The King Biscuit Blues Festival

by Phil Chesnut

After another summer of wonderful blues festivals throughout the country there's one festival left, the 17th Annual King Biscuit Blues Festival, from October 10-12. Located in Helena, Arkansas in the Mississippi Delta where the blues began, the Biscuit is arguably the best blues fest of the season. Situated an hour's drive south of Memphis's Beale Street and a half-hour north of the famed crossroads at Clarksdale, MS, this is the festival that all true blues fans should experience at least once. The festival is a homegrown entity now produced by Helena's Sonny Boy Blues Society. Also produced by the Sonny Boy Blues Society is Blues Aid, an organization which helps the many aging blues artists of the region with their health care needs.

Considering its remarkable history, Helena is the perfect place to celebrate the final blues fest of the season, as it is home to so many blues legends. Robert Johnson and his wife called Helena home. Johnson also tutored his "step son" Robert Jr. Lockwood on the fundamentals of the blues there. Guitarist Houston Stackhouse, the multi-talented Frank Frost, drummer Sam Carr, and Chicago legend Robert Nighthawk all called Helena home. Helena's favorite son, the great Sonny Boy Williamson was also a long time resident, which is obvious since his image appears on everything from King Biscuit Flour bags and the King Biscuit logo, to the many t-shirts, the levee mural and my own mural at the Sonny Boy Music Hall. Sonny Boy was also the star of King Biscuit Time, now the longest running radio show in broadcast history. Hosted for the past 51 years by the venerable "Sunshine" Sonny Payne on radio station KFFA, King Biscuit Time recently celebrated its 14,000th broadcast. Payne now does his show from the old Red Ball store that also houses an amazing blues museum; there is also a brand new museum at the Sonny Boy Music Hall. With the festival, radio show, and museums all on Cherry Street in "old" Helena, fans can still get an essence of what it was like in the heyday of delta blues.

It's always great to see our favorite delta bluesmen at local festivals but seeing them at the King Biscuit is another thing entirely, because they're "home." The following is a short list of some of the fantastic blues talent scheduled to appear at this year's KBBF. Thursday features Sonny Landreth, and Luther Kent & Raful Neal. Friday, the first full day, features headliners Otis Taylor, Sam Carr & the Delta Jukes, Billy Branch, Pinetop Perkins & Bob Margolin, Carey Bell & Johnny Dyer, Roomful of Blues, and Solomon Burke. Scheduled for Saturday are Mem Shannon & The Membership, Jody Williams & Sean Costello, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Anson & the Rockets with Sam Myers, Irma Thomas, and Ike Turner. With six stages to pick from, all named after local blues icons, there's something to please every blues fan. Although the stage shows end at midnight, the blues continues until the wee hours with all night jams featuring many headliners at Eddy Mae's Cafe (Eddy Mae is Frank Frost's widow) and the Sonny Boy Music Hall. Since Helena is in the "bible belt", the festival ends Saturday. So Sunday gives blues fans a chance to visit the wonderful Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, or to pay respects at the graves of Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, or Sonny Boy Williamson. I'll be there; hope to see you, too.

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