2009 Sunflower Festival honors Clarksdale native Sam Cooke
Main Stage & Educational Forum on Sam Cooke will feature ‘First Lady of Soul’ Bettye LaVette who sang Cooke’s anthem ‘Change is Gonna Come’ at President Barack Obama’s inaugural in D.C.
The Sunflower welcomes members of the Sam Cooke family, the International Sam Cooke Fan Club, celebrities and musicians whose careers have been influenced by his music, local friends and fans who are participating in the “Remembering Sam Cooke” Educational Forum and officials of the Mississippi Heritage Trail who will be unveiling the Sam Cooke marker during this festival.
Sunflower’s mission is to preserve, promote, perpetuate area’s musical cultural heritage in a FREE community celebration
CLARKSDALE - The 22nd annual festival on August 7-8-9, 2009 will honor Clarksdale native Sam Cooke, who grew up here singing in a children’s gospel group with his siblings, became lead singer with the Soul Stirrers, and later crossed over to become the world’s most famous soul vocalist.
The importance of his contributions in the world of music and his influences on other artists will be celebrated on stage during this festival and also during a unique afternoon educational forum that is open to music fans of all ages. Participating will be members of the Cooke family and the International Sam Cooke Fan Club who are traveling here from long distances, local residents who remember the artists and musicians who were influenced by him. The Mississippi Heritage Trail also will be unveiling a marker dedicated to Sam Cooke during the Sunflower Festival’s activities.
The Sam Cooke tribute has grown from the City of Clarksdale’s “Walk of Fame” plaque dedication in April 2008 that was so successful that a decision was unanimous to continue the connection and the celebration through the Sunflower’s 2009 festival.
The Sunflower River Blues Association is presenting “The Great Lady of Soul” Bettye LaVette as its outstanding headliner and participant in the educational forum honoring Sam Cooke.
A veteran performer and recording artist for Atlantic Records whose return to the music scene with the album “I’ve Got My Own Hell to Raise,” has exploded with accolades.
Miss LaVette is recipient of the Blues Music Comeback Award, formerly called Handy Awards. She performed at the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors and during the inaugural activities for President Barack Obama where she sang the Sam Cooke anthem,“Change Is Gonna Come.”
LaVette cut her first record for Atlantic at the age of 16, starred in a Broadway show with Cab Calloway and has toured with Ben E. King, Otis Redding, and James Brown.
Juke Blues magazine describes her voice as “Tortuous soul at its most raw and almost frightening in its intensity.”
During the Sam Cooke Tribute and educational forum titled, “Remembering Sam Cooke,” local residents will be sharing their personal experiences about the celebrity, and a local men’s gospel chorus will be singing Soul Stirrers selections. Anticipated are lively dialogue, discussion and interactions between the audience and speakers.
Sunflower Association members meet bi-monthly to plan the event and to keep it free through grants, donations from businesses, corporations, and individuals.
All donations are tax-deductible and directly pay performers and production costs of the festival.
Blues Association members range from professionals in medicine, law, and education to secretaries, cooks, and prison guards. All pay $15 membership dues; many make significant financial donations as well as invaluable contributions of services and countless hours of work. The festival has become the largest tourism event in Coahoma County and a major boost to the local economy.
The Sunflower River Blues Association is a bi-racial, non-profit, 501 © Organization of volunteers – 50 percent African-American – 50 % white – commited to preserving, promoting, perpetuating, and documenting blues in its homeland and to sponsoring community events related to informing area citizens about the importance of their cultural heritage through the annual Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival.
The festival has been featured for the past several years as the cover story of the Clarion-Ledger’s Weekend Entertainment Tabloid, and in May 2008 USA Weekend selected the festival as one of the Top 10 places in America to hear authentic music.
The festival sponsors four stages: two acoustic stages, a gospel stage, and the main electric stage. Festival activities begin with electric performances Friday afternoon on the Blues Alley stage generally opening with students from the Delta Blues Museum and continuing through 11 p.m. headliners; an acoustic stage inside Clarksdale Station, the historic passenger depot that begins Saturday morning and ends with a traditional procession led by the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band founded by the late Othar Turner, to the main Blues Alley Stage and on to a second acoustic stage on Sunflower Avenue. Electric blues continues on the main stage through headliners Saturday night at 11 p.m. The gospel festival is held late Sunday afternoon in the air-conditioned City Auditorium.
