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Students across 7 COUNTIES & 5 LOCATIONS tell their own story every year at Bevill State Community College.

2 Enjoy Foothills FEstival! September 15th–16th

north Mississippi allstars

Muddy Magnolia’s

John Paul White | Shotgun | Bonnie BiShoP | WildfloWerS FOOD, VENDORS, KIDS ACTIVITIES’

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c Mayor DaviD o’Mary n i

District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 District 5 Sonny PoSey Danny Gambrell Gary Cowen Jennifer w. Smith willie moore (205) 221-2100 | 400 19th St. w, Jasper, al 35501 | www.jaspercity.com

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Jonathan Holladay 1811 Hwy 78 E, Suite 106, Jasper, AL 35501 (205) 221-3216

3 The Daily mountain eagle

www.mountaineagle.com 205.221.2840 Features - SEPTEMBER 2017 - Rebirth Of An Artist White enjoying new phase of life 08 Publisher James Phillips Soul Singer Foothills veteran Bonnie Bishop 12 Art Director headlines Friday night Malarie Brakefield

Contributors Musical Melting Pot Jennifer Cohron Muddy Magnolias blends genres 16 Ed Howell to build unique sound Nicole Smith

Cool Guys Advertising Three-peat Smashley returns 20 Jake Aaron to Foothills Brenda Anthony Zach Baker Renee Holly Liz Steffan Tammy Wood

2016 FOOTHILLS FESTIVAL featuring tonic

4 Readers’ Choice Awards 2017

2403 Hwy. 78 E., Jasper, AL 35501 www.highpoint-furniture.com 205.384.5990 5 Foothills Festival Map + Vendors

7-8. Los Reyes 88. Cagle Sales 135. Mark Johnston for Governor 38-40. Buck&Buddy’s BBQ 89. Urgent Care Northwest 136. Bellissimo Lips 41-43. Venice Gelato 90. Adorned Soul 137. Bevill State Community College 44-46. Little Red Lunchbox 91. Aaron’s 138. Alabama Sweet Tea Co. 48-49. Quality Collectibles 100. String Art by Tiffany 139. AARP 50-51. Marlee Jane’s 101. Patsy’s Woodart 140. SRS Promotions 52-53. Lipsense by Sene Gence 102. Paparazzi/White Lace Boutique 141. S&S Painting 61-62. CBS 42 NEWS 103-104. Wreaths by Christee 142. Wags & Whiskers 63. Kelly Gamble 106. Girls Scouts of America 143. Southern Frocks 64. American Legion Post #9 107. America’s Thrift Store 144. Thirty-One 65. Mary Kay Cosmetics 108. Ella’s Boutique 145. Boy Scouts of America 66. Pleasantfield Vol. Fire Dept. 109. Leon O’Rear 146. Alacare Home Health & Hospice 67-74. Honda/Hyundai of Jasper 110-111. Walker Co. Ctr 147. Champion Windows 75-84. Carl Cannon of Technology 148. Bama Carry 86. Hope for Women 133. Nick Smith for Sheriff 149-150. Twisted Barley Brewing Co. 87. Advocare-Team Beyond 24 134. Guild Mortgage Co. 151. Liplicious by Britt

6 152. Shop Stevie 165. Tri-County Agency for I.D. 187-188. Johnny Brusco’s 153. Becky Sims Sugar Plums 166. Grip-N-Rip Disc Golf 189-190. Black Rock 154. City of Refuge 167. Joel Hagood 191. Downs & Assoc. AHMEN 155. Enroll Alabama 168. Leaf Filter North, LLC 192. ALFA Insurance 156. Sweetwater Outreach, Inc. 169. Metal Central 193-194. Rhonda Jamison 157. Ridgeview & Ridgewood 170. Custom Shirts & Signs 213. Fashion for Less 158. Nothing Bundt Cakes 171. LTD Therapeutic Jewelry & Gifts 214. Angie’s This & That 159. Walker Co. Dept. 172-173. The Outdoor Edge 215-216. Warehouse 319 of Human Resources 174. SWAT Team Reptiles 217. Bernard’s 160. The Southern Chandilier 181. Swann’s Woodworking 218. Designs on You 161. Camp McDowell & Turnings 219. D&S Custom Designs 162. American Red Cross 182. Dixie Delights 220. Tennessee Novelty 163. Karon Herron 183. Designed by Grace 221-222. Tri-Green Equipment Tupperware Consultant 184. “Letters to Tim” Louis Elliott 164. Country Financial - 185. Capstone Rural Health Center Holderfield Agency 186. Teresa Barton

