In 1973, about the time that I found the como fife and drum corp, I discovered the work of Bill Ferris. Bill’s LP, Mississippi Folk Voices,  features tracks of Napoleon Strickland and his como band, Sam Chatmon, the Prisoners from Parchman, and others. At that time, Bill’s vinyl anthology was a gold mine for young listeners learning about Mississippi’s cultural heritage. A 55-page book came along to help study his research.

When I think of Bill Ferris “hero” is the first word that comes to my mind. His lifetime of exploring, experiencing, interpreting and then sharing our culture is epic. When I mention great Mississippians of my generation, Bill Ferris’s contributions rank near the top.

Left: Bill Ferris filming by Hester Magnuson, The Storied South @ Copyright 2013.

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Over the years I have had occasions to work with Bill selling his fine books. Twenty-five years ago opening his Encyclopedia of Southern Culture at Hal and Mal’s was a Southern Nostalgic Blast. However, when I did a book signing for Bill’s Mule Book at the Jim Buck Ross Ag Center “Mule Pull” gathering with Bill riding a mule in the center ring, waving to the crowd is my most talked about Ferris memory.

Lemuria is proud to announce Bill’s new book, The Storied South, as a special First Editions Club selection for August. To have Bill as a new member of our heralded line of First Edition Club authors is a great honor for us. We acknowledge not just his fine book but his lifetime of literary contribution.

Bill’s ability to relate the creative legacies of his friends through conversation is unparalleled. With Bill’s relaxing interview skills, these folks come alive, and the reader is brought into the room and is spoken to directly and intimately. In this way The Storied South is a unique and enjoyable book.

Also special with this First Editions Club choice is the inclusion of Bill’s jacket photo and the opening section with our own Eudora Welty. First Editions Club started in 1993 and Miss Welty’s work was never included. Her last Lemuria public book signing was when Morgana came out. Eudora signed with Mildred Nungster Wolfe (illustrator) but in consideration of Miss Welty’s arthritis we chose never to ask for her signature again. Mildred and Eudora pictured below.

Now with Bill’s new interview in book form I feel Miss Welty is now also included in our club. Bill’s interpretive genius comes through with Eudora’s chat (or essay). For me, reading her words, I feel this body of work could be included as an epilogue to her beloved One Writer’s Beginnings.

So with all this being said, Lemuria is happy to celebrate jointly with the work of our two Mississippi heroes. Also, thrown in are the marvelous interviews with Robert Penn Warren, Margaret Walker Alexander, Alex Haley, and many more.

For desert, another Lemuria hero, Jackson’s own–and one-of-a-kind–Bobby Rush. And for your after dinner drink, Bill’s Storied South comes with a CD and DVD.

Bill Ferris will be at Lemuria Saturday, August 24 at 4:00 for a signing and talk to follow.

The Storied South: Voices of Writers and Artists by William Ferris, University of North Carolina Press, 2013. If you’d like us to ship you a copy, click here. Or give us a call and we’ll reserve a copy for you: 601.366.7619

Here at Lemuria we love books. We love everything about them, their look, feel, and smell; we love reading books more than collecting, most of the time. When you come into our shop, as I’m sure you’ve found out first hand, you never know what kind of treasures you’re going to find. We feel the same. Everyday at work it’s like mining for gold, but unlike sifting around in a creek hoping to find a scrap of wealth, treasure hunting at Lemuria is like panning through jewels for jewels. But sometimes you find something just really incredible.

David Foster Wallace anyone? Digging around one of our catacombs the other day we unearthed 4 ARCs of Girl With Curious Hair. [An ARC {advanced reader’s copy} is what publishers send to booksellers etc. prior to its publication.] Girl With Curious Hair, published in 1989, was DFW’s first collection of short stories. It’s really weird thinking of these books sitting in storage, unknown to anyone, for so many years. But how wonderful to have found them after all this time!

They are of course for sale to those lucky enough to get here first. Happy hunting y’all!

