The weekend of Sept. 20-22 will be a world class weekend in West Point and Columbus.
To get the weekend started, on Friday night the Black Prairie Blues Museum in West Point will host German photographer and blues promoter Axel Kustner at the opening reception for his photograph exhibit, “Gon’ Play It For Lil’ Brother-Axel Kustner’s Blues Odyssey.”
The exhibit documents his 1978-2005 travels across America in search of Blues musicians and the roots of the blues.
The opening reception and exhibit is free and open to the public.
During those years Axel, a native of Germany, would take his vacations to come to the U.S. and seek out blues musicians such as Big Joe Williams of Crawford. He traveled the backroads of America taking extensive photographs, making recordings and getting to know the legends of blues before blues mushroomed in popularity. His photo archives are unrivaled for images documenting the lives of many of the greatest names in blues music.
In addition to the opening of Axel’s exhibit of more than 30 historic photographs never before included in a U.S. exhibit, there will be a blues performance by Mississippi musician Libby Rae Watson. Her performance will be followed by a panel discussion by Axel, Scott Barretta, the longtime host of Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s award-winning program Highway 61, and Birney Imes, award-winning photographer and author of “Juke Joint Photographs.” For those interested in blues or just wanting to learn about the blues, it doesn’t get any better than this. The event begins at 6:30 p.m.
Then Saturday night there will be a grand evening of music as the museum opens its doors at 5 p.m. for the 2024 Black Prairie Blues Festival. Appearing at the museum is a great lineup of blues musicians. Music begins at 5:30 with The Old Memphis Kings performing. They will be followed by Brother Drew & Bidness at 7 and the Ghost Town Blues Band at 8:45. It will be a fun evening with some of the best blues around. Tickets for the festival are $30 and may be purchased at the door or online at https://blackprairiebluesmuseum.com/events
The museum is located at 640 Commerce St. in downtown West Point. Call (662)275-7819.
The blues is Mississippi’s music, and though African American in origin, it transcends race and culture. When most people think of the blues, they think of the Delta blues, the Memphis blues, the St. Louis blues or the Hill Country blues. Though not so well known, there is also the Black Prairie blues. The old Black Prairie of Mississippi and Alabama has blues roots as deep – if not deeper – than anywhere else. Blues is a music with a foundation in the work chants and hard times experienced by laborers on plantations and steamboats, and the Black Prairie was the antebellum cotton and corn belt of the South. It was the Black Prairie that produced such blues legends as Howlin’ Wolf, Big Joe Williams, Bukka White, Lucille Bogan and Willie King.
The Black Prairie was named after its fertile black soil. It runs in a narrow crescent shape from northeast Mississippi into south central Alabama. It was settled by Euro-Americans between 1816 and 1835. The enslaved African people who were brought to farm the rich, dark land carried with them their musical heritage. After emancipation, the formerly enslaved people mostly became tenant farmers, and their hard life and music continued. The field work chants, steamboat chants and mournful ballads merged into the blues.
It was a musical tradition predating that of the Delta and the Hill Country, though it is often considered Delta blues or Hill Country blues. The musical tradition is in fact the Black Prairie Blues. The Black Prairie Blues Museum is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the blues men and women of the Mississippi and Alabama prairie belt region.
Next weekend will not only be one to celebrate the blues but will showcase the U.S. Air Force and Columbus Air Force Base with a world-class air show, Thunder Over Columbus, featuring the Air Force Thunderbirds. The air show, which in 2022 drew 60,000 spectators, will be even bigger and better this year. Gates open at 9 a.m. Saturday with opening ceremonies at noon. The air show will be on both Saturday and Sunday and is free and open to the public.
Headline military aviation performances will be the always spectacular U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, the USAF F-35 Lightning II Demo Team, the USAF C-17 Globemaster Demonstration Team and the USAF KC -135.
There will also be civilian performers including Tora Tora Tora, Titan T-6, T-33, the Full Throttle Formation Team, and more! The AVG Skydivers will be part of the opening ceremony.
An impressive group of static displays has also been lined up ranging from a T-38 to a KC-135 to an F-22 Raptor. Also, there will be food vendors, concession stands, and souvenir stands. This is a family friendly event with something for everyone. See you there!
For additional information including what can be brought on base and what is prohibited you can go to thunderovercolumbus.com or the Thunder Over Columbus Facebook page.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
