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Delta Blues
Press Release
April 14, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CLARKSDALE, MS (April
14, 2011) - The museum will host performances by
the student band beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 15
during the Care Station Fundraiser and again on Saturday,
April 16 at 3 p.m. during the Juke Joint Festival. The Delta
Blues Museum Band CD will be available for purchase at student
band performances throughout the Festival weekend and will
also be sold through the museum's gift shop and website.
Notable talents like Musselwhite and Abel become
guest instructors at the museum, teaching young musicians
the rudiments and foundations of blues music and passing
on the traditions of this important art form for generations
to come.
The CD project allowed museum instructors the chance to
educate students on the history of other blues musicians,
such as Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, and to demonstrate
the importance of copyright and licensing-instructors also
incorporated Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Studio and
its evolution into Sun Records (thanks to the recording
of "Rocket '88" by a group of musicians from Clarksdale).
The 12-track CD, made possible by a grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation,
showcases blues favorites as well as one original composition on one-string guitars,
hand-made by the students under the instruction of Mississippi Artist Roster musician Bill Abel.
Musselwhite, also a featured artist on the CD, taught harmonica to the no-age-limit class and
offered a lesson not only on technique but also on the skill of listening. The CD was recorded at
Vincent Productions in Clarksdale.
Download pdf of Press
Release
The City of Clarksdale, located at the intersection of Highways 61 and 49 ("the crossroads"), and the surrounding Delta
region are known as "the land where the blues began." Since its creation, the Delta Blues Museum has preserved, interpreted, and encouraged
a deep interest in the story of the blues.
The Delta Blues Museum Stage is adjacent to the museum classroom, which hosts a year-round music education program as well as lectures and
symposia. The Delta Blues Museum Stage serves as the main venue for local festivals such as the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival
in August and the Juke Joint Festival in April.
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