HELENA-WEST HELENA -- Little Pink Anderson and Helena’s own James “Gone for Good” Morgan have been added to the line-up of the Second Annual Mother’s Best Music Fest, slated at the Delta Cultural Center’s Cherry Street Pavilion on Saturday, June 16. Contemporary bluesman Alvin Youngblood

Named in homage to a 1940s radio show on station KFFA 1360-AM that featured musical innovators from throughout the Delta region, including Doctor Isaiah Ross, Mother's Best Music Fest offers an eclectic take on the variety of music produced throughout the Delta -- from its blues to its rockabilly, country, and Americana sounds.

In 1986, Helena native James Morgan left a 17-year musical career in Detroit and returned to his hometown. Freed from a life in the fast lane, Morgan has sought success on his own terms, working as a popular disc jockey at legendary radio station KFFA, running his own night club, and occasionally issuing his own musical releases.

A member of Detroit’s Ju-Par Universal Orchestra (“Funky Music,” “Time”) during the 1970s, today Morgan performs R&B and a contemporary blues style in the mode of Johnnie Taylor, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and Tyrone Davis. Known in the South since his return as James “Gone For Good” Morgan, after his signature song, he also answers to a nickname earned during his Motor City days – The High-Stepper. It’s a name that is synonymous with his reputation as a performer.

“More than anything, I’m a showman,” Morgan once told an interviewer. “On stage, I’m never standing still. I’m always moving. That’s how I got the name ‘High-Stepper.’”

Little Pink Anderson was born Alvin Anderson on July 13, 1954, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the son of famed bluesman Pinkney “Pink” Anderson (who, along with Floyd Council, had his name borrowed to create the moniker of British rock band Pink Floyd). Little Pink danced during his father’s shows as a youth, and later learned to play guitar from him. He was in prison on an armed robbery conviction, though, in 1974 when Pink Anderson died, and spent another stretch behind bars for driving on a suspended license in the mid-1990s. Dedicating himself to his music since his release, Anderson has received considerable acclaim for the release of “Carolina Bluesman,” a CD collection on the Music Maker label of many songs associated with his father.

Alvin Youngblood Hart: Hart, who has been called a “musician’s musician,” “The Cosmic American Love Child of Howlin’ Wolf and Link Wray,” and the “era’s most diverse bluesman,” is no easy talent to describe. Since his 1996 debut, the all-acoustic “Big Mama’s Door,” and his subsequent W.C. Handy Award for Best New Artist, Hart has done his best to stymie critics, purists, and prognosticators.

His second album, “Territory,” ran a gambit from country swing to blues to reggae to rock; 2000’s “Start With the Soul” displayed the roaring rock and R&B of a power trio, with all of the grit captured by legendary Memphis producer Jim Dickinson. Two years later, Hart was back – Dickinson again at the controls – and stunned listeners again, this time with a dozen obscure acoustic blues covers by Son House, Leadbelly, Charley Patton, Odetta, Skip James, and others, accompanying himself on six-string guitar, banjo, and mandolin. Lest anyone jump to the conclusion he’d returned to the security of country blues, Hart again charged into the fray with an electric trio on 2005’s “Motivational Speaker,” mixing strong originals with unconventional covers of Otis Redding, Paul Rodgers, and Johnny Paycheck, as well as the traditional “In My Time of Dying.”

Hart also won a 2004 Grammy as a contributor to “Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster,” the year’s winner for Traditional Folk Album.

Kenny Brown: Brown, long-time guitarist for the late Mississippi hill country bluesman R.L. Burnside, received rave reviews for his 2003 solo “Stingray” album on the Fat Possum record label and is gaining new attention through his participation in the movie “Black Snake Moan.” Brown accompanies Samuel L. Jackson in the climactic scene in which Jackson’s bluesman character returns to performing, singing “Alice Mae,” written by Brown. He also plays guitar on two other tracks sung by Jackson; the soundtrack also includes Brown’s distinctive slide work on Burnside’s “Old Black Mattie.”



Taught to play guitar as a youth by bluesman and neighbor Joe Calicott, he later apprenticed with harmonica player Johnny Woods and Mississippi Fred McDowell before taking on right hand duties with R.L. Burnside for 25 years. Brown became integral to the north Mississippi hill country sound on stage and on seminal recordings by Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Asie Payton, Paul “Wine” Jones, and others.

Brown lives today in the middle of the Holly Springs National Forest at Potts Camp.

Sam Carr with Dave Riley: Drummer Sam Carr, a founding member of the Jelly Roll Kings with Frank Frost and Big Jack Johnson, is a legendary instrumentalist among blues musicians and fans, playing and recording with luminaries including Buddy Guy, Lonnie Shields, Paul “Wine” Jones, Willie Lomax, T-Model Ford, Cedell Davis, Robert “Bilbo” Walker, Eric Andersen, and Jimmy Duck Holmes. His performance at the 2007 Mother’s Best will pair him again with blues vocalist and guitarist Dave Riley, with whom Carr cut 2001’s “Whiskey, Money & Women” on the Fedora label.

Riley, a native of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, began playing guitar at age 9, often playing in a gospel setting with his family. Moving to Chicago during his youth, Riley became increasingly aware of the blues and fellow Mississippi-born transplants like the great Howlin’ Wolf. Riley’s continuing musical plans were put on hold during his military service in Vietnam. After his return, he began developing his professional skills as a bluesman, but turned away from the career in 1973 to raise his son, working the next 25 years as a guard at Joiliet State Penitentiary. It was a time Riley describes as plagued by addictions to drink and drugs; but Riley also notes proudly he has maintained his sobriety since 1989.

