Otha Turner -COMO Miss US 51 Tanger Outlet Blues Trail South Haven, MS

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Miss US 51

Otha Turner -COMO 

The African American fife and drum tradition in north Mississippi stretches back to the 1800s and is often noted for its similarities to African music. Its best-known exponent, Otha (or Othar) Turner (c. 1908-2003), presided over annual fife and drum picnics and goat roasts on his property in nearby Gravel Springs and performed at numerous festivals. His music was featured in several documentaries as well as in Martin Scorsese’s film Gangs of New York.

Otha  Turner MIss US 51

Black Fife and Drum Music

The fife and drum ensemble is most closely associated with military marches, but African American bands in North Mississippi have long used fifes and drums to provide entertainment at picnics and other social events. Many scholars believe that such groups formed in the wake of the Civil War, perhaps using discarded military instruments. Prior to the war slaves were largely forbidden from playing drums out of fear that they would use the instruments for secret communication, though African Americans did serve in military units as musicians, playing fifes, drums, and trumpets. North Mississippi fife and drum music are often described as sounding “African,” but it was not imported directly from Africa. Instead, it appears that African American musicians infused the Euro-American military tradition with distinctly African polyrhythms, riff structures, and call-and-response patterns. Fife and drum bands have performed spirituals, minstrel songs, instrumental pieces such as “Shimmy She Wobble,” and versions of blues hits including the Mississippi Sheiks’ “Sitting On Top of the World” and Little Walter’s “My Babe.” While the black fife and drum tradition is identified with northern Mississippi, researchers have also documented the music in other areas, including southwestern Mississippi, western Tennessee, and west central Georgia.

In 1942 multi-instrumentalist Sid Hemphill and his band made the first recordings of Mississippi fife and drum music for Library of Congress folklorist Alan Lomax. His granddaughter, blues singer-guitarist Jessie Mae Hemphill, later played drums in local fife and drum bands. Lomax also recorded fife and drum music by brothers Ed and Lonnie Young in 1959. In the 1960s and ’70s folklorists George Mitchell, David Evans, and Bill Ferris recorded groups featuring Napolian Strickland (c. 1919-2001) on fife and Otha Turner on the bass drum.

Turner, born in Rankin County around 1908—various sources suggest birth years ranging from 1903 to 1917—moved to northern Mississippi as a child together with his mother, Betty Turner. He learned to create his own fifes by using a heated metal rod to hollow out and bore a mouth hole and five finger holes into a piece of bamboo cane. Turner, who spent most of his life as a farmer, eventually became the patriarch of the regional fife and drum tradition. He recorded as leader of the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band for various American and European labels and appeared in several documentaries, including Gravel Springs Fife and Drum, Lomax’s Land Where the Blues Began, and Martin Scorsese’s Feel Like Going Home. Following his death in 2003 his granddaughter and protégé Sharde Thomas inherited leadership of his fife and drum band.

Captions
Top Photo: Otho Turner leads his fife and drum band including RL Boyce and Abe Young, at the annual picnic at his home in Gravel Springs, northeast of Como in August 1998

Otha Turner plays guitar as his friend Mississippi Fre McDowell looks on. The photograph was taken in 1969 by folklorists David Evans during a field recording session.

The band on this 1995 eP on the Sugar Ditch label included, from left, Bernice Turner Pratcher RL Boyce, Otha Turner and Aubrey Turner, Otha Turner and Pratcher, his daughter and the group's manager, tragically died on the same day, Feb 27, 2003. Otha's name was spelled Othar, other in Otbo on various recording and documents.

Como native Napolian Strickland was a close musical associate of Otha Turner who played fife, drum, diddley bow harmonica and guitar. Turner made his first recording performing on drums behind Strickland's fife and vocal.

fife player Ed Young and his brother Lonnie (right)were among the many local musicians, including Fred McDowell, who was first recorded by folklorist Alan Lomax. Lomax subsequently booked the Youngs as folk festivals nationwide.

