Four days of bliss on the banks of the Mississippi in historic Helena, Arkansas, will see more than 100 performers ranging from legacy icons to tomorrow’s stars on six stages, taking fans from around the world on a journey that brings the legacy of America’s music to life.
Author: Don Wilcock
Don Wilcock
Now into his second half century as the warrior music journalist, Don Wilcock began his career writing “Sounds from The World” in Vietnam, a weekly reader’s digest of pop music news for grunts in the field for the then largest official Army newspaper in the world, The Army Reporter. He’s edited BluesWax, FolkWax, The King Biscuit Times, Elmore Magazine, and also BluesPrint as founder of the Northeast Blues Society. Internationally, he’s written for The Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Awards program, Blues Matters and Blues World. He wrote the definitive Buddy Guy biography 'Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues,' and is currently writing copy for a coffee table book of watercolor paintings of blues artists by Clint Herring.
‘Call Me Lucky’ is real music, and it’s the best CD Dale has put out in more than 24 years of recording 27 albums. What it shares with the best in blues is honesty, simplicity and truth.
Reading Bruce’s memoir ‘Bitten By the Blues’ (University of Chicago Press) co-written by Patrick Roberts for me is like finding a brother’s secret diary under the bed.
“I think the band is playing better than it ever has, and I feel like a lot of the songs we played on this last record are the best tunes we made and the most honest.”
“Everybody in the business or a musician worth a damn knows who Steve Cropper is and knows his history.”
“The most important thing I learned from my dad was – he told me, ‘I don’t care how much money you make or how important you become, always treat everybody with the same respect.’”
“Not to say I wouldn’t have been pissed off if Zeppelin made a disco record in 1975. I would have been furious, but they didn’t. They always pushed the envelope.”
“I grew up hearing this gospel music. I know how to sing like this. This is second nature to me. It’s a different way of singing.”
“I still do that. I do that right today. I play with anybody I want to. Get a CD, stick it on that thing, and fire it up. I love playing drums, man.”
Valerie June hears voices. Sometimes it’s a young female voice singing. Other times it’s a child’s voice….