Big George Brock is one of the last musicians living to have played with the legendary Howlin’ Wolf, so it’s appropriate that Brock returns to West Point — where Wolf was born in 1910 — for the 22nd annual Black Prairie Blues Festival Friday. Brock and his band, the New House Rockers, will join 2016 B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Victor Wainwright, and the Old Memphis Kings at Mary Holmes College to entertain blues fans. The event is presented by the Prairie Belt Blues Society (PBBS).
Brock promises a good show: “I’m glad they want me to come back,” the veteran harp player and singer told The Dispatch by phone from his St. Louis home Thursday. “If they were pleased with me then, they’re gonna be doubly pleased now — I’m gonna give them more than they asked for.”
The Starkville-based Old Memphis Kings, with Caleb Childs and Drew Blackwell, will kick off the lineup at 6 p.m., followed by Wainwright and then Brock, said PBBS Program Director Jeremy Klutts of West Point.
“We want everyone to come listen to the blues with us. We’ll have great music and a raffle, too, with an autographed guitar and original artwork that’s on our poster,” he said. “Make a weekend of it in West Point, with the blues fest Friday night and Prairie Arts Festival Saturday.”
A blues statesman
Born in Grenada, Brock moved to Clarksdale, where he put his shoulder to fieldwork and boxed on weekends. He later relocated to St. Louis where he owned a series of blues clubs in the 1960s and 1970s and played with icons like Muddy Waters, Wolf and Jimmy Reed. He was dubbed “King of St. Louis blues” and has been performing ever since. In April, he was honored with a special concert at the National Blues Museum in St. Louis.
A reviewer with Goner Records said after one of Brock’s shows: “We weren’t ready for the onslaught to come — furious Muddy Waters-styled blues stomping. It was the closest thing to seeing Muddy Waters in his heyday that I’ll ever get to see.”
In 2005, actor and musician Steven Seagal recruited Brock to play harmonica on his all-star blues album, “Mojo Priest.” Brock’s own story was captured on film for the 2006 nationally-released DVD “Hard Times.”
Blues Society board member Beverly Norris of Columbus said, “Any time I talk to Big George on the phone he still asks me, ‘Do I just get to play for an hour and a half? Honey, I’m ready to come play allll night long!'”
“Piana from Savannah”
While Brock is a blues statesmen, Georgia native Victor Wainwright represents the next high-octane generation. The Memphis, Tennessee-based performer is fresh off his 2017 Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year Award at the Blues Music Awards in May (he won it in 2013 and 2014 as well). A mix of boogie and honky-tonk, “Wainwright’s playing is simply beautiful madness,” said American Blues Scene magazine. Living Blues magazine called him “an electrifying guide to a good time.”
Area music fans will recognize the Old Memphis Kings and their sound. It’s rooted in the “dirty Black Prairie blues” instilled in Childs and Blackwell by their mentor, the late Willie King. The band even took its name from the Old Memphis community in Alabama’s Pickens County, where King lived and where the younger musicians visited and learned from him.
How to go
Festival tickets are $20 in advance at blackprairiebluesfestival.com, or at the Columbus Arts Council, Jack Forbus Insurance Co. in Starkville or the Growth Alliance in West Point. Tickets are $25 at the door. Barbecue, T-shirts and CDs will be available. Alcohol will not be sold. Small coolers are permitted.
Gates open at 5:30 p.m. Friday for the indoor, air-conditioned concert at 278 Mary Holmes Drive. For more information, visit the website, follow the festival on Facebook or contact Klutts by emailing [email protected].
The Black Prairie Blues Society is a state-chartered, nonprofit organization committed to promoting blues education in north Mississippi and the musical achievements of Clay County native Chester Arthur Burnett — Howlin’ Wolf — and other blues greats. It received the Keeping the Blues Alive Award in 2007. The Society and the Burnett family also received the Walk of Fame Award on Beale Street and Peavine Award from the Mississippi Delta Blues Hall of Fame, among other awards.
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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