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Delta Sources and Resources Delta Sources and Resources King Biscuit Blues Festival in history, debuting in 1941 and still airing daily Helena, Arkansas on KFFA-AM 1360 in Helena. The show, by LaDawn Lee Fuhr which won a Peabody Award in 1992, began when the amazing bluesman Sonny Boy The Delta is rich with musical heritage. Williamson II needed a platform for live on-air One of the most beloved and revered music fes- performance. He and Robert Jr. Blackwood, the tivals, the King Biscuit Blues Festival in He- stepson of legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, lena, Arkansas, will be celebrating thirty-three were the featured performers and were told they years of good music when the 2018 event opens could perform if they had fiscal support. The to the public October 3–6, 2018. The King Bis- King Biscuit Flour Company agreed to sponsor- cuit Blues Festival is world renowned for cele- ship in exchange for product endorsement from brating and spotlighting the blues. Since its the artists and the rest is indeed musical history. inception in 1986, the festival has grown into The show still features live studio performances. a four-day fall extravaganza, held on the levee The longtime host of King Biscuit Time was of the Mississippi River, and attracting as many Sonny “Sunshine” Payne, who began hosting as one hundred thousand fans from all around the show in 1951. During his long tenure, he the world. Additionally, the King Biscuit Blues played host to many notable musicians, like Festival provides an economic boost to historic Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, Muddy Waters, Helena, a home to the blues and many musical and Jimmy Rogers to name a few. Sonny passed artists. away in February 2018 at the age of 92, leaving The King Biscuit Blues Festival is an hom- a broadcast legacy of over 18,000 radio shows, age to the King Biscuit Time Radio Show. King opening the show with the line “pass the bis- Biscuit Time is the longest running radio show cuits, ’cause it’s King Biscuit Time.” The music “Sunshine” Sonny Payne. Photo courtesy of King Biscuit Blues Festival. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Arkansas Review 49.2 (August 2018) 134 Photo courtesy of King Biscuit Blues Festival. was key in these broadcasts as King Biscuit The first artist to take the stage that year was Time was the first radio show to air live blues the late CeDell Davis who manipulated his gui- performances. The legendary B.B. King recalled tar is such a unique fashion New York Times listening to “The Biscuit” every day as he music critic, musician, and Arkansas native worked the fields. King Biscuit Time influenced Robert Palmer, who accompanied Davis on future blues greats who later played the festival. clarinet during that performance, said his guitar King Biscuit Time was a natural platform to sound was “a welter of metal-stress harmonic present Helena as the unmitigated blues capital transients and a singular tonal plasticity.” Davis, of the Mississippi Delta. Sitting less than one who had been stricken with polio as a child, hundred miles from Memphis, the 1930s and used a butter knife to play and create sounds 1940s saw Helena filled with juke joints and similar to a slide guitar. Other notables to have bluesmen. The musicians who played in the performed on the King Biscuit Blues Festival area during this time included Memphis Slim, stage through the years include Arkansan Sunnyland Slim, Roosevelt Sykes, and Robert Levon Helm, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, Albert Johnson. The music clubs were located in the King, Sonny Burgess and the Legendary Pacers, downtown area of Elm, Phillips, Walnut, and a Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule, Buddy Guy, section of Cherry Street. The sidewalks were Pinetop Perkins, and many more. also populated with performers and live blues And, even with the excitement of hearing music. the blues, no one had been talking about the The location for the King Biscuit Blues Fes- blues until 2011 when the festival added the tival is a perfect showcase for music legends to “Call and Response Blues Symposium.” Spear- return to their own roots and perform. The first headed by blues guru Roger Stolle, of Clarks- headliner for the inaugural festival in 1986 was dale, Mississippi and Don Wilcock of Scotia, Helena native and bluesman Lonnie Shields. New York, both notable blues writers and ___________________________________________________________________________________ Arkansas Review 49.2 (August 2018) 135 preservationists, the “Call and Response” Blues backed Stax artists such as Sam and Dave, Symposium occurs on the morning of the final Rufus Thomas, Otis Redding, and Carla day of the King Biscuit Blues Festival and in- Thomas. Cropper was also in the Blues Brothers cludes scholarly talks among likeminded indi- Band and played guitar on every Stax/Volt viduals and heritage music enthusiasts. The Record from the 1960s. A bonafide guitar leg- 2018 symposium will take place on Saturday, end, he was named second greatest guitarist of October 6th in the Malco Theatre on Cherry all time (second only to Jimi Hendrix) by Eng- Street in Helena. land’s Mojo magazine and number thirty-nine The 2018 King Biscuit Blues Festival line- on Rolling Stones’ list of top one hundred gui- up boasts many repeat performers who see the tarists of all time. As a songwriter, Cropper co- festival as a rite of passage. The festival occurs wrote many major hits including “Knock on across many stages with more being announced Wood,” “In the Midnight Hour,” and “(Sittin’ in the near future. Main Stage headliners in- on) The Dock of the Bay,” which went to num- clude festival regular and Traditional Blues ber one. Mason describes this collaboration Grammy winner Bobby Rush on Thursday with Cropper as a “rock and soul review.” night. Rush, along with Memphis music icon The 33rd Annual King Biscuit Blues Festi- Reba Russell, will lead a tribute to CeDell val will take place October 3–8, 2018 on the Davis. Southern Rock and Country band banks of the Mississippi River in historic He- Blackberry Smoke from Atlanta, Georgia will lena, Arkansas. Helena was just named one of headline on Friday night with Mississippi raised twelve best music cities outside of Nashville by singer-songwriter Paul Thorn, a festival stal- Fodor’s. For more information about the festi- wart, preceding them. Saturday will see many val, including a complete list of artists, events, excellent musical artists gracing the main stage ticket price, and lodging or the Call and Re- including Texas blues artist Carolyn Wonder- sponse Blues Symposium visit the website at land who has just added being the only female www.Kingbiscuitfestival.com, Facebook, or by guitarist to ever perform in any of John Mayall’s contacting Munnie Jordan, Executive Director blues bands to her list of accomplishments. at [email protected]. The King Wonderland, like Thorn and Rush, is also a re- Biscuit Music Festival office can be reached at turning favorite and will perform prior to Festi- 870-572-5223. Follow the King Biscuit Blues val Headliners Dave Mason and Steve Cropper. Festival on Twitter @kingbiscuitfest and Insta- King Biscuit Blues Festival Saturday night gram as KingBiscuitBluesFestival. sts headliners Dave Mason and Steve Cropper are both music legends. Mason is known for his hits “We Just Disagree,” and the often-covered mega-hit “ Feelin’ Alright,” along with his own cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watch- tower.” He has performed with artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Leon Russell, David Crosby, and many more. A 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee as founding member of the band Traffic, Mason also had a stint with Fleetwood Mac. Steve Cropper is a guitarist, songwriter, pro- ducer, and was a member of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. and The M.G.’s. They ___________________________________________________________________________________ Arkansas Review 49.2 (August 2018) 136.
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