2007 Blues Festival Show with Michael Baker

An old saying goes, "Spring...when a young man's fancy turns to love". While that may be true, Spring is when my fancy turns to Blues, as in The Shannon Street Blues & Heritage Festival in downtown Jackson, Tennessee each June.

This year, once again, Wes and I welcomed Michael Baker to Music Highway (air date May 27, 2007) to fill us in on all the acts he has booked for this year's festival that takes place Friday and Saturday, June 1-2 at the Farmer's Market downtown on historic Shannon Street.

Michael, who has booked the acts for the festival since the beginning over 16 years ago, told us one reason Shannon Street is significant when it comes to blues history.

Famous blues artist, and harmonica player John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, who was from Jackson, Tennessee, mentioned Shannon Street and Jackson in at least one of his songs during his brief, but noteworthy career.

"Bluebird Blues", according to Michael, was written by Sonny Boy and inspired by one of the subsidiary record labels, Bluebird Records, owned in those days by RCA.

Another bit of blues history buffs will appreciate, if you don't already know, is that the blues classic Good Mornin' Little School Girl, written by Sonny Boy as well, was about a young girl Sonny Boy was enamored with in the Blair's Chapel community here in Madison County. Her father wasn't thrilled with Sonny Boy as a suitor for his little girl so the song came to be and is about love that never would be.

I always love hearing the stories about blues artists and their careers and how they affected the history of the genre and other styles of music that were influenced by them as well.

Michael is well versed and knowledgeable on such matters and always is a tremendously interesting guest on Music Highway whenever he stops by.

This year's Shannon Street Blues & Heritage Festival is the 16th annual event that actually started as part of the Forked Deer Festival in 1990. The Forked Deer Festival (named after a river that runs through our area) folded shortly thereafter and The Shannon Street Festival was born.

If you have never attended the festival make plans to do so this weekend. If you are from out of town, come spend the entire weekend in Jackson. Attend the festival on Friday and Saturday and Sunday get out and see some of the sights that are related to blues history (hint: look Michael Baker up at the festival and pick his brain about some interesting historical blues sights to see).

The festival kicks off on Friday night with a super lineup of fine blues artists and bands such as Terry "Harmonica" Bean, FlashBack, The Joseph McKinney Project, The Daddy Mack Blues Band and Magi, featuring Fulton Childress, the nephew of Sonny Boy Williamson.

My band, FlashBack, is honored to be making our third appearance at the festival this year and look forward to working with all the other artists on the bill.

Our own, Wes Henley, along with Russ Kirkland will be mixing sound again this year and always does a great job of making sure no one misses a note of the great blues you will hear both nights. This year's Shannon Street Blues & Heritage Festival promises to be the best yet, so make plans to mosey on over to Jackson and relax with a great weekend of blues, bar-b-que and all the other events that are taking place.

For more information check out the official web site of the festival here.

On Sunday, June 10th, our Music Highway broadcast on Rock 92.3FM at 9:00pm will feature interviews and music from some of the artists that are set to play this year's festival, so mark your calendar and be with us for this very special show.