So, this past Saturday and Sunday was the Center For Southern Folklore's Memphis Blues and heritage Festival here in Memphis, TN.
On Sunday, to celebrate our 1st Anniversary, Nancy and I headed downtown around 2pm. Main Street is always closed off to traffic and is the main run for the Trolley that services downtown Memphis.
There were booths with local artists and a stage that gave cooking demonstrations of different foods all day. There were also four stages for music. Two were indoors and two outdoors. The main stage is where we did spend most of the day. Though we did take some time to sit at THE MAJESTIC GRILL, which was right across for the main music stage. They had a sale on their Mojitos and at $4 each, we indulged in a few. Beers from the vendors on the street were only $3 each ($4 for Heineken), so we also had a few of those during the day.
I posted many more of these on Facebook, but wanted to share some sights of the day.
On Sunday, to celebrate our 1st Anniversary, Nancy and I headed downtown around 2pm. Main Street is always closed off to traffic and is the main run for the Trolley that services downtown Memphis.
There were booths with local artists and a stage that gave cooking demonstrations of different foods all day. There were also four stages for music. Two were indoors and two outdoors. The main stage is where we did spend most of the day. Though we did take some time to sit at THE MAJESTIC GRILL, which was right across for the main music stage. They had a sale on their Mojitos and at $4 each, we indulged in a few. Beers from the vendors on the street were only $3 each ($4 for Heineken), so we also had a few of those during the day.
I posted many more of these on Facebook, but wanted to share some sights of the day.
L- Trolley running down Main
R- Some street musicians entertain
R- Some street musicians entertain
The Agitators play inside
They put on a nice set of rock/blues
The Jazz Collective
Some great music from this group
The Daddy Mack Blues Band
William Faulkner - Harold Bonner - James Bonner
John Paul Keith & The 145s
John Argroves - Mark E. Stuart - John Paul Keith
Playing as a trio on this day.
Real good rock-country sounds
Sonny Burgess & The Legendary Pacers
Fred Douglas - Bobby Crawford & Kern K. Kennedy - Jim Aldridge
Sonny Burgess and the Legendary Pacers were one of the original artists at Sun Records. 50 years of playing rock and Rockabilly...they can play like they are still teens.
From their bio: The band was formed in 1955 at Newport, Arkansas. They had five singles on SUN Records: "Red Headed Woman" b/ "We Wanna Boogie", "Thunderbird", "Ain't Got a Thing", "Buckets Got a Hole In It", and "Sadies Back In Town". They also had a hit in 1965 on Razorback Records with "The Short Squashed Texan". "Red Headed Woman and We Wanna Boogie" has been voted the wildest record ever recorded. Sonny and the Pacers played clubs, festivals, shows, and colleges all over the US and Canada. They were one of the pioneers of rock and roll and traveled with Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Danny and the Juniors, Conway Twitty, Patsy Cline, Ronnie Hawkins, Billy Lee Riley, Ace Cannon, Charlie Rich, Teddy Riedell, Narvel Felts, and many more.
From their bio: The band was formed in 1955 at Newport, Arkansas. They had five singles on SUN Records: "Red Headed Woman" b/ "We Wanna Boogie", "Thunderbird", "Ain't Got a Thing", "Buckets Got a Hole In It", and "Sadies Back In Town". They also had a hit in 1965 on Razorback Records with "The Short Squashed Texan". "Red Headed Woman and We Wanna Boogie" has been voted the wildest record ever recorded. Sonny and the Pacers played clubs, festivals, shows, and colleges all over the US and Canada. They were one of the pioneers of rock and roll and traveled with Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Danny and the Juniors, Conway Twitty, Patsy Cline, Ronnie Hawkins, Billy Lee Riley, Ace Cannon, Charlie Rich, Teddy Riedell, Narvel Felts, and many more.
The Brown Sisters
This Gospel Music act had the crowd up dancing and singing.
They even took time to let all the kids in the audience take a turn
and some of the kids had incredible voices.
A uplifting fun set
While Sonny was playing I looked over to my left and saw a familiar face
It was Ms. Reba Russell checking out the tunes.
I walked over and introduced myself, as we had never met in person.
As she said "I know all these guys, they are my friends".
This is the Reba Russell Band:
Doug Minn - what a drummer this guy is!
Robert Nighthawk Tooms - Keyboards and Harp
Josh Roberts - Guitar Player Extraordinaire
Wayne Russell - Plays an incredible Bass (also married to Ms. Reba)
I believe these shots show the power and intensity of Reba during a performance.
Her vocal abilities are even more dynamic in person.
I liked this shot of Wayne and Reba
Now that is a smile to make my heart go pitter-patter
Hope you enjoyed...We had a wonderful time!