7 Rebirth

Text By ED HOWELL

8 of anArtist Florence resident John Paul White, who intersect to become himself. holds the 4:30 p.m. Saturday slot at Foot- His Alabama heritage is a large part of hills Festival, is enjoying a rebirth, not only all he does. Growing up in the Shoals and artistically but in living at an easier pace — playing in bars, he said mentors from the and with time to give to other artists. area always supported him and others like White, 45, who was half of the Gram- him. my Award-winning duo with Joy Williams, “We’re just standing on the shoulders The Civil Wars, from 2008 to 2014, is of those guys,” he said. celebrated as a singer and songwriter who Despite the success of The Civil Wars, went solo again in 2016 with “Beulah.” he felt it was time to move on. “To be The Muscle Shoals native seems inspired by honest, I was watching my kids grow up in blues and country roots — although it runs pictures,” he said. After a decade of being more diverse than that. away on the road, he wanted and needed to “I definitely grew up with my dad’s be home more with his wife and children. country records, for sure. My mom listened Festivals can be a roll of the dice, he to more show tunes and crooners,” he said. said, as one can’t control the other acts “But living in the Shoals, I was constantly before or after. However, after years of surrounded by R&B and soul music, and being told where to go, he is also now more also Southern rock. All those things are real- hands-on with deciding where he will be ly the foundation of what I do.” He said he and for how long. strives to figure where all those experiences “I’m still walking that high wire of

9 figuring out how much is enough, how sure I knew the answer to that until now.” much is too much,” he said. “But now He mentors other artists through I’m in a different place in my life where an indie label he helped set up and runs my priorities are different. What actually from the Shoals, Single Lock Records. makes me happy is a different thing than “We put out St. Paul & the Broken it used to be.” Bones’ record, Dylan LeBlanc, Penny & He said he had a good booking agent Sparrow, Donnie Fritts. So I’ve been able who can find festivals that are better to wear a different hat and see the artistry suited to singers/songwriters. That led to through someone else’s eyes,” he said. the Foothills Festival. He enjoys giving the advice, but “Not only did he vouch for it, but he said he’s also learning from younger so did (Jasper native) Maggie Mitchell, artists and watching them find out how to my tour manager, who is from down that do things and not do things. way. They had nothing but good things “It is reminding me that those same to say,” White said. “I take them at their rules still apply,” he said. word.” White also will be performing at the As for what he enjoys artistically in Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Sept. this new solo career, White says he has 23. To play there was always his dream a different viewpoint at this stage in life, when he was young. noting his first writing deal was in 1998. “My dad talked about it in reveren- “I’ve made a living doing it for so tial tones, about listening to WSM and long that I think I lost touch with exactly listening to the Opry when he was a little why I do it and why I dreamt of doing kid,” he said. “It is still special whenever I it,” he said. At one point he thought come in the room.” Moreover, acoustical- he wouldn’t make music again, having ly the Ryman is “one of the best sound- achieved many goals without any regrets. ing rooms in the world. I’ve been lucky Then he got creative again. enough to play a lot of them, and I’d put “When these songs started popping it up there with any of them.” up in my head, I realized it happened as He is writing new songs for a record organically as possible — it just had to project where he looks up many of his be,” he said. “That was a great thing to musical heroes, like Bill Anderson, Whit- realize that, OK, maybe I am put on this ey Shafer and Waylon Holyfield. “So far earth to create. Maybe I am an artist. they are answering the phone and letting I had many moments thinking, ‘Do you do a greenhorn like me sit down in the room this just because you can, because you’re with them and write a song. It’s been a talented or because you love it?’ I wasn’t whole lot of fun,” he said. • 10 Now Offering Diabetic Shoes