Drummer Abe ("Kag" or "Cag")
Young the son of Lonnie Young

Otha Turner looks on with pride as his granddaughter, Sharde Thomas (b Jan 8, 1990) performs at the Turner's annual picnic in Aug 1997. Sharde was accompanied on drums by her cousin Rodney Andre and Aubrey.

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19636923/otha-turner

Fred McDowell-Como Miss US 51 Blues Trail Tanger Outlets South Haven, MS

Miss US 51

Fred McDowell -Como 

Fred McDowell, a seminal figure in Mississippi hill country blues, was one of the most vibrant performers of the 1960s blues revival. McDowell (c. 1906-1972) was a sharecropper and local entertainer in 1959 when he made his first recordings at his home on a farm north of Como for noted folklorist Alan Lomax. The depth and originality of McDowell’s music brought him such worldwide acclaim that he was able to record and tour prolifically during his final years.

Fred McDowell Miss US 51

“Mississippi” Fred McDowell, as he was usually billed, was actually born and raised in Rossville, Tennessee. He never knew his birth date–January 12, 1904, is often cited, although census and Social Security documents point to 1906 or 1907. His music blended the sounds he heard from local guitarists in Tennessee with the pulsating juke joint grooves of the North Mississippi hills and the hard-edged blues he picked up during several years spent in the Delta.  Spirituals were an important part of his repertoire, and one, “ You Got to Move,” recorded by McDowell in 1965, gained widespread fame when the Rolling Stones recorded it on their 1971 album Sticky Fingers.

Fred McDowell 

Fred McDowell 

"Mississippi" Fred McDowell, who learned to fret his guitar strings with a bottleneck or metal slide after seeing his father’s cousin play with a steak bone, honed his skills under the tutelage of longtime friend and neighbor Eli Green, who was said to possess magical powers. Green’s song “Write Me a Few Lines” became a McDowell signature piece and was later recorded by one of McDowell’s biggest admirers, Bonnie Raitt. McDowell was also so well known for the rhythmic tour-de-force “Shake ’Em On  Down” that he earned the nickname “Shake ’Em.” His music laid the groundwork for generations of hill country musicians to come, most notably R. L. Burnside, who started out by playing McDowell’s guitar at a house party.  Alan Lomax described  McDowell as “a bluesman quite the equal of Son House and Muddy Waters, but, musically speaking, their granddaddy.”

The highly acclaimed albums that McDowell waxed during his belated recording career (1959-1971) proved that some of the greatest country blues music had gone undiscovered by the record companies that scoured the South for talent in the 1920s and ‘30s. McDowell found himself in demand at folk and blues clubs and festivals, yet kept a job pumping gas at the Stuckey’s candy store and service station on I-55 during his final years, even when he was at last able to support himself as a musician. Stuckey’s became his social hangout and his office, where he would receive phone calls from booking agents and record producers. In earlier years, McDowell held a variety of jobs, including picking cotton, driving a tractor, and working for an oil mill, a dairy, and a logging company.  In 1940, when he applied for a Social Security card, he was employed by the Hotel Peabody in Memphis. Fifty-one years later the Peabody was the site of McDowell’s posthumous induction into the Blues Hall of Fame. McDowell died at Baptist Hospital in Memphis on July 3, 1972. He is buried in the Hammond Hill M. B. Church cemetery north of Como.

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In the 1960s McDowell entertained at fraternity tea parties at the University of Mississippi. He recorded the album I Do Not Play No Rock N’ Roll in Jackson at Malaco Studios in 1969 for two Ole Miss graduates who booked an act for those tea parties, Tommy Couch and Wolf Stephenson.

Fred McDowell and Bonnie Raitt, Philadelphia Folk Festival, 1971

Much of Fred McDowell’s best work appeared on the California-based Arhoolie label. His recordings included both blues and gospel songs, some featuring McDowell’s wife, Annie Mae, his sister Fannie; and the Hunter’s Chapel Singers. 

McDowell’s first recordings for Alan Lomax are released for Atlantic Record’s Southern Folk Heritage series in 1960. 

McDowell at Ann Arbor Blues Festival, 1969

Napolian Stricklin (1919-2001) of Como, shown here playing a homemade cane fife, learned guitar from Fred McDowell and sometimes accompanied him on harmonica. 

