Alabama Blues Project
712 25th Avenue
Northport, AL 35476
Phone (205) 752-6263
Fax (205) 752-6663 info@alabamablues.org
The ABP is a proud sponsor of the Alabama State License Tag Legislative Committee's Support the Arts, tags. Please consider supporting the arts in Alabama (or your state) through your local Probate's office by purchasing a tag that shows that you support the Arts! Funding from the Alabama Legislative Tag Committee goes toward the funding of the arts in Alabama!
Live Auction Items
include... Autographed
B.B. King Guitar
Autographed Bonnie Raitt Guitar Autographed
Bobby Rush Guitar Football & Forbes Magazine -
Autographed by
UA Coach Nick Saban
2511 Mcfarland Blvd E
Tuscaloosa, AL 35405
(205) 556-3183
Gertrude's Flowers 1012 Hackberry Lane
Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
(205) 752-5506
Burkhalter Jewelers 2312 6th St
Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
(205) 758-5622
Rhubarbs Gifts & Home 422 Main Ave
Northport, AL 35476
205-343-1933
511 Queen City Avenue
Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
(205) 752-3168
The ABP needs your help!
We are seeking
business partners for this spectacular event!
Please contact Cara Smith at (205) 752-6263
or email cara@alabamablues.org to participate.
Sponsorship Levels:
How do you cure the Summertime Blues? ABP Summertime Blues Camp!
2009 Summertime Blues Camp was held at the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Tuscaloosa from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday, July 13th to Friday, July 17th. Friday’s session was an Open House Blues Café where the young musicians showcased their talent with a music performance and art show. Over 100 family members, friends and the wider community came out to this very special event!
If you have children between the ages of 8-17 who would be interested in attending future blues camps, please contact Cara Smith at cara@alabamablues.org or (205) 752-6263. Thank you!
Count to 10 Blues
When you call me names,
it makes me feel so sad
When you pick on me,
makes me feel real bad
It’s hard to get up when
you’re pushing me down
But I got to do something to
get rid of this frown
Take some time to count to 10
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Feeling better again
Hey, hey, bully, you’re pickin’ on me
Hey, hey, bully, pushing me down
Hey, hey, bully you doing me wrong
That’s why I’m singing this song
Mama Ain’t Happy Blues
Woke up this morning,
didn’t make my bed
Left for school without
combing my head
Played ball in the house when
I came home from school
I broke everything
and broke every rule
There’s one thing
I learned is right,
If Mama ain’t happy,
ain’t nobody happy tonight
If Mama feels happy,
then everybody’s happy
If Mama feels happy,
then everybody’s happy tonight
Applesauce Blues
Woke up this morning,
looked in my fridge
My applesauce was gone
I asked my mom where it is,
my applesauce was gone
She said, “Don’t you remember
you ate it last night?
Your applesauce is long gone.”
I got the applesauce blues
Just don’t know what to do
I felt so sad, then I heard
something ringing
It was the ice cream truck
Ring a ling ding, hear that ring
It was the ice cream truck
Now I don’t have no applesauce,
But ice cream is twice as nice!
Milk and Cookies Blues
I got in trouble today at school
Every time I turned around
I broke some kind of rule
I did real bad on my history test
Even though I studied
and tried my best
Then Mama picked me up
and took me home
She made me milk and cookies
Man it’s good to be home
I like to dunk ‘em…
Milk and cookies…
I almost sunk ‘em
Dr. Mom’s got a real good cure
For when I’m feeling blue
that’s gonna work for sure
Milk and cookies, milk and cookies
Setlist
What’d I Say
Walkin’ With Myself
Proud Mary
Meet Me In The Morning
Red House
Folsom Prison Blues
Another Man Done Gone
Scratch My Back
Born Under a Bad Sign
Spoonfull
Let The Good Times Roll
The Alabama Blues Project is fortunate to have Keith Ruff on our staff. Keith has been playing music for over 25 years and has toured all over the United States, as well as, China, Sweden, Iraq, and Canada. He is currently the lead guitarist for Bobby Rush and has produced music for Rush, DieDra Hurdle and PoohNanny. He has also worked with E.C. Scott and Freeman Lamar at Paisley Park Duo. Together with his wife DieDra Hurdle, ABP’s vocal instructor, Keith has become a valuable mentor for our burgeoning blues musicians.
Shar-Baby - Guitar & Band Leader
Shar-Baby discovered the blues at the tender age of 6 and started taking guitar lessons at the age of 11. She was inspired by Hubert Sumlin, Howlin’ Wolf’s legendary guitarist. She has performed in many blues festivals such as the Pensacola Blues Festival and Willie King’s Freedom Creek festival, and in 2006, she competed at the Blues Challenge for North Michigan in a Solo/Duo competition. She has shared the stage with blues legends, Willie King and Sam Lay, and shared the bill with greats such as Honey Boy Edwards, Kenny Neal, Sweet Claudette, Otiel Burris, and Kent Burnside. She has a recently released album on Instant Karma Entertainment that features all original songs.
