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From the DD-T
Shepard says she will miss Club Ebony
By JOSHUA HOWAT BERGER joshberger@ddtonline.com
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
INDIANOLA - Mary Shepard says she is going to miss Club Ebony.
But after 34 years and two strokes, she says, the time had come to retire from her beloved juke joint.
Shepard, the long-time owner of Indianola's historic Club Ebony, recently sold the venue to blues legend and hometown hero B.B. King.
Club Ebony - or, as it was originally called, the Jones Night Spot - opened in 1943 under the ownership of Johnny Jones. In its 65-year history, the club has played host to a compendium of blues and blues-influenced greats, including Count Basie, James Brown, Ray Charles, Howlin' Wolf and many more.
In an interview with the Delta Democrat Times, Shepard recalled buying the club in 1974, and her more than three decades at its helm.
Shepard said she first leased Club Ebony at the suggestion of her then-husband, Willie Shepard. Willie had recently returned from Vietnam, where he was paralyzed after stepping on a land mine. Shepard said she was hesitant to take over the club, but decided it would help her husband rehabilitate.
“I got to thinking, ‘Well that would be good for him,'” Shepard said. “He loved to play pool. I could bring him to the club, he could be around meeting with people, and laughing with people and talking. I could bring him over in his wheelchair. So then I agreed.”
Shepard says she leased the club for a year and a half from then-owner Ruby Edwards. Then she purchased it outright on Jan. 4, 1974.
What began as a reluctant proprietorship turned into more than three decades shaping the culture of the blues in the Mississippi Delta. Even after Shepard and her husband divorced in 1986, she continued running the club, booking acts such as Willie Clayton, Bobby Rush, Dorothy Moore and B.B. King himself, who traditionally plays a session at Club Ebony after his annual homecoming concert in Indianola's Fletcher Park.
But the life of a club owner can be a hard one, full of late nights and stressful days. Shepard says it got to be too much.
“It's too much pressure,” she said. “It wears you out, you know.”
Shepard suffered a stroke while planning the B.B. King homecoming in 2004. She had another stroke in 2005. She says she has been less active in running the club since then, delegating management responsibilities to friends and family members.
Finally, her family convinced her to step down from the club for good.
“It's very important to them,” said Shepard. “They just want to enjoy me. And they want me to enjoy them. And the grandchildren say that I devoted more time to Club Ebony than I did anything.”
Shepard is planning a farewell event for Sunday, April 6, at 4 p.m. She says Mickey Rogers and the Soul Master Band have already been lined up to play. Other long-time Club Ebony acts are also welcome, Shepard says. Beyond that, she says she doesn't want to have anything to do with booking, promotions, management or any other aspect of running the club.
“I won't be assisting anyone,” Shepard said. “I'll be just coming in like you and enjoying the atmosphere.
“I'm just gonna sit back and try not to shed any tears and try to laugh and be happy,” she added.
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