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Delta Blues
Press Release
May 27, 2011
Delta Blues Museum
Band CD Release Party
Ground Zero Blues Club,
Clarksdale, Mississippi
Thursday, June 2, 2011
from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Download pdf of Press Release
CLARKSDALE, MS (May 27, 2011) - The Delta Blues
Museum will host a CD release party on Thursday, June 2nd
in Clarksdale, MS, at Ground Zero Blues Club from 6 - 8
p.m. to celebrate the release of "From Clarksdale to Kansas
City, Vol. 1," the first CD featuring the museum's own student
band. The event is free and open to the public.
The Delta Blues Museum Band will perform, and the student
CD will be available for purchase. The twelve-track CD sells
for $10. After the party, Ground Zero Blues Club will host
an open mic night, with a $3 cover charge beginning at 7:30
p.m.
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CD artwork, designed
by museum students (cover) |
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CD artwork (inside) |
All proceeds from CD sales will directly benefit
the museum's long-running music program. The Delta Blues
Museum Band is part of the museum's arts and education program
and teaches students to play music in the traditional way
music has been passed along from musician to musician, from
one generation to the next. For the CD project,
notable talents like Charlie Musselwhite and Mississippi
Artist Roster musician Bill Abel became 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
project allowed 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).
Well-known blues musicians and mentors for the
band appear on the CD, including Musselwhite, Abel, Bill
"Howlin' Madd" Perry and Daddy Rich. The recording,
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 Abel. Musselwhite taught harmonica
to the no-age-limit class and offered a lesson not only
on technique but also on the skill of listening. Both Howlin'
Madd and Daddy Rich are full-time instructors. "Teaching
at the Blues museum has been as rewarding for me as it has
been for the students," offers Daddy Rich, adding, "The
release of the student band CD is another great step for
perpetuating blues music into the future. I hope to see
more CD releases from the students of the program for years
to come." The CD was recorded at Vincent Productions
in Clarksdale.
The Delta Blues Museum is dedicated to creating a
welcoming place where visitors find meaning, value, and perspective
by exploring evolution of the unique American musical art
form of the blues. 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. Established in 1979 by
the Carnegie Public Library Board of Trustees and re-organized
as a stand-alone museum in 1999, the Delta Blues Museum is
the state's oldest music museum. 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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