DieDra Hurdle - Vocals & Band Leader
At eight years old, DieDra Hurdle began her life long singing career in a family gospel choir. Since then, DieDra has become a sought after blues vocalist and teacher. DieDra sang for the group Melvin Dawson and the Genesis Ensemble, and she has worked with musicians such as Betty Wright, Denise Laselle, Al Green, Avant, Sunshine Anderson, Bobby Rush, and Carl Thomas. When she is not singing, DieDra teaches vocals to children at her church, as well as, the Alabama Blues Project and helps develop other artists. Currently, her latest blues CD, “Overcoming Hurdles” is on two separate southern soul charts. In May 2009, DieDra went on a “Divas of Blues” Tour with Denise Laselle and Betty Padgett. DieDra is married to ABP guitar instructor, Keith Ruff, who serves as her manager and loyal supporter. She has been nominated for Blues Critic's " Best New Female Artist of the Year 2009," Jus Blues Award "Song of the Year 2009 by a Female "Hip Swinging Blues," Jus Blues Award Female Artist of the Year 2009 and was an International Blues Challenge Competitor 2009.
Rick Asherson - Harmonica & Band Leader
Asherson first heard the blues in his native city of London, England, and began to play the harmonica, guitar and piano in the '60's. He has been playing harmonica and keyboards in bands in Europe and the U.S. for the past twenty years, and for the last four years played with the late blues legend Willie King and The Liberators, touring in the United States and Europe. He has played keyboards and harmonica for other Alabama blues greats, including Lil' Jimmy Reed, B. J. Miller, Carroline Shines, and Eddie Kirkland. Rick is Assistant Director of the Alabama Blues Project and a regular blues instructor with the ABP's after-school programs and artist residencies. He has worked closely in developing the Alabama Blues Project educational programs, curriculum and traveling exhibitions.
Jesse Suttle - Percussion & Band Leader
Jesse Diego Walker Suttle is the Project’s lead drum instructor. Music has always been a part of his life and in addition to drums he plays piano, guitar, bass and trombone. Jesse brings a wealth of experience having played in numerous bands and worked with some of the great names in blues music. His bands include Owsley, Topper Price and the Upsetters, Roosevelt Franklin, Teenage Daddy, South Southern Delta, the Crème Brulees, Shane Idols, and Lolas. He is currently playing drums for Shar Baby’s Blues Party. Jesse has also worked with Jerry “Boogie” McCain, Sam Lay, Shariff Simmons, Lil' Jimmy Reed, and Willie King. In addition to playing with Shar Baby, he is currently working with former Leon Russell guitarist Jason Speegle. When Jesse isn’t practicing, composing or producing music, he is raising his kids, Kathryn, Rachel and Ian with his wife Rebecca Brewer.
Debbie Bond - Executive Director & Producer
Blues vocalist, guitar player and songwriter Debbie Bond has played in her own blues band since 1981. She has shared her band with many blues greats, including Carroline Shines' father, the late, great Johnny Shines, Jerry “Boogie” McCain and James Peterson, and has opened for such artists as Dr. John, Charlie Musselwhite, Roy Buchanan, R. L. Burnside, Big Jack Johnson, Kenny Neal and more. In 1995 she toured Europe with Little Whitt and Big Bo and she continues to be a popular performer on the club and festival circuit around the South East. Debbie toured as second guitar player for Willie King's band the Liberators beginning in 2003 until his death in 2009.
Debbie released a solo CD titled What Goes Around Comes Around. She is featured on the Vent Records CD, Alabama Blues Showcase: A Compilation of Alabama Blues Artists and on a German release by Taxim Records called Blues from the Heart of Dixie which showcases contemporary Alabama blues musicians. Bond is a 2001 recipient of an Alabama State Council on the Arts Master Apprenticeship Grant to study guitar with Eddie Kirkland. A long time “blues activist,” she is the founding director of the Alabama Blues Project, an award-winning blues education organization. Debbie has been working with the Alabama State Council on the Arts and other arts organizations to develop a blues curriculum. She has a B. A. in Sociology and an M. A. in American Studies focusing on the blues.
