Monday, June 16, 2008

Review: Pay Me No Mind by The Homemade Jamz' Blues Band

 

 

PAY ME NO MIND

The Homemade Jamz Blues Band

Northern Blues Music, www.northernblues.com

 

Combine youth, talent and enthusiasm with top-notch songs and you have the recipe for success.  In the blues music genre that result is embodied in the new CD Pay Me No Mind by The Homemade Jamz’ Blues Band.  These three young Perry siblings from Tupelo, Mississippi, present their fresh, original sound on their fantastic debut album from Northern Blues Music. 

 

These youngsters have been wowing blues fans all over the country for the past several years.  They broke onto the blues scene with an impressive first appearance at the famed Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and followed up with bookings at festivals, a blues cruise, and a segment on the CBS Sunday Morning Show.  The band won second place in the band category at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2007 to then sign with Northern Blues Music.  They are the youngest blues band in history to sign with a major recording label.

 

Ryan, fifteen, handles guitar and vocals, with Kyle, thirteen, on bass and sister Taya, nine, on drums.  But don’t let their age fool you.  The group has the polish and professionalism that usually only comes after years of experience.  Ryan’s wailing guitar work on songs like “Time for a Change” has the flavor of some of the best known artists in the field.

 

Pay Me No Mind includes  eleven tracks:

 

1.  Who Your Real Friends Are

2.  Voodoo Woman

3.  The World’s Been Good to You

4.  Right Thang Wrong Woman

5.  Penny Waiting on Change

6.  Blues Concerto

7.  Time for Change

8.  Pay Me No Mind

9.  Jealous

10. Shake Rag

11. Boom Boom

 

Other than John Lee Hooker’s Shake Rag, their father, Renaud, who joins in with his harmonica on four of the tracks, writes all the songs.  Producer Miles Wilkerson adds rhythm guitar to four of the numbers as well. 

 

Ranging from upbeat songs like “Jealous” and “Blues Concerto” to traditional down home country blues like “Penny Waiting on Change” The Homemade Jamz’ Blues Band have cooked up some sweet Mississippi hill country sounds.  Pay Me No Mind is solid blues’ gold.  

 

The Homemade Jamz' Blues Band will be appearing at the Strand Theater on June 19, 2008.  For information:  www.rocklandstrand.com

 

For more information about The Homemade Jamz’ Blues Band, please visit their website, www.homemadejamzband.com .

-- Shannon Riley

 

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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Delta State’s ‘Delta Photo Road Shows’ goes on tour

Delta State's 'Delta Photo Road Show' goes on tour

 

CLEVELAND ─The Delta State University Archives and Museum in association with the Delta Center for Culture and Learning will be hosting their last "Delta Photo Road Show" tour in two Delta locations in June.

 

The first stop is scheduled to be held in Greenwood on Saturday, June 14 from 10 a.m. � 4 p.m. in the Three Deuces Building (Veronica's Bakery and Blue Parrot Café) located at 222 Howard Street

 

The second stop will be held in Indianola on Saturday, June 21 from 10 a.m. � 4 p.m. at the Sunflower County Public Library located at 201 Cypress Drive

 

You are invited to bring historic photographs of family, friends, places, events etcetera and share the stories or any information you may have about the images.  Photo documentarians, archivists, local historians and oral historians will be on hand to review your photographs with you and offer any preservation advice on how to best care for your images. 

 

Your images will be digitally scanned while you wait and your original images will be returned to you. 

 

The Delta Photo Road Show is made possible through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

 

Both events are free and open to the public.  For more information, contact the DSU Archives at (662) 846-4670.

 

 

 

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Indianola, Leland, and Holly Ridge are Singing the Blues This Weekend

Friday, June 6, B.B. King is coming home for his 19th Annual Homecoming Festival in Indianola. More details and information can be found in some previous “Blues News Now” articles on this site.

Leland is having its 9th Annual Highway 61 Blues Festival on Saturday, June 7. The location is Railroad Park in downtown Leland. The festival this year is honoring David “Honeyboy” Edwards who will perform at 7:30pm. Artist Cristen Barnard won the poster contest commemorating the festival. Posters can be purchased at the festival or at the Highway 61 Blues Museum in its new location! Many Delta blues musicians will be performing as well as Homemade Jamz Blues Band, L.C. Ulmer, the Jakeleg Stompers, Lil’ Dave Thompson, Willie King & the Liberators to name a few. The festival hours: NOON until 11:30pm. There are two stages: Main Stage and Scratch-Ankle Stage www.highway61blues.com

The Leland Blues Project and the Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola are excited to announce that despite the closing of the Holly Ridge Country Store, Billy Johnson has made sure the Holly Ridge Jam tradition is going to continue this year! Cicero’s Restaurant is catering barbeque platters-ribs or pulled pork. Also, this year boiled shrimp has been added to the menu! Budweiser and Pepsi have come in as sponsors. It will be a JAMMIN’ good time of Delta musicians and some of the line-up from the HWY 61 Fest. Admission is free, 2pm-5pm, bring a lawn chair, no coolers. After this JAM, the “live music” continues in Indianola at the Historic Club Ebony which is located at 404 Hanna Street.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Rest In Peace Bo Diddley, 1928-2008


JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Bo Diddley, a founding father of rock 'n' roll whose distinctive "shave and a haircut, two bits" rhythm and innovative guitar effects inspired legions of other musicians, died Monday after months of ill health. He was 79.

Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Fla., spokeswoman Susan Clary said. He had suffered a heart attack in August, three months after suffering a stroke while touring in Iowa. Doctors said the stroke affected his ability to speak, and he had returned to Florida to continue rehabilitation.

The legendary singer and performer, known for his homemade square guitar, dark glasses and black hat, was an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, had a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, and received a lifetime achievement award in 1999 at the Grammy Awards. In recent years he also played for the elder President Bush and President Clinton.



November 2, 2007 Bo Diddley was honored with a Mississippi Blues Trail Marker, in McComb Mississippi.



Sunday, June 1, 2008

B.B. King 19th Homecoming Festival is Friday, June 6

B.B. King returns home to Indianola to perform at Fletcher Park.  The gates will open at 4pm.  The music will begin at 5pm.  Admission is $10 in advance and $15 at the gate.  The line-up includes Petticoat Junkies – Hattiesburg, Mickey Rogers and the Soul Master Band – Greenville, and Homemade Jamz Blues Band – Tupelo

Come enjoy the music and the fireworks.  Bring a lawn chair.  No coolers.  For more information:  www.indianolams.org  or call:  662-887-4454

 

 

 

Petticoat Junkies Will Open Indianola's BBKing Homecoming

Petticoat Junkies is the collaborative effort of four incredibly diverse musicians from Hattiesburg, MS that formed in January of 2008.  Primary songwriter and vocalist, Brian Nobles, provides an edgy styling, while Cody Ruth, Davis Townsend, and Stephen Scott add a wide range of musical influences to create the sound that the Junkies have become known for.  The Petticoat Junkies will be recording a full scale independent album project with twang legend Will Ray of the Hellecasters at Sunset Studios in Asheville, NC this summer.  You can hear them at the B.B. King Homecoming Festival starting at 5 p.m.

 

 

Mickey Rogers and the Soul Master Band

Mickey Rogers and the Soul Master Band will be performing at the B.B. King Homecoming Festival.  Mickey Rogers is one of Mississippi’s “real deal” blues musicians.  He was born in Panther Burn in 1944.  His family moved to Chicago when Mickey was young; however, he spent his summers returning to the delta.  As a teenager Mickey began playing in bars in Chicago.  He has performed with Howlin’ Wolf, Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Temptations, the Chi-Lites, Tyrone Davis, and Bobby Rush.

 

Mickey and his band won the 4th MS Delta Regional Blues Challenge at Club Ebony in November of 2007.  In January 2008 Mickey Rogers and the Soul Master Band represented the Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola at the 24th International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN.

   

Mickey Rogers and the Soul Master Band will perform again at the Historic Club Ebony later that night opening for B.B. King.

For more info:  662-887-5436

Homemade Jamz Blues Band

 

Homemade Jamz Blues Band is performing at Fletcher Park this Friday, June 6 at the 19th Annual B.B. King Homecoming Festival.  The band consists of the Perry siblings Ryan (16) vocals and guitar, Kyle (13) bass, and sister Taya (9) drums.  This family is from Tupelo, MS and they are the youngest blues band to sign with a major record label, NorthernBlues Music.  Homemade Jamz won the 3rd MS Delta Regional Blues Challenge in Indianola two years ago when they were even younger!  They represented the Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola at the 23rd International Blues Challenge in a field of 157 blues bands from all over the world.  Homemade Jamz Blues Band won 2nd Place in the Band Competition.  Those present will never forget the standing ovation they received during the finals. 

 

The band has since appeared on national TV, been featured in numerous blues publications, performed on the Legendary Blues Cruise and is booked on a second cruise, plus they are very much in demand on the festival circuit.  The band is scheduled to tour parts of Europe this year.  Not only are these young musicians very talented, they possess a stage presence that captivates their audience.   

 

Homemade Jamz first CD is named Pay Me No Mind.  It has been described as “they blend Chicago and Mississippi juke joint blues, copping the gritty slickness of the former and the dirty soul of the latter…..never betraying its authors’ age.  The trio exudes nothing but confidence and attitude as they sing of betrayal, love, hard times and other bad things gone down as if they’ve lived a life rich in strife.  They are, to be sure, a veritable blues explosion poised to make a big sound.”

 

Homemade Jamz Blues Band will, also, be performing at the Highway 61 Blues Festival in Leland on Saturday, June 7.

More festival info:  www.highway61blues.com