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Fate? Karma? Purgatory? Help me put a good spin on this.

My wife and I are heading out to Clarksdale, Mississippi for the Juke Joint Festival which is primarily a blues festival for local delta and hill country blues acts. It is a ton of fun.

We are staying with some old friends in a nearby town. They have graciously invited us to a music series hosted by local country music singer and songwriter Steve Azar. The event occurs every couple of months and features a meal by a prominent local chef (featured in Southern Living, Garden and Gun, etc) as well as cocktails and a casual performance and interview with other songwriters and musicians. It is a small group and the guests interact with the guest musicians. The tickets are fairly pricey and our friends have insisted on buying our tickets.

Other than their love of country music our musical tastes are similar to our friend's. They are going with us to the blues festival. They are also into Dylan, The Band, Van Morrison, etc.

The guest musician/songwriter is named Anthony Smith. I'd never heard of him. Apparently he has written songs for some big names in the country music world as has the host, Steve Azar.

Now, I don't hate country music per se. But I have a hard time with contemporary pop country. Here is a video of Anthony Smith's:

https://youtu.be/sbNVTh2QA7k

It is going to be a long night. Fortunately the music will be acoustic. Just the guest with his guitar. I suspect the food will be great and there will be plenty of booze. And I guess it will be interesting to get some insight into the singer/songwriter world even if it is pop country.

I just think it is funny that the one type of music I can hardly stand is what is being featured. I'd prefer hip-hop or rap to pop country ;-)
n80
n80 OP
2,120 posts
 
@glupson, the guy you met was probably Bill Luckett, a prominent attorney in Clarksdale and I think he has been the mayor too.

Interesting tidbit: Morgan Freeman's son Alfonzo, lives in the same city I do and lives next door to my father-in-law and frequently comes to holiday meals with our family. A really nice guy. He's been in a number of movies and also writes gospel music.

@orpheus10 : I've never been in an actual juke joint. I've been in plenty of bars and dives but all of them mostly white. I don't think genuine juke joints exist much these days as the few that do exist have been 'recreated' for a very different 'clientele'.

@allowedsound: Agree about that video and song. It almost exactly what I would have imagined as the worst aspects of pop country put together in one song/video.
orpheus10
8,668 posts
 

n80, there were a lot of juke joints in E. St. Louis, Ill, and while Black, a lot of White people went to them; oddly enough, they were treated as guests, and had fewer problems than other Black people; this was in the late 50's and 60's.

Since girls was my one track mission, I never paid a lot of attention to the music, and even then I was into jazz; but I remember the music and think about it more now. The music was a blues "Gumbo", and NOLA music was deep in the mix.

All of the Blues artists of that era, who are now famous, played the juke joints, and there were a few white musicians (all on guitar) who played them as well. As good as they were, I don't know if any became famous; this was long before SRV.
orpheus10
8,668 posts
 

n80, there were a lot of juke joints in E. St. Louis, Ill, and while Black, a lot of White people went to them; oddly enough, they were treated as guests, and had fewer problems than other Black people; this was in the late 50's and 60's.

Since girls was my one track mission, I never paid a lot of attention to the music, and even then I was into jazz; but I remember the music and think about it more now. The music was a blues "Gumbo", and NOLA music was deep in the mix.

All of the Blues artists of that era, who are now famous, played the juke joints, and there were a few white musicians (all on guitar) who played them as well. As good as they were, I don't know if any became famous; this was long before SRV.
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,957 posts
 
Albert King and Albert Collins were booked same night into bars on opposite sides of High street, circa 1982 if my cloudy hazy memory serves..
I picked King, brother went to Collins
about mid set they on early wireless setups w crappy range met mid street and switched bands....unbelievable....seems like but a dream today.....
King was beyond incredible...what a showman and could make that flying V scream and bend
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,868 posts
 
Yeah @tomic601, Albert’s hands and fingers were huge, and he was very strong. I’ve never seen anyone bend strings like that (the high E string bent all the way to the top of the fretboard of his Flying V!), and he did it in a real relaxed, "no hurry" kind of way, unrushed. His tone was SO thick, like a big ol’ hit off a spliff of real good weed, the kind we San Jose kids found only in San Francisco. Only schwag made it to the suburbs ;-) .
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