Johnny Woods from Looxahoma played harmonica with Fred McDowell and with R. L. Burnside. 

Memphis bluesman Daddy Mack Orr was born in Como in 1945. Other blues and should performers with Panola Country roots have included Jessie Mae Hemphill and Ranie Burnette; also form Como Big Daddy Kinsey, form Pleasant Grover, Ollie Nightingale from Batesville; and Big Amos Patton and Lucius Smith from Sardis 

Capitol Label “I do Not Play No rock N’ Roll” side 2

Everybody's Down on Me

61 Highway

Glory Hallelluha

Jesus is on the Mainline

Produced by Tommy couch 

for Malaco Productions 

Album Coordinator Waybe Shuler 

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15710062/fred-mcdowell

Joe Callicott-Nesbit Miss US 51 Blues Trail Tanger Outlet South Haven, MS

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Miss US.51

Joe Callicott -Nesbit (1900-1969)

Although his early recording career resulted in only two songs issued in 1930, Nesbit native Joe Callicott (1899-1969) is often regarded as one of Mississippi’s finest early bluesmen. His guitar work was also featured with local bluesman Garfield Akers on Cottonfield Blues, a classic 1929 single that illustrated how blues developed from field hollers. In the late 1960s, Callicott recorded more extensively for folklorists and served as a mentor to Nesbit guitarist Kenny Brown.

Joe Callicot 

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Joe Callicott, whose music was notable for his delicate guitar style and rich vocals, spent most of his life here in Nesbit. He began playing blues as a young boy and performed for many years together with fellow guitarist Garfield Akers (c. 1900-1959). They played mostly around the area at informal gatherings and performed in a distinctive local style similar to that of Memphis blues pioneer Frank Stokes and Hernando’s Jim Jackson. In 1929 Jackson arranged for the pair to record for the Brunswick-Balke-Collender corporation of Chicago, which had set up a temporary recording unit at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Callicott’s recording of “Mississippi Boll Weevil Blues” from that session was unissued, but he played on Akers’ two-part single “Cottonfield Blues,” which was issued on the Vocalion label. The following year they again recorded in Memphis. Vocalion issued “Dough Roller Blues” and “Jumpin’ and Shoutin’ Blues” by Akers, while Brunswick released Callicott’s "Fare Thee Well Blues" and "Traveling Mama Blues" (using the spelling Calicott on the label and Callicutt in company files). Although Callicott gave up performing in the 1940s, Akers was active on the down-home Memphis blues scene of the early ‘50s. Akers, however, never recorded again.

In 1967 folklorist George Mitchell met and recorded Callicott, and Callicott’s subsequent return to performing included a booking at the 1968 Memphis Country Blues Festival in Memphis and travels as far as New York City. Recordings made by Mitchell and British producer Mike Vernon of the Blue Horizon label revealed the impressive range of Callicott’s early repertoire, which included songs about World War I and the boisterous nightlife of Beale Street. During this period Callicott also taught guitar to Kenny Brown (b. 1953), who lived with his family next door. Brown later became well known in the blues world via his twenty-year relationship with Holly Springs guitarist R. L. Burnside as well as his own recordings. On his 2003 Fat Possum CD Stingray Brown recorded three of Callicott’s songs.

Another young student of older blues artists in the area was Bobby Ray Watson (b. 1943) of the nearby Pleasant Hill community. Watson often performed together with local harmonica player Johnny Woods (1917-1990), a dynamic performer and native of nearby Looxahoma. This area’s most famous resident, the legendary pianist, and vocalist Jerry Lee Lewis included many blues songs in his repertoire. The Nesbit ranch purchased by Lewis 1973 became a tourist attraction and featured a piano-shaped pool.

Joe Callicott Miss US 51

Joe Callicott Miss US 51

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Left and above right, Joe Callicott, late 1960a. Above left with his wife Doll, circa the 1950s. The top label is from a 1970 LP of George Mitchell field recordings. Callicott is buried in the cemetery adjacent to this marker. 