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11 SoulSinger

Bonnie Bishop is coming back — back album in four years, was released in May to Jasper and back to music after taking a 2016. break from performing for over a year. It was produced by Dave Cobb, whose “It happens to everybody. The road gets previous credits include award-winning long, and it’s harder than you think it’s go- albums by Jason Isbell and Chris Stapleton. ing to be. It forces you to ask the question Bishop describes “Ain’t Who I Was” as ‘Do I really want to do this?’ and I think I “nothing like the records I did before.” needed to take a little step away to discover Cobb, who was not familiar with Bish- some other things about myself that I had op’s previous albums, encouraged her to neglected,” said Bishop, who will be making embrace her identity as a soul singer. her third appearance at Foothills Festival on “It’s a straight up soul record. From Friday. 2002 to 2012, I was really trying to find my Bishop, a singer-songwriter whose mu- place in country music. I made an inde- sic has been recorded by Bonnie Raitt and pendent record in 2012 that I really loved. been performed on ABC’s “Nashville,” and It was just seven songs, but that was the her band The Modern Prophets rocked the beginning of me saying, ‘I’m not trying to 2014 Foothills Festival. make it sound like anything else,’” Bishop She was invited back in 2015 and said. wowed fans with an acoustic set at Ware- After spending over a decade seeking house 319 during a three-hour rain delay. commercial success in Nashville, Bishop “Ain’t Who I Was,” Bishop’s first new now feels permission to be her own artist.

Text By JENNIFER COHRON

12 13 Bishop performing at the 2014 Foothills Festival. (Photo by Ron Harris)

“Cobb gave me my own lane to run hero touches you with her magic wand in. That has opened a lot of doors. My and says, ‘You’re good,’” Bishop said. writing has changed. My singing and While Bishop is looking forward to playing have changed. My perspective has entertaining the crowd in Jasper on Friday, changed. Even though I’m 16 years into her heart will also be with those suffering my career, I feel like I’m at the very begin- in her native state of Texas. ning of my real career,” she said. Bishop, who was born and raised in Bishop discovered that she had a gift Houston, said she feels helpless in the for singing at age 6. She began writing her wake of Hurricane Harvey. own songs in college. However, she has been amazed by In 2012, Bonnie Raitt recorded the support that has come to Texas from all Bishop’s “Not Cause I Wanted To” for her over the country. album “Slipstream,” which won a Grammy “Music isn’t manual labor, though I for Best Americana Album. hope to get the opportunity to go down At an album release party held at and do some of that because I have friends Ryman Auditorium, Raitt told the crowd who lost a lot. But I’m just doing my small how much respect she had for Bishop as a part as an artist to raise money. It’s going to person and an artist. be a long-term plan. Moving forward, I’m “She dedicated her performance of considering how we can help on a long- that song to me in the Ryman in front of term basis. We may be creating a T-shirt or everybody in Nashville’s music industry something like that that we sell for the next that had rejected me for such a long time. year and a half with proceeds going to It was a very validating moment. We don’t disaster relief. I’m still thinking on how to do things to be validated, but when you respond in an authentic way,” Bishop said. pursue a dream and scratch and climb and Bishop is the headliner for Friday are doing things against the grain for such night. Her performance will begin at 9 a long time, it feels really good when your p.m. • 14 “Our Family Caring For Yours” Q uuinn’sinn’s L AANDINGNDING IInc.nc. RRESTAURANTESTAURANT ANDAND MARINAMARINA 1000 Highway 33 • Double Springs, Alabama H H HENDRIX HEALTH R & REHABILITATION 686-5522 6 68866--55552222 489-2136 Warrior River off Franklin Ferry Rd. For information contact our new Admissions Coordinator, Daniel Fagan SSteaks Stteeaakkss Open for Lunch hendrixhealthandrehab.com SSeafoodeafood Thurs. thru Sun. • Skilled Nursing Care Seafood Break fast on • Speech Therapy CCatfish Caattffiisshh Weekends • Physical Therapy aand anndd SundaySSuunnddaayy SteamSStteeaamm TableTTaabbllee • Occupation Therapy

15 16 Musical Me l t i n g Pot

Jessy Wilson, one-half of the musical duo Muddy Magno- lias, believes music should be full of hope and uplift the souls of the listeners. “That’s what music does. It brings us together,” Wilson said in a recent interview with the Daily Mountain Eagle. Muddy Magnolias will play the Foothills Festival in downtown Jasper on Saturday, scheduled to take the stage at 6 p.m. Music brought Wilson, a Brooklyn native, and her Muddy Magnolias cohort, Kallie North, a resident of the Mississippi Delta, together in Nashville nearly three years ago. “We were introduced through a mutual friend. We were both new transplants to Nashville, and we just hit it off,” Wil- son said. Only a few weeks after deciding to be a duo, the ladies were already playing festivals and moved quickly to record their first album, “Broken People.” The album is filled with lyrics pointing toward love as the answer to the world’s biggest problems. “Our music is really a melting pot,” Wilson said. “It is a display of what happens when two American women come together and make music created from all blends. I wish people could blend as easily as music.” Muddy Magnolias has been described as rock, soul or even country. Wilson said there a so many more ways to describe the duo, including gospel and R&B. She said all their songs find their roots in the blues. “While we were writing this album, I put a lot of thought into the people who would be coming to the shows,” Wilson said. “I think about the audience a lot – in a healthy way. I imagine what may be going on in their lives and how our songs may help them wherever they are in their journey.”

