptable
organization. As you can see, I'm fishing for ideas as to what to do
with it . Not only is potentially important as folk art, but is also
quite representative of the homemade items that were used regularly in
many rural, black homes of 40-odd years ago. The buyer of my
warehouse
is giving me some time to remove these things, but i do need to move
deliberately in finding a home for them.

I do have 4 of John Henry's and 2 pieces of buddy's on ebay right now,
so please take a look at them. Any ideas or comments any of you have,
will be welcomed.

best regards, Frank Turner
Mayor's Office Folk Art Gallery
Pittsview, Al. 36871-0128, (334) 855-3568
http://www.folkartisans.com/mayorsoffice

14. ARCHIVED ARTICLE ON SON THOMAS (courtesy Garrett/Lee)...

Written several years ago by Steve Dollar and published in the Atlanta
Constitution:

Even on a good day, James " Son "Thomas wore a sepulchral gaze. Nothing
was more appropriate for a one-time gravedigger whose music offered a
living link to the distant shadows of Mississippi Delta lore and whose
simple, evocative clay sculptures dealt in coffins and skulls that
grinned with human teeth.

The 66-year-old bluesman and folk artist, no stranger to Atlanta
audiences, died in June in a Greenville, Miss., convalescence home
after
a stroke and long months of failing health, including a benign brain
tumor that hospitalized him in 1991.low and muddy as a riverbed.

The small house he rented in Leland, Miss., was at once Spartan and
messy. A friendly hound scratched around the front room, its floor
stained with pools of the dog's urine and the walls lined with
photographs and proclamations
that Mr. Thomas gathered during his years of performances, and from the
galleries and museums that prized his pieces - which he sold for a
pittance to strangers who took time to locate him. (And who often would
resell the
works for sizable profits.)

A crude, full-sized wooden coffin, as yet unfinished, lay awaiting two
bodies that Mr. Thomas planned to sculpt. The commission, certainly
among his last, seemed to taunt him. He'd already cashed the $500
check.

"I don't know whether I'm ever gonna get caught up," he said, sitting
up
in the simple bedroom where he was attended by one of his sons and
where
the sporadic gunfire of a Chuck Norris movie blared on the television.
The air
was thick with gas heat and menthol cigarettes. "You know, uh, it's
hard
to keep up with all that art. I've been making some big sculptures to
go
in caskets. That's what I'm supposed to be doing today: a man-and-woman
casket. I can't hardly get my mind back on it."

Instead, he complained about duns from the hospital where his brain
surgery was performed ("They still buggin' me about money, but I ain't
got none to give") and lamented that he'd had to pass up an invitation
to play at a
blues festival in Japan. When he could, he said, he was going to get
back to work; all he had left to sell was the last copy of "Gateway to
the Delta," one of his rare albums.

"He was absolutely, totally without any question authentic," says folk
art dealer Rick Berman of the Berman Gallery in Atlanta, which has
handled Mr. Thomas 's work for years. "It was from the gut. He wasn't
affected by anything but his own life experience. His sculpture was
like
the blues. He was talking about the real people, the world, the street.
The idea that the pieces weren't fired was to me pretty amazing. It
wasn't made to be in museums and last forever."

Son Thomas 's life stretched from the singer's sharecropping youth in
Eden, Miss., hard by the Yazoo River, to early-music lessons from his
uncle and such mentors as Elmore James, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, T-Bone
Walker and Little " Son " Jackson, to international repute as an
unvarnished country blues musician.

"My uncle used to play in clay and back in the time when he used to
play
in clay, he used to make mules," Mr. Thomas said, recalling the man who
taught him. "He used to try and make mules all the time." But the
artist's first
inspiration was mischief. He liked to terrify his kin.

"The first skull that I made, I made it to scare my granddad," he
recalled. "I used white corn for teeth, and I put it right where, when
he came in, he had to light the lamp, and I put that skull right by the
lamp and he lit that match, he jumped back. He said, `Get up out of bed
and get that thing out of my house!' "

The singer and his son laughed. "We had lots of fun back then. Times,
they ain't like they used to be. So much of that dope and stuff. Most
people half crazy. It never will be like it was a long time ago."

The old story, one of many Mr. Thomas reeled out for his audiences, had
a tonic effect. He began another, about how he came to dig graves.

"I didn't want my children to come up like I did, working out there and
not making money," he said, dismissing the sharecropper's life. "So I
decided to move here. My stepdaddy, he was a gravedigger. He said, `You
don't have to
go out to the field. You can stick around here and help me bury these
white people!' I said, `How much do you get?' $15 a head. Oh, that was
a
big price then."

Though frail, Mr. Thomas could pick up a guitar and become shockingly
vibrant. Picking up his old acoustic guitar, ornamented with stickers
of
strawberries, he could have been Lazarus. His son switched the TV
volume
down as he began to play and sing, and a chill cut through the
overheated room.

"You know I would go to Cairo, but the water too high for me
You know I would go to Cairo, but the water too high for me
The girl I love, she got washed away
You know the woman got drowned-ed, swimming along after me."

15. NY TIMES ARTICLE ABOUT ELVIS COSTELLO AND NEW MISSISSIPPI RECORDED
CD...

July 11, 2004 By JON PARELES
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/11/arts/music/11PARE.html?ex=1090562202&ei=
1&en=0ab3ba342e0b673d

(Of course, it fails to mention that he recorded some material at
Jimbo's studio here in Clarksdale. I've even heard that the first
single was recorded here...)

16. SEE PHOTOS OF NEW CLARKSDALE GUESTHOUSE THAT FACES MUSEUM...

www.bigpinkguesthouse.com

17. "T-MODEL KNOWS BETTER" in www.arthurmag.com..

The new, free issue of Arthur Magazine is available at Cat Head as
usual. Here's a sample from 80-something-year-old T-Model Ford's small
regular column:

Arthur: "Is it true that you can play for eight hours straight?"
T-Model: "That's true! It's like walking in the kitchen and drinking
some sweet milk. Ain't nothin' to it, man."

(Who can argue with that? Incidentally, when T-Model played Cat Head's
grand opening, we booked him for two hours through the label, Fat
Possum. He played for four hours straight! One before the drummer
even
got here.... As his last CD says, he is indeed a "Bad Man.")