Delta State University\u2019s 5th Annual International Conference on the Blues will celebrate the region\u2019s connections to the art form by honoring blues legends and investigating gospel music\u2019s links to it. The event takes place Sept. 29-Oct. 2 on the campus of Delta State.
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\u201cOur theme this year is \u2018Spirit of the Blues,\u2019\u201d said Don Allan Mitchell, conference co-chair and chair of the languages and literature department at Delta State. \u201cWe examine how spirituals and gospel inform the blues and the African-American music tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n
The blues legend to be commemorated is Muddy Waters. Born McKinley Morganfield in Rolling Fork, Mississippi in 1915, he was sent at age three to live with his grandmother on the Stovall Plantation, north of Clarksdale, after his mother died. His hits included \u201c(I\u2019m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man,\u201d \u201cGot My Mojo Workin\u2019,\u201d and \u201cMannish Boy.\u201d Delta State will pay tribute to the 1987 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee with a free concert, \u201cThe Morganfield Family Reunion,\u201d at the Court Street courthouse at 7 PM on Oct. 1. There also will be a scholarly presentation about him during the conference.<\/p>\n
The rising star on the bill is Trombone Shorty. Born Troy Andrews in 1986 into a well-known New Orleans musical family, he began playing professionally as a little boy. The child mastered several instruments\u2014including trumpet, drums, and trombone, before settling on the one he\u2019s nicknamed for, which was twice as long as he was high. His albums include Parking Lot Symphony (2017) and Say That to This (2013). He and his band, Orleans Avenue, will close the conference with a concert at 7:30 PM on Tuesday, Oct. 2 at the Bologna Performing Arts Center.<\/p>\n
In addition, Grammy Award-winning scholar Elijah Wald will give a talk, \u201cThe Uncensored History of Jelly Roll Morton\u2019s Blues.\u201d And Charles Reagan Wilson, professor emeritus of history and former director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at University of Mississippi, will deliver the keynote address, \u201cThe Spiritual Crossroads of the Mississippi Delta: Regional, Global and Religious.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot study the blues without an understanding of the African-American culture that produced it,\u201d said Mitchell. \u201cThat\u2019s why we continue to approach the blues as a path to scholarly discourse. As Mississippi is the cradle for much of American music, the state\u2019s past is vital to African-American history and culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other conference highlights:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Gospel Roots Family Day on Sept. 29 celebrates Gospel Music Heritage Month and includes appearances and workshops from blues musicians Bruce \u201cSunpie\u201d Barnes, J. J. Thames, and Keith Johnson; art activities hosted by Delta Arts Alliance; and music production opportunities at Delta State\u2019s DMI (Delta Music Institute) Mobile Music Lab.
\n\u2022 A presentation on the American Folk Blues Festival, which brought Mississippi blues to world stages in the 1960s, by noted performer and musicologist, Herbert Quelle, also the German consul in Chicago.
\n\u2022 A master class and presentation from Sunpie Barnes, former Sting sideman and New Orleans Jazz National Park director.
\n\u2022 A \u201cSpirit and the Blues\u201d gospel showcase by the Coahoma Community College Concert Choir, under the direction of Dr. Kelvin Towers.
\n\u2022 \u201cBlues in the Round,\u201d a jam session for registrants and presenters, hosted by DMI Director Tricia Walker, and taking place at Mississippi Grounds coffee shop and restaurant.<\/p>\n