ART INSTRUCTORS
Lonnie Holley
Lonnie Bradley Holley, sometimes known as The Sand Man, is an African American artist and art educator. When his sister's two children died in a house fire in 1979, he decided to do something constructive with his grief. As the family could not afford to buy tombstones for the children, he decided to make them himself. The tombstones were Holley's first works of art. He soon began to create an environment of found materials that he assembled in his yard. Eventually he took some of his carvings to the director of the Birmingham Museum of Art, who was so impressed that he contacted the Smithsonian. This resulted in Holly's work being included in the exhibition, "More Than Land and Sky: Art From Appalachia," which originated in 1981 at the Museum of American Art in Washington. Holley's work is in the permanent collection of the Birmingham Museum of Art after first being exhibited there in 1980. For the first few years, Holley worked almost exclusively with industrial-made sandstone. He then began to work with other found materials such as discarded wire, scrap materials, and wooden objects. In what is considered a natural progression of his work, Holley eventually began to paint. Self-taught and driven, Holley has made his life his art. His yard, his house, his car, his business. It's all art. He can make something out of nothing and instill it with so much meaning that you can't believe he stores it (and most of his art) out in the yard or eternally open garage.
Miz Thang
Miz Thang is a self-taught folk artist from Hawkinsville, GA. All of her blues art is original. Her wooden pieces are usually cut out of cabinet grade birch and then sanded. She paints with acrylic paint and sometimes she coats her pieces with shellac. She doesn't use brushes, but prefers to paint exclusively with her fingers. When her fingers are in the paint she feels connected to her art and feels she is passing along some of her special brand of mojo. Some of her creations have been on display at shows, museums and galleries throughout the USA and abroad. Her art is on display at the Smith Calloway Banks Southern Folk Art collection and Research Center at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, GA. Her blues art has been on display at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon, Georgia since 2004. In addition to being an accomplished folk artist, Miz Thang is a certified music educator.
Linda Munoz
Linda Munoz has worked in the medium of glass for over 25 years. Her other artistic love is sewing, and she has won awards for her quilts. Although trained as a Registered Nurse, she gave up nursing to pursue art full time when she realized that art could bring healing in ways medicine could not. Linda has taught mosaic art to children and adults for the last 8 years. She has taught at the Alabama Folk School at Camp McDowell, at Fine View Nursery in Ga., and at Black Belt Treasures in Camden, Ala. - just to name a few venues. Linda is also currently working on a 9x9 foot mosaic mural on the wall of the Gallery at Kentuck in Northport (pictured). Her art can be viewed at The Cotton Patch Art Studio in York, Ala.; The Gallery at Kentuck in Northport, Ala.; ORBIX Hot Glass in Fort Payne, Ala.; Black Belt Treasures in Camden, Ala.; Blackwood Gallery in Springville, Ala.; Lucas Road Gallery in Meridian, Miss.; and Mountain Mama's in Cloudland, Ga.
SPECIAL GUESTS
B.J. Miller
Born in Kansas City, Mo., B.J. Miller was destined for greatness. She is the daughter of Bettye Miller, reigning musician in K.C., known as the “Queen of Jazz”. To enhance the premier music atmosphere that was her home, Miller took formal studies at the university of Missouri-KC Conservatory of Music. She thrived in this total immersion in music, from trombone to electric piano and on to singing. Blessed with talents from both parents, B.J. has used her abilities to captivate audiences across United States, Canada, France, Spain and Tokyo. She has played and sung with a multitude of artist such as Ronnie Laws, Bloodstone, Bonnie Pointer, B.B. King, Fred Wesley, Marvin Cease, Roy Ayers and Sir Charles Jones. B.J.'s skills include writing, singing, playing, arranging, engineering and producing just to name a few of her talents. Among her production duties is the CD Better Man by the talented Mack Davis on the Mixed Company label. Clearly, Miller is a multi-gifted artist.
Carroline Shines
One of Alabama’s best kept secrets is the talented blues diva Carroline Shines. Carroline is carrying on the blues tradition she learned from her father, the late, great, world renowned Johnny Shines. As a legendary guitar player, singer and song writer, Johnny Shines lived the blues, performing and writing songs his entire life, even traveling with Robert Johnson in his youth. He was always a great educator and supporter of the blues, and passed on his passion to his daughter, Carroline Shines. Carroline grew up in this rich musical environment with her father as her mentor. She dedicated her early years to raising her own family and singing in the church and local bands while putting her own career on the back burner. In 2004 Carroline began working with the Alabama Blues Project after-school program, teaching young singers and helping to educate the next generation about the blues. Those who have long been aware of Carroline’s extraordinary talent are so excited that she is launching her performing career.