Shortly after re-starting his blues career in 1996 – utilizing his son, Dave “Yahni” Riley Jr. as his bassist – Riley broke his neck in an auto accident with a drunken driver. For nine months, he was unable to play guitar, but gradually worked his way to recovery. His albums also include the autobiographical “Living on Borrowed Time” and “Blues Across America.”

Ellis & Gibson: William Lee Ellis also knows something about defying expectations. The son of an acclaimed bluegrass fiddle player Tony Ellis, and named for his godfather, Bill Monroe, William Lee Ellis spent much of a decade studying classical guitar and earning a master’s degree in classical performance at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music. Then he became a bluesman.

Ironically, Ellis’ love for acoustic blues bloomed during his conservatory days when he became aware of the finger-picking “Piedmont” style of gospel blues exemplified by great the Rev. Gary Davis, and later discovered Blind Willie Johnson, Willie McTell, Lonnie Johnson, and Blind Blake. As his love of the music grew, so did Ellis’ own unique style which melded the acoustic finger-picking techniques of the great acoustic bluesmen with his classical training, and the bluegrass world of his childhood.

Ellis’ third album, “The Full Catastrophe,” drew considerable attention upon its release in 2000, displaying his talents on a collection of self-penned songs embodying the musical, emotional, and spiritual themes that intrigue him. Traditional blues fans were once again drawn in by Ellis’ acclaimed “Conqueroo” in 2002 and “God’s Tattoos” in 2006.

Born in Clinton, harmonica player Billy Gibson felt the calling of the blues at a young age, and began performing regularly in Clarksdale following high school. Soon he had heeded the migratory call to Memphis, and staked out a claim on Beale Street where he became known for his rollicking regular gigs at Rum Boogie Café. His album’s include “Nearness of You” (2001), the live “In a Memphis Tone” (2004), “The Billy Gibson Band” (2005), and the newly-released “Southern Livin’.”

C.W. Gatlin: Like his childhood friend Levon Helm, Phillips County native C.W. Gatlin was bit by the music bug as a teen in the late 1950s, inspired by the sounds around him in the Delta. Befriended by legendary bluesmen Robert Nighthawk and Houston Stackhouse, young Gatlin received a varied and informal introduction and education in the music business. Nighthawk also taught the youth his technique for playing slide guitar. Another key musical figure in Gatlin’s development was Helena rockabilly man Mack Self, a Sun Records artist with whom Gatlin began performing.

“To me, rockabilly and blues are really the same thing,” Gatlin once said in an interview. Today, he performs throughout the region; his shows offer few musical boundaries.

Respected by aficionados and his musical peers, Gatlin has created his own spot in the pantheon of rockabilly survivors. In addition to entertaining under his own name, Gatlin has also appeared with Self, Johnny Cash’s long-time drummer W.S. Holland, and Carl Perkins’ son, Stan Perkins, as the Rockabilly Masters.

Johnny Lowebow: Johnny Lowebow is the persona instrument maker John Lowe assumes when he takes the stage to play his homemade creations. A Lowebow is a cigar box guitar composed of two wooden dowel rods, a three guitar strings, a bass string, and, of course, a cigar box. The Lowebow, wired with handmade pickups, broadcasts through two amplifiers, one side emitting a high scream, the other rumbling low. Earlier this year, he released his nine-song CD “Gonerfest III.”

Jimbo Mathus: Mathus of Clarksdale, Mississippi, is an original and exciting voice in independent music. A singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Mathus has released a variety of solo discs including 1997’s “Jas. Mathus and His Knock-Down Society Play Songs For Rosetta,” a collection of pioneer bluesman Charley Patton’s songs benefiting Patton’s daughter; 2001’s swamp rock “National Antiseptic”; 2003’s electric “Stop and Let the Devil Ride”; and two projects in 2006, “Old Scool Hot Wings” and “Jimmy the Kid.”

Mathus is also a guitarist and founding member of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, the band with the hot jazz sound which rose to prominence in the early 1990s with its surprise hits “Hell” and “Put a Lid On It.” The band had last appeared together on tour in support of its 2000 album, “Bedlam Ballroom,” but reunited earlier this year for several shows along the East Coast with original members Mathis, Katherine Whalen, Chris Phillips, Je Widenhouse, and Stuart Cole.

Spoonfed Blues: Spoonfed Blues features Bob “Mississippi Spoonman” Rowell on, naturally, the spoons, Carla Robinson on bass guitar, and Sterling Billingsley on guitar. Rowell, who currently lives in Helena, is known by many blues aficionados for his long-time duo role with author/entertainer Steve Cheseborough. Marvell’s Robinson is also known for her longtime collaboration with the late Arkansas bluesman John Weston. Billingsley is a session musician, a popular area performer, and one of the founders of the Sonny Boy Blues Society.

For more information, interested persons can contact the Delta Cultural Center at (870) 338-4350 or (800) 358-0972.

The Delta Cultural Center shares the vision of all seven agencies of the Department of Arkansas Heritage – to preserve and promote Arkansas heritage as a source of pride and satisfaction. Other agencies within the department are the Historic Arkansas Museum, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, the Old State House Museum, the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, the Arkansas Arts Council, and the Natural Heritage Commission.

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