Buffalo River Music Fest - July 18 Lobelville, Tennessee (Perry County) To Host Music Festival

    LOBELVILLE, TE, July 13, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Lobelville, Tennessee (Perry County) To Host Music Festival on July 18

The volunteer organization Perry County Forward, Buddy the Dog Entertainment (an actual performing dog) and the Town of Lobelville jointly announce the 1st Annual Buffalo River Music Festival to be held Saturday, July 18, 2009, at the Main Street Music Park in Lobelville, Tennessee. Lobelville is 65 miles west of Nashville on Highway 13. The scheduled concerts and activities are a simple, free celebration of both summertime in rural America and evening summer music concerts under the stars.

The 5:00 PM concert on Main Street in Lobelville will feature country hit-makers Razzy Bailey (five certified #1 songs) and Terri Gibbs ("Somebody's Knockin'"), noted Nashville blues singers/guitarists James "Nick" Nixon and Johnny Jones, Queen of Nashville blues Marion James, California songwriter Sarah Hays, blues B-3 organist Moe Denham, harmonica great Kirk "Jelly Roll" Johnson, husband/wife duet Blue Mother Tupelo, Perry County music treasure McDonald Craig, Cajun bluesman Les Kerr, teenage phenoms the Brooks Brothers, the Golden Girls featuring Buddy the Dog, singer Billy Prine and many others.

This family-friendly event will feature free kiddie rides and games for youngsters from 11:00 AM until 5:00 PM, with food and drink concessions offered by the Perry County Rescue Squad. There will also be a "Dunk the Deputy" dunk tank from 11:00 AM until 5:00 PM, manned by off-duty sheriff's deputies to benefit the Lobelville Middle school basketball team.

"I believe that now more than ever, there are fewer opportunities for people to get together and listen to music, in a very small-town atmosphere, where it's about getting together and enjoying great tunes - not about profit or high ticket prices," explains Lobelville Mayor Robby Moore on motivation for the free concert. "In keeping with the economic recovery here in Perry County, this is just another cause for celebration, to come together and be thankful for what we have accomplished. To lose ourselves this particular evening in some intelligent and heart-warming, feel-good music.

Terri Gibbs has been one of music's favorites over the years and continues to warm hearts today. She was born in Miami, Florida, in 1954, and moved to a suburb of Augusta, Georgia during her first year, where she grew up under the influence of Southern culture and music. Directly after Terri was born she became blind. Her blindness was caused by complications stemming from her pre-mature birth. By the age of three, Terri was playing the piano, and was beginning to develop her singing skills, as well.

After Terri graduated from high school at age 18, she set her sights on Nashville. She traveled there a couple of times a year over the next eight years, continuing to submit demo tapes to record companies. During those early years, Gibbs met Chet Atkins back stage at one of his performances. He asked her to send him a demo and after hearing her sing, he supported and encouraged her to continue singing and song writing as much as she could. By 1980, she had signed as an artist at MCA, where they agreed to release three songs.

Terri Gibbs very first release was the mega-smash "Somebody's Knockin'" and it immediately became a major global "crossover" hit by 1981. In that year, Terri received the very first Horizon Award from the Country Music Association, and received the New Female Vocalist of the year from The Academy of Country Music. In addition, she received her first of two Grammy nominations.

Gibbs said, "I was actually saved in 1980, but it wasn't until early 1986, that I became very interested in recording Gospel music. Terri comments, "My album, What A Great Day, will hopefully pull a younger audience. My music is generally for all ages, and my concerts usually have something for everyone - they are very family-oriented. I'm hoping, though, to touch a younger audience, because the youth are the future, and I want them to know that Jesus does love them, as they are."

"I'm so looking forward to coming back to Perry County," declared soulful singer Razzy Bailey, who in 1981 was named Billboard magazine's Country Singles 'Artist of the Year'. "It is so beautiful with the two rivers (Tennessee and Buffalo) and all the woodlands. I have talked to residents there, and I've heard how the good folks of Perry County have been hit with some extra-hard economic times, but we're going to forget about all that on the 18th. Times are getting better! With the line-up of talented musicians and singers together in one place, this is going to be an awesome night of country and blues."

In 1978, Razzy Bailey released the single "What Time Do You Have to Be Back in Heaven," the first of five consecutive Top 10 hits. And in the early 1980's, Bailey reached his commercial peak with a string of these five number one hits: "Loving Up a Storm," "I Keep Coming Back," "Friends," "Midnight Hauler," and "She Left Love All Over Me" . Singer Dickey Lee hit number one with the Razzy Bailey-written song "9,999,999 Tears".

James "Nick" Nixon is a velvet-voiced blues/R&B entertainer, and was a Chess recording artist in the 1970s. He is one of the foremost vocalists in the blues world today, as well as an outstanding guitarist and bandleader entering his sixth decade of performing.