Big Joe Shelton
Big Joe Shelton was born in the Black Prairie region of northeast Mississippi. As a child growing up in a small Mississippi town he was exposed to African-American culture, which still strongly reflected that of the early part of the twentieth century. He attended tent minstrel shows, bar-b-que picnics and heard street musicians performing authentic traditional blues. As a young man he was fortunate in befriending Big Joe Williams and this association greatly influenced his musical sensibilities. As a child Shelton sang in church and grammar school choirs. In his teens he began playing the harmonica and guitar. Songwriting soon followed, and he found he had a wealth of experiences from which to draw. In the mid seventies he moved to Chicago and experienced the urban blues scene first hand. From Maxwell Street to the south side, he sopped up the blues gravy served by the likes of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Buddy Guy and many others. He is a member of the Mississippi Arts Commission “Artist Roster” and “Folk Arts / Folk Life Directory” and was honored by being included on the “Columbus / Catfish Alley” Mississippi Blues Trail Marker. Big Joe has performed at numerous festivals and clubs throughout the southeastern United States including: King Biscuit Blues Festival, Howlin’ Wolf Memorial Blues Festival, Freedom Creek Blues Festival and the Beal Street Mess Around. He has also toured England, France, Belgium, Bulgaria and the Netherlands. He has played with blues legends Big Joe Williams, Furry Lewis, Son Thomas, Junior Kimbrough, Fenton Robinson, Living Blues 2003 “Artist Of The Year” Willie King, BMA Award nominees Blind Mississippi Morris, R. L. Burnside and Johnny Rawls as well as Daniel “Slick” Ballinger, the 2007 BMA” Best New Artist” honoree. Among his many contributions toward perpetuation of the blues is his involvement with the Jazz Foundation of America and the Howlin’ Wolf Blues Societies “blues in the school” educational programs.
Dr. Burt
Dr. G.B. Burt was born in Birmingham, Ala. on January 30, 1937. During WWII, his family moved to the west coast where his father went to work in the shipyards. In 1947, his family moved back to Alabama and then on to Florida often migrating to wherever his dad could find work. He comes from a musical family. His mother played the piano and sang gospel music. His father and two uncles, Arthur and Herbert Burt, were all blues guitarists. G.B. took up the guitar and started playing the blues when he was in his teens and has kept it up ever since. When he was 14, he began to box. In 1954, he fought in the Golden Gloves tournament and later he trained with Alvin Blues Lewis who went on to fight Muhammad Ali. When he was 30, he married and settled down and found work with Ford Motors in Michigan. After nearly 10 years he went out on his own, bought a wrecker truck and became an independent mechanic, a job he continues to this day.
PHOTO GALLERIES OF THE 2009 BLUES EXTRAVAGANZA IF YOU'D LIKE TO ORDER PRINTS, PLEASE CONTACT MICHAEL ADAMS AT
(205) 792-4831 OR photomca@yahoo.com AND HAVE FILENAMES ON HAND
Our award-winning blues camps preserve the blues while passing it on to the next generation - and we need your help!
The Alabama Blues Project is in its 11th year of award-winning blues camps. The ABP's After-School Blues Camps give youth positive ways to express emotions through blues music. The program is a mixture of hands on music instruction taught by professional musicians, a life-skills curriculum, and blues history lessons.
In the current economic climate, state and federal funding for the arts is being cut nationwide, and the Alabama Blues Project is feeling the effects of those cuts. We are seeking help from individuals and organizations to subsidize the program costs for at-risk children who attend our 2009 Spring After-School Blues Camp. The registration per child is $165 for a 14-session semester, including the Open House performance. Any donation to defray the cost of providing the Alabama Blues Project's After-School Camps is appreciated! The ABP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed the law.
DONATE ONLINE TO THE
BLUES CAMP SUPPORT FUND!
or mail your donation * to:
Alabama Blues Project
Blues Camp Student Scholarship Fund
712 25th Avenue
Northport, AL 35476
* Please make checks payable to Alabama Blues Project
During camp, students from the ages of 8-17 learn to play blues music on their choice of voice, guitar, drums or harmonica. By practicing and performing together, Blues Camp students learn teamwork, social skills, discipline, and improve their self-confidence. The camp culminates with an Open House performance, in which the students are able to showcase their skills for the public. Our 2009 Spring After-School Blues Camp Open House "Blues Extravaganza" at the Bama Theatre will be on May 1st. Individuals and organizations donating to help subsidize the cost of Blues Camp will recieve two free tickets to the show so they can see firsthand how much their support means to the ABP and our students!
The ABP makes a special effort to attract at-risk children who might not otherwise have access to arts programming. We partner with the Boys & Girls Club of West Alabama, YMCA, Tuscaloosa Housing Authority, United Methodist Children’s Home, DHR, and Brewer Porch Children’s Center to provide our services to the children in our community who will benefit from them the most. This amazing program is open to other area children of all backgrounds and experience levels. It is our desire to provide children with the opportunity to learn about this important American art form in a diverse, safe, nurturing, and fun environment.
We would greatly appreciate any financial assistance you can provide to help us continue to touch children's lives with the lessons and inspiration of the blues.
