What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1467010
late in life, or sometimes after their deaths. Hubert Sumlin, for example, was raised in Arkansas and became Howlin' Wolf's guitarist for years. He was inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame just a few years before his death. But the fact that the Rolling Stones paid for his funeral points to his sheer influence on the music industry, Weems says. Ruth Brown was another who quietly made a big impact but hardly made any money, he says, which is why many Black artists went on tour. At one point Atlantic Records was known as "The House that Ruth Built," due to her music. It wasn't until her appearance in "Hairspray" that Brown got proper recognition, Weems says, when she was awarded both a Tony and a Grammy. There are a number of connections between Ken Murphy's photographs of musicians to the icons on the walls. In one, "CeDell Davis and Lightnin' Malcolm jamming at the Juke Joint Festival," Malcolm sports a T-shirt that reads "Cedric Burnside," referring to the artist who won a Grammy less than a month ago. Burnside's grandfather, R.L. Burnside, is portrayed in one of the blues casts. In another photograph, an artist holds a guitar made by Super- Chikan Johnson, who creates unique and ornate instruments, while yet another photograph features the guitar maker himself with an array of his custom banjos and guitars behind him. In a way, the photographs bridge the gap between the icons and the new blood. "The way this is put together, you have the young and old in these," Weems says. "They're picking up from where the legends left off. Their torches have been lit. "I want people to come and appreciate [this exhibit], honor and respect this music from these artists," he adds. "To know that this (musical legacy) has to go on, it can't be marginalized or minimized. Blues music is the root of music." PRESIDENT Brent A. Powers EDITOR Becca Martin-Brown 479-872-5054 bmartin@nwadg.com Twitter: NWAbecca REPORTERS Monica Hooper mhooper@nwadg.com April Wallace awallace@nwadg.com (479) 770-3746 DESIGNER Deb Harvell ! UP WHAT'S ON THE COVER It took Sharon McConnell-Dickerson six months of cor- respondence through occasional phone calls with Bobby Blue Bland to get him to agree to a casting, but after it was done, the two remained friends for the rest of his life. Bland visited McConnell-Dickerson at her home, once called her on stage during a concert and dedicated the playing of "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone" to her. The resin cast is part of an exhibit titled "A Cast of Blues," on show at 214 By CACHE in Springdale. (COURTESY PHOTO) What's Up! is a publication of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. MAY 8-14, 2022 WHAT'S UP! 37 Blues Continued From Page 9 COVER STORY This Ken Murphy photo of Betty LaVette so deftly captured her enormous performing energy that it deserved a wall all to itself, says Orson Weems. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/April Wallace) Artist Sharon McConnell- Dickerson and curator Chuck Haddix spoke during an artist talk with Orson Weems of the Misic Education initiative April 30 at 214 By CACHE. (NWA Democrat- Gazette/April Wallace) Pictured here are James "Super-Chikan" Johnson in his home shop with his unique guitars; The Blue Front Cafe in Bentonia, Miss.; Bobby Rush and his dancer Lo; and Willie "Po' Monkey" Seaberry, all taken by Ken Murphy. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/April Wallace)