WEST POINT — Downtown is about to be filled with blues for the weekend, if the Black Prairie Blues Museum has anything to say about it.
Black Prairie Blues Museum board member Mary Ruth Caradine said the museum is hosting a “Big Blues Weekend,” as there will be a reception for a photography exhibition focused on blues performers starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday and the Black Prairie Blues Festival starting at 5 p.m. Saturday.
“We hope (people) will join us both nights,” Caradine said. “Mississippi is the birthplace of the blues, really, and we have so many iconic blues players from … the Black Prairie region.
“There’s a rich blues heritage in the Black Prairie, and that’s what we’re trying to honor,” she added.
Board member Bob Brzuszek said Friday night’s reception will celebrate a “world class” collection of 30 photos taken by German photographer Axel Küstner that will be hanging in the museum for a month. The exhibit is titled, “Gon’ Play it for Lil’ Brother – A Blues Odyssey in Photographs.”
“From the 1970s through the early 2000s, (Küstner) would come to Mississippi … and travel throughout the southeast,” Brzuszek said. “And what he was doing was recording and documenting some of these blues performers here in the region. Particularly ones that are not really well known.”
A press release from the museum said Küstner, a part-time postal worker, made 30 trips back to America over 40 years, photographing blues musicians and documenting the era.
The reception will begin at 6:30 p.m., with a panel discussion starting at 7 p.m. featuring Küstner, former Dispatch publisher and exhibit curator Birney Imes and former Highway 61 radio host and moderator Scott Barretta. There will also be music from Libby Rae Waton and a special guest. The reception is free and open to the public.
After that “prelude” to the blues festival, Brzuszek said, blues fans that return Saturday night can expect performances by three bands.
The first band to take the stage will be Old Memphis Kings, performing from 5:30-6:45 p.m. Brzuszek said the band typically plays a mix of original songs and covers, and he called them a “real crowd pleaser” and a “dancing type of band.”
The Old Memphis Kings will be followed by Brother Drew and the Bidness from 7-8:15 p.m. Brzuszek said frontman Drew Dieckmann will be playing original songs that honor bluesmen of the area, including Willie King.
Finally, headliners Ghost Town Blues Band will take the stage from 8:45-10:30 p.m.
“If people are into blues music, this would definitely be a weekend for them to come out and enjoy,” Brzuszek said. “… There’s definitely going to be dancing going on and food and festivities.”
Caradine said food will be available for sale Saturday, including chicken and sausage jambalaya and seafood jambalaya.
Küstner’s photographs will be up throughout the night for attendees to view, Brzuszek said. The show should remain on display at the blues museum through Oct. 20.
The Black Prairie Blues Festival was formerly known as the “Howlin’ Wolf” Blues Festival,” before the event changed its name and relocated to the museum. All events will be held at the museum at 640 Commerce St.
Tickets for the Black Prairie Blues Festival are $30 and are available online or at the door, Caradine said. For more information, visit blackprairiebluesmuseum.com/.
HOW TO GO
■ WHAT: Photography reception
■ WHEN: Friday, Sept. 25 @ 6:30 p.m.
■ WHERE: Black Prairie Blues Museum, 640 Commerce St., West Point
■ HOW: Free and open to the public
■ WHAT: Black Prairie Blues Festival
■ WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 26 @ 5 p.m.
■ WHERE: Black Prairie Blues Museum, 640 Commerce St., West Point
■ HOW: Tickets are $30 and are available online at blackprairiebluesmuseum.com or at the door.
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