These ladies, Rosa Lee Hill, Jessie Mae Hemphill, and Ada Mae Anderson, come from a long line of musicians.  They were all taught to play by their father and or grandfather.  When George Mitchell arrived in Mississippi he was introduced to Rosa Lee and her niece, Jessie Mae at Fred McDowell’s house.  He couldn’t believe he was meeting Rosa Lee Hill and asked if he could record her.  She tells him not tonight but then invites him to her house in a few days and maybe then.

Rosa Lee Hill was born in Panola County in 1911 and her father was Sid Hemphill.  Sid was a popular  musician in the Senatobia area.  He played every night to make money for his family and taught all of them to play too.  Rosa Lee began playing guitar at age seven and was  playing parties with other family members by the age of ten.  Jessie Mae was Rosa Lee’s sisters child and as soon as she was old enough was taught to play guitar by her grandfather, Sid.  She soon though started to beat the snare drum with some of the Fife and Drum bands that played at the picnics around the area.  Ada Mae Anderson was the daughter of Sid’s brother, George Hemphill,  she played with the Hemphill clan when she was young but also sang in a female gospel band.  Jessie Mae is probably the most well known of the “Hemphill Girls” having collaborated on many albums and touring Europe and being featured in the documentary Deep Blues.  There is no doubt that the Hemphill Clan was an important and vital part of the history of the MS Hill Country Music history.

For your listening pleasure…Rosa Lee Hill singing Bullying Well.  This was recorded in Como, MS in 1967.

In April 1973, a few months before I turned 23 years old, I went to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for the first time.  A highlight, of which there were many, was my baptism by the mystic rhythms of Napoleon Strickland and the Como Fife and Drum Corp. Othar and Bernice Turner on the snare drum and R. L. Boyce on the bass drum.  Boyce was a little man who banged the hell out his big drum resting on his stomach with his back flat on the stage floor.

In 1967, George Mitchell, at the age of 23 years old, traveled from Minnesota to Como, Mississippi.  George stopped at Stuckeys for gas and asked his gas man, if he knew Fred McDowell.  The gas man replied, “Your looking at him”.  Como’s Stuckeys was owned by the father of Bubba O’Keefe, a blues hound and preservationist of the historic WROX radio station in Clarksdale. Bubba, his brother and I visited last weekend at the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival where they told me many stories about Mississippi Fred McDowell.

Mississippi Fred was nice to George and introduced him to his other hill country pals: Othar Turner, R.L. Burnside, Johnny Woods, Joe Callicott, Napoleon Strickland, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Rosa Lee Hill and Ada Mae Anderson.  For two weeks, George photographed and interviewed this unique culture of music within the musicians homes.

George’s photographs speak for themselves, but his book is not just another photography book.  His text is outstanding and compliments the photos in every way.  The reader feels as if these musicians are talking to you personally about their lives and music.  It’s powerful how insightful George was as a young man.  With his honorable reflections he captured the dignity of each individual.

As far as people who could be a life inspiration for someone, that would be Rosa Lee Hill.  She was as poor as they come.  There was nothing around her house.  No streets, just hills, in the middle of nowhere.  And there was next-to-nothing in her house.  That someone that poor could be that spirited and that full of life….I just liked her.  As a person, she was one of my favorite people. —George Mitchell

George Mitchell will be signing North Mississippi Hill Country Blues 1967 (UPM, 2013) at LEMURIA on Wednesday, August 21, at 5:00 and reading at 5:30.

 George Mitchell will also be at the MISSISSIPPI MUSEUM OF ART on Tuesday, August 20. 

At 5:30 there will be a reception and cash bar; At 6:00 the program will begin; A book signing will follow. Click here for more info.

Our friend David McCarty shared this on Facebook yesterday and I just thought this was too cool not to share on the blog as well.

Eudora Welty gets quite a laugh.

Don’t forget Bill Ferris will be here on Saturday, August 24 at 4:00 to sign and talk about his new book The Storied South which features interviews from Eudora Welty, Alice Walker, Ernest Gaines, Alex Haley, Margaret Walker, Robert Penn Warren, and Sterling Brown plus many other artists, painters and musicians including Bobby Rush.