Bridging the gap between blues legends and the next generation of blues artists was fully displayed recently at the 10th Annual B.B. King Day Symposium.
Dr. Jerryl Briggs, president of Mississippi Valley State University, welcomed everyone to the 10th Annual B.B. King Day Symposium. There was also a moment of silence in honor of blues legends who have passed away and recognition of Mrs. Bobby “Blue” Bland (Mrs. Willie Bland) and Teeny Tucker, the daughter of the late Tommy Tucker, who wrote the 1963 blues hit, “Hi-Heel Sneakers.”
As a sign of African American unity, the audience was led into a rousing version of the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice.”
This year’s symposium brought together not only the legends of blues but also millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha bluesmen and blues women. There were 17, 22, and 25 year old young and talented rising stars who were given music industry caveats by the slightly older statesmen, or millennials, of the genre.
The early morning panelists included the great 33-year-old Marquise Knox, a versatile instrumentalist and vocalist from St. Louis, who told his personal blues journey. His story garnered him a spot in the “Bluesmasters at the Crossroads” series and a nomination for a Blues Music Award. Knox is considered an authentic bluesman because he is not a formally trained musician but was taught to play guitar by his grandmother and was mentored by the late bluesman, Henry James Townsend, who is revered as one of the greats in the blues world.
Marquise Knox solidified himself as a bluesman and storyteller at age 16 when he debuted his MANCHILD album. Knox told the crowd, “The blues is the foundation of all American music with its roots based in the African rhythms that Black bluesmen and blues women took from the fields of the southern slave states like Mississippi to the north where it was eventually taken across the water to Europe. The blues is the music of our Black people, and it will forever be ours to be carried on by each generation. The blues ain’t going nowhere.”
Melody Angel, a 31-year-old blues guitar slinger, was born and raised in the historic African American Bronzeville District of Chicago’s South Side. She was surrounded by the influences of iconic bluesmen and blues women that provided her a virtual classroom filled with music that enabled her to become a self-taught musician. Angel mastered piano, bass, and drums and was compared to Jimi Hendrix, Prince, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The latter became Angel’s primary influence in her entry into a male-dominated industry.
Keith Johnson, a 31-year-old Delta native, informed the symposium attendees that he is the great-nephew of Muddy Waters, who is considered the father of the modern electric amplified blues era. Johnson said, “The Blues Chose Me” not only because of his kinship to Muddy Waters but also because of how his grandmother, Texcella Fields gave him a gospel foundation that aided his transition into blues by interchanging the word “baby” on Saturday night to Jesus on Sunday morning. Keith is an accomplished guitarist, vocalist, and harmonica player who has traveled to France, Germany, and Switzerland. He is also a 2016 and 2018 Delta State University graduate with a BA and MBA respectively.
The mid-morning symposium session was led by a special group of Alpha Generation bluesmen that included 17-year-old Harrell “Young Rell” Davenport, 22-year-old Sean “Mack” McDonald, and Steven Hull, the 25-year-old leader of the Steven Hull Experience.
Harrell “Young Rell” Davenport is truly a child prodigy. He is a 17-year-old blues guitarist, vocalist, and harmonica player who is commanding stages that were once reserved for much older bluesmen. Young Rell hails from Vicksburg, Mississippi. He shared a very personal story of how he has used blues music as an effective way to handle being bullied in school because he didn’t fit the mold of his peers in school. He now utilizes blues music as a defense mechanism that aligns with his sense of individuality. He has captivated the attention of older bluesmen like Billy Branch, along with blues-loving audiences, because of his authentic unadulterated presentation of blues music in live concerts and on social media platforms. Young Rell has an unprecedented 165,000 views and 4,000 shares that have elevated him to a global rising star.
Sean “Mack” McDonald wowed the audience with his physical likeness to blues icon Albert King. Once the audience got over his uncanny likeness to King, McDonald told the audience that he hails from Augusta, Georgia, and his primary blues influences were Ray Charles and James Brown as a young self-taught child musician playing piano, drums, and guitar, drawing inspiration from B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Louis Jordan.
Lady Trucker, born Peggy Sue Hemphill, was one of two blues women who were invited to perform as an interlude between panel discussions. Lady Trucker elaborated on her blues journey that encompasses North Mississippi Hill Country blues, Gospel, and Zydeco that has earned her the label of Zydeco Blues Queen of Mississippi by blues industry insiders based on her latest album, “Rollin’ Up on Ya.” At age 16, Lady Trucker started writing her own lyrics and creating a distinctive stage presence paired with her raspy blues vocals.
The final Alpha Generation panelist, Steven Hull is a 25-year-old Racine, Wisconsin, native who started his blues journey at age seven. He has caught the attention of the blues world with his powerful vocals and guitar work that is punctuated with his infectious smile that draws audiences to him initially as soon as he takes the stage. His youthful persona is a trademark that camouflages the bravado of his blues vocal prowess and stage presence. The Steven Hull Experience has been penned in Living Blues Magazine and observed on the stages of the Chicago Blues Festival.
Blues legend Lil Ray Neal continued to lend his guitar skills to the symposium as part of the house band playing behind Lady Trucker and Melody Angel – she was given the honor of playing B.B. King’s guitar “Lucille” that was on loan from the B.B. King Museum and Interpretative Center of Indianola, Mississippi.
Harmonica player Jock Webb and Dr. Alphonso Sanders presented pre-Symposium blues lectures to the MVSU students on Wednesday, September 4, 2024, in the Little Theater Upstairs Fine Arts Building.
The B.B. King Day Symposium ended with a night jam at the famous Club Ebony in Indianola with all the panelists performing together. Lil Ray Neal, of the great Neal Family of bluesmen, played lead guitar. Leland, Mississippi’s own George Mumford and Bruce Howard, from the Bobby Rush Band, held down drums throughout the evening performances, closing out another great blues gathering of legends and next-generation bluesmen and blues women.
The 10th Annual B.B. King Day Symposium can be viewed on the Mississippi Valley State University website at www.mvsu.edu.
Margaret W. Clark and the Alumni Committee coordinated the B.B. King Day Symposium. Sponsors included MVSU, B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretative Center, Margaret W. Clark, Dr. Riley B. King Recording Studio, Dr. Alphonso Sanders, and the Holmes County Heritage and Cultural Foundation, Inc.