For many years the association has encouraged and assisted local clubs to book many festival musicians to play after hours, and bookings are announced daily from the main stage.
The festival’s three-day lineup includes top performers who are aware of Clarksdale’s legacy as home to W.C. Handy, Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Son House, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, and John Lee Hooker. Past performers have included many famous musicians including Charlie Musselwhite, Little Milton, Ike Turner, Pinetop Perkins, Koko Taylor, Bob Margolin, Hubert Sumlin, Carey Bell, Honeyboy Edwards, Bobby Rush, Bobby Blue Bland, Denise LaSalle, Sam Carr, Latimore, Big Bill Morganfield, Big Jack Johnson, Super Chikan Johnson, Shemekia Copeland, Shirley Brown, the Jackson Southernaires, and the Myles Family.
Blues Association members participate in planning and vote on headliners and lineups. Meetings are open; new members and volunteers are encouraged to attend monthly meetings.
The entire state of Mississippi benefits from the celebration that is linked internationally to a large sister festival in Notodden, Norway. The festival draws an international audience with music fans planning trips to the U.S. to attend.
Among the visitors signing the hospitality roster are residents of Europe, Asia, Scandinavia, South American. In 2008 visitors for the first time arrived from Egypt, Mexico, and Portugal.
They are attracted not only by the wonderful music – the Sunflower has been called “America’s purest blues festival” but also its laid-back atmosphere, the accessibility of artists, and the Southern hospitality of hometown residents. Visitors sometimes are “adopted” by locals and remain friends from year to year.
The festival is handicap-accessible, and the association is headed by co-chairmen John Sherman and Melville Tillis. Both are veteran organizers – John Sherman is president of the Chamber of Commerce a heads a busy law office. Mr. Tillis is a retired educator, blues club owner and a former musician who played trumpet in Ike Turner’s hometown band. He founded the gospel festival many years ago.
The other board members have many years experience in their position, and the festival is fortunate to have dozens of volunteers who enjoy interacting with global music fans.
The festival appreciates its many local collaborators including the Delta Blues Museum that donates the main stage, green room, Greyhound Bus Station and assists with many services; John and Lori Moore and their staff at 305 Spin, who donate free webmaster services; the Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Commission who provide funding for national advertising; association members who donate all graphic design for national advertising, billboards, and the program, church groups that donate and serve food for the gospel performers. Others prepare grilled chicken, burgers; restaurants donate trays of appetizers. Members volunteer to serve at the VIP preview supper featuring “Grits, Greens, and Barbecue.”
The Association books a local service to keep the stages, backstage areas, and dressing rooms safe and works with insect control for mosquito sprays, Clarksdale’s Public Works Department to maintain the ground.
Tax-deductible donations are encouraged and may be mailed to the Sunflower River Blues Association, Box 1562, Clarksdale, MS 38614
VIP memberships are also being accepted; passes/wristbands may be picked up at the VIP tent during the festival. Donations of $300 to the SRBA provide hospitality, tables and seating, refreshments for four guests beneath the large air-cooled VIP tent on Friday and Saturday during the festival. The tent is located near the Main Stage.
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Inducted into the first Rock n' Roll Frame Hall of Fame, Clarksdale native Sam Cooke, grew up singing with his siblings in a children's gospel group; moved up as lead singer of the Soul Stirrers and crossed over to become the world's most famous soul vocalist. The celebrity musician is being honored by the Sunflower Festival on the main stage and also an Educational Forum: "Remembering Sam Cooke."
"The First Lady of Soul" Bettye LaVette will be headlining the Sunflower's Saturday night stage.
Pictured with President Barack Obama following the Kennedy Center Honors program, Bettye LaVette also sang the Sam Cooke anthem, 'Change Is Gonna Come' during the president's inaugural ceremonies.
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