Cover sleeve of a 1972 single on the Oblivion label by Johny Woods. In addition to making his own recordings, Woods also performed on record with his frequent musical partners R. L. Burnside and Mississippi Fred McDowell. 

Watson and his wife Libby Rae founded the Mississippi Country Blues Society and conducted field recordings sessions with many traditional blues artists around the state

Kenny Brown left with David Kimbrough, Dwayne Burnside, and Cedric Burnside at the dedication of the “Hill Country Blues” Blues Trail marker in Holly Springs, July 3, 2008. In 2006 Brown started the annual North Mississippi Hill country Picnic that celebrates blues from the region. 

Revival Label song 33 1/3 rpm Mono Side 1
“Deal Gone Down"
Rolling & Tumbling
Riverside Blues
Down Home Blues
Old Boll Weevil
Frankie and Albert
Joe Callicott 

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9708063/joe-callicott

Magic Sam-Grenada Miss US 51 Blues Trail Tanger Outlet South Haven, MS

Miss US 51

Samuel “Magic Sam” Maghett

Magic Sam (Samuel Maghett) was one of the most dynamic and gifted blues musicians during his short lifetime (1937-1969). Born a few miles northeast of this site, Maghett began his performing career in Grenada and lived in this house until he moved to Chicago in the early 1950s. The youthful energy and spirit of Magic Sam, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, and Freddie King modernized Chicago blues into an explosive, electrifying new style in the late 1950s and early '60s.

MISS US 51 Magic Sam 

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Magic Sam, unlike most of his blues contemporaries, was born and raised in a community where fiddle music, hoedowns, and square dances held sway over the blues among the African American population. Roy Moses, a renowned black fiddler in Grenada County, was not only the leading caller of steps at such dances but also a mentor and inspiration to younger local musicians. Samuel Maghett carried these musical influences with him to Chicago in 1950. Blues guitarist Syl Johnson, who later became a nationally known soul singer, recalled that Sam was playing “a hillbilly style” at the time, and Johnson began teaching him blues and boogies. Sam developed a house-rocking blues style unparalleled in its rhythmic drive; it may well have had roots in the dance tempos of the reels and breakdowns he learned in Grenada.

Magic Sam was better known, however, for the heartfelt vocals and stinging guitar work of his 1957-58 blues recordings produced by Willie Dixon for the Cobra label in Chicago such as “All Your Love” and “Easy Baby,” some of which featured another Grenada native, Billy Stepney, on drums. Sam’s singing reflected another early influence, that of the church. During the ‘50s he often returned to visit and perform in Grenada, where he was credited with helping to popularize the blues. Sam and his combo won a local talent contest at the Union Theater which enabled them to compete on a show in Memphis promoted by WDIA radio. After performing under several stage names, he settled on “Magic” Sam–to rhyme with his surname.

In Chicago, Sam was at the vanguard of a new West Side blues movement. He remained a popular nightclub act during the 1960s and was poised to take his career to a new level, after recording two acclaimed albums for Delmark Records and turning in legendary festival performances in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in Europe, but he died of a heart attack on December 1, 1969. His music has continued to influence generations of blues, R&B, and rock musicians.

Magic Sam’s birthplace now lies submerged beneath Grenada Lake. The Redgrass and Hendersonville communities where he spent his earliest years, along with the former town of Graysport, were flooded in the late 1940s to create the lake as a flood control reservoir. The Maghett family relocated here to the Knoxville community, where Sam resided until he was thirteen. Maggitt Street, just south of this site, represents one of many local variations of the family surname.

Caption

You don’t have to work all day.

Just make love to me and say,

“Easy, baby, mmm, easy, baby.”

“Easy, baby, won’t you love me night and day?

You don’t have to weep and moan.

Just hold me, baby, in your arms.

Easy Baby, mmm, easy baby,

Easy, baby, let me love you night and day. 

“Easy Baby”-Magic Sam (Cobra)

Magic Singing Sam” with Letha Jones, pianist Little Johnnie Jones, and Georgia Lee Jones; in the back is drummer S. Pl. Leary, at the Tay May Club, Chicago, early 1960s

The country music influence that Sam grew up within Grenada showed up in some of his recordings, such as “Square Dance Rock” from 1960. 