Text By JAMES PHILLIPS

17 The name Muddy Magnolias per- Potter, Zac Brown Band and Kid Rock. fectly describes the duo’s sound, which They have also played festivals includ- has been described as “melding city ing the Hangout Fest, Lollapalooza, grit and delta dirt.” While searching Austin City Limits and the Double for a name, Wilson said “The Magno- Decker Festival. Wilson said the crowd lias” was a suggestion, but she didn’t for the Foothills Festival can expect a immediately take to high energy show from that name. Muddy Magnolias. “I wasn’t a “We will have magnolia. It didn’t a full band and lots resonate with me. I of energy,” she said. am from Brooklyn and “Our set changes a lot, proud of that fact,” but most people who she said. “Kallie and see us play describe her husband went it as a spiritual and up- with my boyfriend lifting experience. and I to a record store “We are typically in Nashville to try to ‘discovered’ more come up with more than we are ‘known’ ideas for the name. at shows like this,” Her husband held up a record by Mud- Wilson added. “We have so many peo- dy Waters. It took a couple of days, ple who come up to us after a show. but Muddy Magnolias seemed to fit.” They become our friends and they let During their time performing us know they are going to support us together, the duo have played with as we travel on this journey. It is really artists including Gary Clark Jr., Grace a cool thing.” •

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Foothills Festival Schedule of Events

FRIDAY, SEPT. 15 SATURDAY, SEPT. 16 6:00-7:00 pm The Wildflowers MAIN STAGE 7:30-8:30 pm Shotgun 12:00-1:00 pm DeJa Blue 9:00-10:30 pm Bonnie Bishop 1:30-2:00 pm Local Winner SATURDAY, SEPT. 16 2:30-3:00 pm Local Winner RESTORATION HALL 3:30-4:00 pm Local Winner 10:00-10:45 am Marilyn Sanders 11:00-11:30 am Dream Fit 4:30-5:30 pm John Paul White 11:30-12:30 pm Athletic Arts 6:00-7:00 pm Muddy Magnolias 1:30-2:30 pm Griff Waid 7:30-8:30 pm North Mississippi Allstars 2:30-3:30 pm Christian Gann 3:30-4:30 pm Phil Austin 9:00-10:30 pm Spin Doctors

19 COOL GUYS Text By NICOLE SMITH

20 Rock ‘n’ roll band Smashley will take the stage at the Foothills Festival for the third time in downtown Jasper this Saturday. The five member band from Walker County includes Jon- athan Timmons on vocals, John Schneible on drums, Jonathan Guthrie, Chase Trotter on guitar and James McCauley on bass. Smashley is one of this year’s winners of the Path to the Foothills contest, and they were also winners in 2015 and 2016. Smashley vocalist Jonathan Timmons said the band began with him, Trotter and Schneible, with Guthrie and McCauley later joining.

21 Members of local band Smashley sit on a rooftop in downtown Jasper. (Photo by Jessica Smallwood)

The band regularly performs at bars It’s not screaming. A couple of the songs in and around Jasper, and at area restau- are about leaving home, and a couple of rants, such as Warehouse 319. songs are about coming back home. ... “We’ve been playing in some ca- We’re pretty cool guys.” pacity together for at least seven years,” On the band’s Facebook page, they Timmons said. “As of three years ago, we list the Foo Fighters, Sublime, Red Hot started writing our own music, and it’s Chili Peppers and Metallica as their mu- specifically for Path to the Foothills. We sical influences, and recently thanked ev- took it as that opportunity to really drive eryone for their support in voting to secure us [to do it].” their spot to play at the Foothills Festival. Timmons said the band hopes to “What a huge honor it is to be able release an EP in the future and soon start to share the main stage this year along- recording in a home studio. He said he’s side great bands like John Paul White, excited to perform their own music, as Muddy Magnolias and Spin Doctors! And opposed to only performing covers. especially our local friends, Michael Rudy “It’s a lot more rewarding to play the Glasgow and Waiting for Portland!” music you wrote,” Timmons said. “We’re Smashley will take the stage from likable, and so is our music. It’s listenable. 3:30 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, and will have It’s Rock ‘n’ roll, but it’s not heavy rock. t-shirts for sale at the Foothills Festival. •

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