W.C. Handy Award-winning harp player Jeff Stone playing in front of CatHead in Clarksdale
By POOR WILLIAM
Clarksdale, Mississippi (VIDEO)
Ladies and genulmens, what do you get on a Thursday night when ya cross at the Crossroads a recently relocated Deep Blues Festival with a serendipitous encounter on the back porch at the Shack Up Inn late night, all made possible by Magical Madge’s curiosity about everybody who comes to our area?
Well, ya get a WC Handy award-winning harmonica (harp) player telling a story about how he kinda knows legendary musician, winner of a recent Grammy Award with Ben Harper, multiple Blues Music Award winner, friend of Clarksdale and all around nice guy, Charlie Musselwhite! True story!
Of all the spontaneous, iPhone-quality interviews we have done on the Delta Bohemian over the last four years, this short interview with Jeff Stone is one of my favorites! It articulates honor, thankfulness, and a number-two washtub full of goodness—just like the teller and the object!
Madge and I headed out to the Shack Up Inn last Thursday night after having heard Cedric Burnside play his first ever gig at the New Roxy Theater in the New World District of downtown Clarksdale. The Deep Blues Festival was held for the first time at the Shack Up Inn on October 16-19, 2014, having recently moved from its longtime home in Minnesota.
We were standing on the back porch drinking cold beer and chatting with some locals, friends, staff and Clark House Inn and Delta Bohemian Guest House guests from Sweden.
Madge, as she is apt to do, started up a conversation with a fella standing by us. “So, where are you from? What brings you to Clarksdale? Are you hear for the Deep Blues Festival?” The usual I-appreciate-the-fact-that-you-are-here questions Madge always asks when meeting or spying new folks in the Delta! She is a fine ambassador and I like really dig her!
Jeff answered the litany and mentioned that he was playing harmonica with Reverend (a real one) KM Williams and Trainwreck during the festival. Charlie Musselwhite’s name came up and the rest is history…
Please enjoy the video, which includes a couple snippets of KM Williams and Trainwreck with Jeff Stone on harp playing in front of Cat Head Blues & Folk Art, along with a tender, true story about Charlie, Jeff and their fathers, begun on Leroy Brown’s South Side of Chicago and culminating with a thumb’s up in LA! pw
VIDEO
CLICK HERE to listen to Charlie Musselwhite talk about the Mississippi Delta.
Yes, I know Charlie Musselwhite. A great friend and an excellent musician!