What discs would you choose if you are stranded on a  desert island and had nothing else to listen to? Critics here often given “desert island side” statue to Magic Sam’s first two LPs for Delmark, West Side Soul, and Black Magic. 

(Right) Magic Sam and friend Luberta, Texas at a Chicago Nightclub c 1963

Morris Holt, a childhood friend of Magic Sam’s in Granda assumed the stage name Magic Slim and continued Sam’s Tradition of rocking the blues in Chicago. He is pictured here at the first annual Chicago Blues Festival in 1984.

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

Magic Sam

Magic Sam
Mississippi Blues Trail
5205 Airways Blvd
Desoto County South Haven, MS
Tanger Outlets Shopping

Cobra Record Corp
Easy Baby 
Dixon 
Magic Sam 
5029
BMI Vocal 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4161/samuel-maghett

Tanger Outlet Blues Trail South Haven, MS

Tanger Outlets 

Documenting the Blues Miss US 71
Hubert Sumlin
Howlin'Wolf
Robert Johnson
Birth Place of America's Music
MISSISSIPPI 

Peavine Railroad
Albert King 

"One of The Best"
"our knowledgeable friend and Blues tour guide described the B.B. King Museum as one of the best museums she had ever been to, and I have to agree. Allow several hours for this visit and make a special trip to Indianola to go there. You won't be sorry. My three teenage sons learned a great deal. Fantastic displays, many of which were interactive."
-A visitor from Houston, Texas
400 Second Street Indianola, S www.bbkingmuseum.org
BB King Museum

"Brought Me to Tears"
"This was our last stop on our Delta Blues Pilgrimage. And we saved the best for last. A beautiful building and museum. A part of the museum is a cotton gin where BB King used to work. The exhibit progress through his childhood up to the present day. The video of him speaking about his life brought me to tears. Worth the drive to Indianola."
-A Visitor from Mobile, Alabama
400 Second Street Indianola, S www.bbkingmuseum.org
BB King Museum

"So Much Fun for Every Age"
"This facility is nothing short of amazing. It's a haven for anyone that loves and appreciates the music of all genres. We didn't
t want to leave!"
-A Visitor from Tennessee
800 West Sunflower Road Cleveland, MS
GRAMMYMuseumMS.org
662-441-0100
Recording Academy
GRAMMY MUSEUM
MISSISSIPPI

"This Place is Amazing "
"It has a lot of interactive features where you would spend hours listening to music and learning about the awesome past and present GRAMMY winners."
-A Visitor from Colorado
800 West Sunflower Road Cleveland, MS
GRAMMYMuseumMS.org
662-441-0100
Recording Academy
GRAMMY MUSEUM
MISSISSIPPI

"A Wealth of History! "
"Plan on spending at least two hours looking at this museum. You will find pictures articles, instruments, clothing, and more about these talented musicians. It helps clear up all that was going on in that area and how it affected the music. Don't miss this place."
A Visitor from Daytona Beach, Florida
1 Blues Alley Clarksdale, MS
www.deltableebluesmuseum.org
DELTA BLUES
MUSEUM

Large Guitar 

Muddy Waters

Gateway to the Blues "Great exhibit"
"This place has guitars from all the blues greats, they even have Son House's resonator guitar on display. Eric Clapton's and BB King's guitars are on showcase as well Great exhibit, owned by Ceasar's of Las Vegas fame."
-A Victor Calexico, California
13625 HighwaY 61 North Tunica Resorts, MS
www.tunicatravel.com
Gateway to the
BLUES
Tunica, MS

Elvis Presley & WC Handy 

The Blues Trail
Birthplace of America's Music Mississippi 

Large Guitar 

Large Guitar 

Elvis in Tupelo, MS 

"A Must see if you are in Memphis!"
"By far our best experience in Memphis. The house itself is just full of history and memories. A very emotional experience. You can almost feel the joy and happy memories that Elvis and his family had there."
-A Visitor from the Newcastle United Kingdom
3717 Elvis Presley Boulevard Memphis,  TN
www.graceland.com
Graceland
The home of Elvis Presley 

