FALL 2020 DIRECTOR’S COLUMN A year ago, when I wrote my first column as director, A particular word of gratitude I would have been puzzled by the picture on the cover of goes to Southern Studies faculty this Southern Register, wondering why the Lyric Theatre, an and students. The academic entertainment venue in downtown Oxford, was expressing program is the heart of the such interest in personal hygiene. I might have thought Center, and, without excep- Covid-19 a formula from high school chemistry that I tion, faculty members have spent the better parts of their missed, PPE a government agency to view skeptically, summers teaching themselves how to conduct classes this “pandemic” a word from a history book describing the fall under coronavirus guidelines. This adaptation has devastating flu outbreak when my grandmother was born. required learning new technologies, going to workshops, This time a year ago, I had never heard the name George and rethinking the delivery of curriculum top to bottom. Floyd. None of us could have anticipated the difference Students, understandably thrown off course in March, twelve months can make. Intellectually we know that indi- finished their degrees anyway. Combining those who vidual lives can change in an instant; we now know how defended theses in spring and summer, we had eleven (11!) rapidly the patterns of our collective existence can also graduates this year, six MA students and five MFA students. shift in ways that we never expected. This success rate came from student resilience and dedica- People often say to me these days, “I don’t envy you.” I tion, but also from faculty commitment to student success, know what they mean to communicate (it is not comfort), evident nowhere more clearly than in outgoing graduate but my usually unspoken reply is this: everyone should director, Jessie Wilkerson. Jessie has accepted an endowed be so lucky in this time of crisis as I am. The coronavirus chair position at West Virginia University, but she left us outbreak has washed over the working life of every single with more clearly articulated expectations for what it means person at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, and to be a Southern Studies graduate student. every one of them has stood their ground. No in-person This restless summer has brought to the nation, and to gatherings? No problem. Afton still assembled a star- Mississippi, other challenges around questions of racial studded set of fall SouthTalks, to be delivered remotely, equality. Our state made the overdue decision to change around the fall programming theme of Voting Rights and our flag. In the heat of the pandemic and in the quiet of a Community Activism. Jimmy has continued publishing weekday morning, the Confederate soldier statue on the entries in the Mississippi Encyclopedia and essays in Study UM Circle made an appropriate move across campus to a the South, and you’re reading the Southern Register, aren’t Civil War cemetery. Two days later, the painted portrait of you? Every day I’m in touch with multiple people working Frederick Barnard fell off the wall of Barnard Observatory’s from their kitchens and Zooming from their living rooms foyer. Barnard, the university’s third chancellor, was an about the business of the Center: Bert about the finances, erudite scholar, a well-respected professor, and enough of Margaret about the building, Rebecca about the website, a progressive to lock horns with the rest of the administra- Melanie about Living Blues, Andy about SouthDocs, the tion on a variety of issues; he oversaw the construction whole staff about the Southern Foodways Alliance, Darren of Barnard Observatory, completed in 1859, and under- about our incoming freshmen majors, Catarina about our stood it as his legacy to the campus. Still, after his large new and returning graduate students. If I had to set sail as and imposing portrait returns from being repaired, we are director and run into a global pandemic just a few miles not going to reinstall him as our primary greeter. (He’ll be offshore, these are the people I want in my boat. around the corner.) We are going to fill the space instead with evidence of the South’s vibrant present life and of THE SOUTHERN REGISTER the ways we at the Center nurture the intellectual inquiry A Publication of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture • The University of Mississippi Barnard also valued. It was his idea to come down, but framing the future is our responsibility. Our plan for the NESLETTER ULISED UARTERLY PublishedOXFORD by, MISSISSIPPI, U.S.A INTER 20 The Center for the Study of Southern Culture foyer is to seek for it artwork directly linked to