On Sunday, June 6th, a Blues Marker was dedicated to Johnny Winter in Leland at 302 North Broad Street. Winter’s grandfather and father, a former mayor of Leland, owned and operated a cotton business, J. D. Winter and Son, on the corner where the Blues Marker is placed. The door to their office is now housed in the Highway 61 Blues Museum along with many other collectables from Johnny Winter and other blues legends from the area. Johnny Winter was born in Beaumont, Texas in 1944 while his father was stationed in the Army, but he spent some of his childhood in Leland. The Winter family, long prominent in local social, civic, and business circles, was also well known for its musical endeavors. Johnny and Edgar’s father, John Dawson Winter, Jr., played and sang at churches, weddings, Kiwanis and Rotary Club gatherings, and neighborhood front porch concerts at the Winter home. His father, John D. Winter, Sr., a native of Coffeeville, MS had been a partner in the Winter-Mann Co. which later became J. D. Winter & Son. The company sold locally produced cotton.

Johnny Winter saluted Leland in the song, “Leland Mississippi Blues” in 1969 on the first of his many hit albums for Columbia Records. Most of his favorite blues artists including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, B. B. King, and Robert Johnson, were born in Mississippi. However, he says that his first exposure to the blues came in Beaumont listening to a blues radio show in the kitchen with the family’s maid. With encouragement from their parents, the Winter brothers began performing and recording in their teens. The self-titled album “Johnny Winter” created a sensation upon its release in 1969, establishing him as a premier figure in high-energy blues-rock circles. Multi-instrumentalist Edgar Winter appeared on the following album “Second Winter” and began recording with his own groups for Epic Records, scoring pop hits with the singles “Frankenstein” and “Free Ride.” In later years, Johnny produced albums by his idol, Muddy Waters, and recorded in the company of the Muddy Waters Band, James Cotton, John Lee Hooker, among other Mississippians. In 1988, after recording three albums for the blues label Alligator Records in Chicago, he became the first white musician elected to the Blues Hall of Fame. His biography, “Raisin’ Cain: The Wild and Raucous Story of Johnny Winter,” was published in May of 2010.

The historic Holly Ridge Store located 10 miles east of Leland hosted a blues jam after the reception featuring performers from the festival. The Holly Ridge Jam was dedicated to David Burchfield, leader of The Electric Mudd, who also died in an auto accident on December 26, 2009 at the age of 32. He was living in Leland but hailed from Shaw, Mississippi. This free event was sponsored by The Leland Blues Project in conjunction with The Mississippi Delta Blues Society of Indianola. Dave Wright of WEFT in Champaign, Illinois plays vintage blues on “Dave’s Blues” Tuesdays from 11:30 to 2pm. He served as a walking blues encyclopedia and we enjoyed a stroll to the nearby graves and marker for Charlie Patton, Willie Foster, and Asie Payton. On the way home, we stopped southeast of Belzoni to view the elder statesman of blues piano, Joe Willie “Pinetop” Perkins’ new Blues Marker. The Pinetop Perkins Museum there is almost complete!

I’m heading to Ireland to trace my Celtic roots, so y’all enjoy a wonderful summer and try to catch some blues on CD, the radio, or live… just try not to live ‘em!

Warm wishes,