"Awesome to sit on his front porch."
"As a lifelong Elvis fan, this was a must-see on my visit I was not disappointed, the tiny house was amazing to see and it was great to get a photo taken on the swing outside with lots of interesting information and great insight into the early years of his life."
306 Elvis Presley Drive Tupelo, MS
www.elvispresleybirthplace.com
Elvis
BIRTHPLACE

Jessie Mae Hemphill

Graceland 

2018 Aug 6-8, Metro Streetcar Ride in Little Rock, Arkansas (3 days)

Hubby and I had an enjoyable visit to Little Rock, Arkansas
The people were friendly, and the food was good.
We stayed two nights at the Wyndham Hotel, in North Little Rock, which included breakfast.
Our room was ground level with a good view of the downtown area and the Arkansas River bridges. 

The first day after we checked in we rode to the downtown area to find somewhere to eat lunch. David's Burger was closing for the day so we walked down the block to Big Whiskey's.

Big Whiskey's where I enjoyed a plate of Hot wings

We walked around the downtown area stopping at Arkansas Studies Institute where we walked through stopping to talk to the curator.
The building had a vault which in its heyday was used to store spices.
Our next stop was the Arkansas Historic Museum where we saw a collection of Bowie knives, a children's gallery, and contemporary art.
The Pioneer Village had closed up shop for the day.

Bowie Knives

We stopped at General McArthur's Park where we saw several war markers.
The museum was closed.
We rode behind the museum where we saw several families of ducklings.

Duckings

We rode to Arkansas Capitol Grounds where we saw the Vietnam Memorials, the Purpleheart recipients plaques, a Civil War memorial, and the Firefighters Memorial.
It was getting late as the sun slowly drifted out of sight.
I don't think I could walk another step after all the sightseeing.
We stopped at Wendy's for a quick bite and retired for the day.

Little Rock's Capitol Building 

On the first day, we drove everywhere and it cost $1.50 for one-hour parking, so we bought a Metro Streetcar pass for $2.00 each to ride the Metro Streetcar all day. (we bought the tickets at the Historic Arkansas Museum)

To catch the Streetcar we had to walk a couple blocks.  
The drivers were knowledgeable about the area, the Metro Streetcar was air-conditioned and the Metro Streetcar ran every twenty minutes.

Metro Streetcar

Our first stop was the William J. Clinton Presidental Library where we saw his 1993 Cadillac Fleetwood limousine, the life-size replica of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room as they looked during Clinton's tenure. 

Oval Office

We stopped outside of the Clinton School of Public Service to take a few pictures, then we walked to the nearby Heifer International Building 

We were greeted at the door by a curator at the Heifner building.
The curator gave us a brief description of the Heifer company and how it got started with just a cup of milk.
At the Heifer International village and farm, we saw their vegetable garden and farm animals. 
At Cafe Heifer, we ordered oatmeal raisins,  macadamia cookies, and water.
We saw several turtles in the wetlands and the gardeners were pulling up plants that no longer were bearing vegetables. 

Heifer Garden 

We took the Metro Streetcar to the 1836 Old State House Museum, at no charge, which has three levels of artifacts, hand-stitched African quilts, and American Indian relics. 

Old State House

We took the Metro Streetcar to the River Market District got off and walked to David's Burgers where we enjoyed a dressed hamburger and all the fries you can eat for lunch. (They are only open for lunch).

River Market 

Just a few blocks away was the Museum of Discovery where we experienced the physics and chemistry of the natural phenomenon of Little Rock's 1999 twister in Tornado Alley.

Little Rock 1999 Twister in Tornado Alley.

On the Streetcar, we met an older man treating four of his eleven grandchildren to a Metro Streetcar ride.
It was super hot so it was nice to just hop on a nice cool Metro Streetcar instead of a hot car.
Storms were a brew all through Arkansas in the late evening and we even got some rain. 

Storm Clouds over Arkansas River 

Woke to thunder and rain this morning.
I hope we miss the bad weather traveling home.