the contem- The University of Mississippi porary experiences of Black southerners, none of whom Telephone: 662-915-5993 • Fax: 662-915-5814 could have attended the University of Mississippi when E-mail: [email protected] • southernstudies.olemiss.edu Barnard was the chancellor, even if their ancestors literally Fall 2020 built the observatory, but all of whom play vital roles in the On the cover: The Lyric Theatre, Oxford, Mississippi. Southern Studies we practice here. Photo by Shea Stewart. What will have happened a year from now? I won’t try REGISTER STAFF to say. But I know the people I do not envy: soothsayers and fortune tellers. Here, we’ll take it one day at a time. Editor: James G. Thomas, Jr. Editorial assistant: Margaret Gaffney Graphic Designer: Susan Bauer Lee Katie McKee Page 2 Fall 2020 The Southern Register Living Blues News We continue our celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of 27TH ANNUAL LIVING BLUES AWARDS WINNERS INSIDE! Living Blues in this issue with a deep dive into the heart of the blues—the Mississippi Delta. While the “birth- place of the blues” may be a complicated locale to pin ® © down, there is no question where the child grew up. The Mississippi Delta covers a mere seven thousand square Issue #268 Vol. 51, #4 miles. A swath of immensely rich, fertile land that is roughly two hundred miles long by eighty-seven miles wide at its widest, this relatively small expanse of land has produced more blues musicians than any other place BLUES on the planet. But after more than one hundred years of bringing forth some of the greatest musical talents ever IN THE heard, what does the blues in the Delta look like today? What we found is an amazingly rich and diverse pool of MISSISSIPPI talent that still lives and thrives in the Mississippi Delta. We also found a crucial support system that celebrates the music and the artists who create it. For more than DELTA two decades, the state of Mississippi has invested in the rich cultural heritage of the blues, and this support has allowed young musicians to see blues music as a viable career path. So, come on down and visit us and see for yourself what the blues in Mississippi looks like today. It takes a staggering amount of work and support to create a special issue like this. I want to first say thank $6.95 US $6.95 CAN you to Craig Ray, director of Visit Mississippi, for his www.livingblues.com support. Thanks to writers Scott Barretta and Jim O’Neal Your Guide to Today’s for their deep dive into the Delta blues scene of today and yesterday. The stunning photography in this issue is Delta Blues Scene once again from Bill Steber, who spent three weeks baking in the Mississippi summer sun to safely shoot photos recently. Southern soul artists Chris Ivy and his family outdoors during the Covid-19 have been sick, and Nathaniel Kimble spent two pandemic. Thanks also to my weeks in the hospital and still requires oxygen. associate editor Robin Dietrick Please turn to page 150 for the results of the and, of course, to art director 2020 Living Blues Awards. This year we had a Susan Lee who makes all of this record number of votes. Thanks to everyone who look so wonderful. Last, but not took the time to cast theirs. This year’s big winner least, I want to send out a special is cover artist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. At just thanks to Wesley Smith, director twenty-one years old, Kingfish took the awards for of the Greenville-Washington Blues Artist of the Year (Male) and Best Blues Album County Convention and Visitors of 2019 (New Release) in the readers’ poll and Album of Bureau, who was the driving force behind the Year and Best Debut in the critics’ poll for his album the idea for this issue and who worked until the bitter end Kingfish on Alligator Records. On the opposite end of to make sure it was a success. the age spectrum, congratulations to ninety-one-year- And don’t forget, all of this work was done over the old Jimmy Johnson for winning the Most Outstanding last two months as Covid-19 raced across the state of Musician (Guitar) category in the critics’ poll. What an Mississippi. Masks, social distancing, no crowds, and amazing musical genre where two artists seventy years shooting all photos outdoors were just a few of the added apart in age can share the spotlight at the top. struggles we had to deal with. In fact, two of the artists featured here have come down with the coronavirus Brett J. Bonner The Southern Register Fall 2020 Page 3 Fall 2020 SouthTalks is a series of events (including lectures, performances, film screenings, and panel discussions) that explores the interdisciplinary nature of Southern Studies.