Johnny Jones was born in 1936, and traveled to Memphis at the age of 13, before moving with his mother to Chicago in the early 50s. There, he was exposed to all the blues greats of the era, including Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf. He shared an apartment with harmonica player Walter McCollum and together they formed a small group, working regularly with Junior Wells and Freddy King. His band, the Imperial 7, were formed in the early 60s, and worked regularly at the renowned New Era club in Nashville. Jimi Hendrix regularly sat in on these sessions. Jones also played rhythm guitar, alongside Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, in the backing band for the Dallas television show The Beat. He formed a new band in the late 60s, the King Casuals, and played guitar for Bobby "Blue" Bland.

Born and raised in Nashville, Marion James grew up in a family with a love for music. Like most great R&B singers, Marion's musical background is firmly rooted in the church. As a child, James first experience with blues music came from watching vaudeville shows, checking out local performers or listening to her mother's record collection of 78s. During the early 1960's, Marion's touring band included guitarist, Jimi Hendrix, and bassist, Billy Cox. In 1966, she recorded the top-ten hit "That's My Man" for Nashville's Excello Records. Since then, Marion has played to sold-out audiences in Europe and the Southeastern United States. Recently, she was part of the Country Music Hall of Fame exhibit "Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945-1970" covering the rich R&B music history of Nashville.

Blue Mother Tupelo is the husband and wife team of Ricky Davis (acoustic & electric guitars, dobro, vocals) and Micol Davis (piano, tambourine, vocals) who began performing together as a duo in 1995. Blue Mother Tupelo is pure heart and soul. BMT has been nominated several years in a row, as "Best Acoustic Blues Act" and Micol as "Female Vocalist of the Year" by the Music City Blues Society in Nashville.

Les Kerr is a songwriter, recording artist and performer who brings blues, rockabilly, New Orleans music, Zydeco, and bluegrass together to create his "Hillbilly Blues Caribbean Rock & Roll." Now based in Nashville, Kerr was born in Louisiana, and raised in Mississippi - in Jackson - and the Gulf Coast city of Pascagoula. Kerr's live performances have pleased audiences from Mississippi to Michigan.

Kirk "Jelly Roll" Johnson's soulful playing style of harmonica has earned him critical acclaim, and a place among Nashville's top session musicians. A native of Lake Charles, Louisiana, Jelly Roll's career has spanned over 35 years.

Since moving to Nashville in 1984, his harmonica sound has been heard on over 50 gold and platinum albums, including the three Grammy-winning albums. In 1998, Jelly Roll won the Nashville Music Award for Best Wind Instrumentalist. After receiving nominations in 1998 and 2000, he won "Best Specialty Instrument Award" in 2003, at the Academy of Country Music Awards.

Moe Denham began playing piano at the age of six. When he was 11, his mother bought a Hammond B-3 and Moe's musical direction was changed forever. A jazz and blues artist whose music expresses a deep spirituality, Moe calls his work "blazz" -- a sound fat with richness and warmth. In 1997, Keyboard magazine acknowledged Denham's place in the world of Hammond B-3 players. Written by associate editor Mark Vail, the book Keyboard Presents The Hammond Organ: Beauty in the B [Miller-Freeman Publications, ISBNO-87930-459-6], quotes Denham extensively. Today this multi-keyboardist and vocalist is one of the foremost practitioners of the Hammond B-3 organ sound.

Perry County native McDonald Craig is a pure traditional country singer who preserves and promotes the music and styling of Jimmie Rodgers. He was born in 1932, and is the second oldest of seven children. At the age of 20, McDonald left Linden and Perry County to join the U.S. Army and was assigned to a Gunnery Unit in Korea, where he earned a Bronze Star. When he returned from Korea, Mac stayed with his parents and continued to work the farm. He also returned to his music and during the mid-1960s McDonald landed a spot on Nashville independent label Gold Standard Records where he released four singles: "I Want To Tell You," "Buckeye, Ohio," You And My Old Guitar," and "I'll Never Go To Sleep Alone." In 1978, McDonald went to Meridian, Mississippi for the Jimmie Rodgers Yodeling Championship. He beat out 72 other contestants from across the world for the championship, making him the first and only African-American yodeler to ever accomplish that honor. Now 77, Craig is a rarity among American farmers. His Perry County home is a designated Century Farm - one that has been in his family for more than 100 years.

Perry County still has the highest unemployment rate for a county, in the entire state (24.6% in May '09 - source: TN Dept. of Labor & Workforce Development); one of the highest rates for almost five years (for a county percentage-wise) in America; one of the highest home foreclosure rates in the state; was one of only two counties in the state to have a decrease in population the last census; and has one of the state's lowest per capita incomes. Governor Phil Bredesen has recently commenced Perry County-specific employment programs to combat the economic downturns of this region.

Come enjoy the music, the free rides for the kids, and free trolley rides starting at noon. Buy a brat, relax and listen to the music under the stars.

It is recommended that patrons arrive early to the music festival, and blankets and lawn chairs are suggested for optimal seating comfort. For more information on the Buffalo River Music Festival, please contact the Lobelville Town Hall @ 931/593-2285.

Source: Perry County Chamber of Commerce
Website: http://perrycountytennessee.com

# # #