Music of the South Conference

Innovation and Experimental Music and the South: 2013 Music of the South Conference

The Center for Study of Southern Culture

University of Mississippi

April 3 and 4, 2013

Innovation and Experimental Music and the South: Music of the South Conference seeks to gather graduate students, faculty, and independent scholars to share current research on the culture, meaning, and practices surrounding music in and from the American South. This year’s conference explores the theme of Innovation and Experimental Music and the South. Specifically, the conference will consider a number of interrelated issues: How does innovative music originate in the South? Are there situations in which the South’s established and much-celebrated musical genres (jazz, blues, country, rock ‘n’ roll, rap, bluegrass, gospel) make it difficult for people to make innovative music? When and why do musical innovators choose to leave the South, or come to the South, or use those established genres as a basis for innovation?

The Music of the South Conference will feature academic panels, photo exhibits, films about music and live music performance. To download a copy of the 2013 Schedule, click here.

2013 MUSIC OF THE SOUTH CONFERENCE

Schedule of Events

Wednesday, April 3

Informal Discussions at 10 and 11. Participants can visit at their leisure to see and discuss new material available for music researchers.

10:00 a.m. NEW MATERIAL FROM THE BLUES ARCHIVE

Greg Johnson

Blues Archive – University of MS Library

11:00 a.m. MATERIALS FROM THE FIELD SCHOOL FOR CULTURAL

DOCUMENTATION

David Wharton

Blues Archive – University of MS Library

12:00 p.m. A HISTORY OF SOUTHERN RECORDING STUDIOS

Jim Markel and Mark Neill

Brown Bag Lecture (Ted Ownby moderates)

Tupelo Room, Barnard Observatory – UM Campus

1:00 p.m. SOUTHERN ROOTS MUSIC AND SWAMP SISTA CULTURE

Beth McKee and Susan W. Mills (Mark Camarigg moderates)

Blues Archive – University of MS Library

2:30 p.m. MUSICIANS TALKING MUSIC

Valerie June, Jake Fussell, Dent May (David Shirley moderates)

Blues Archive – University of MS Library

3:15 p.m. MUSIC AND CULTURAL TOURISM IN CLARKSDALE, MS

Clay Motley, Jesse Wright, Scott Barretta (George Dor moderates)

Blues Archive – University of MS Library

4:00 p.m. MUSIC AND THE CREATIVE ECONOMY

A discussion with Malcolm White and Tricia Walker

Blues Archive—University of MS Library

7:00 p.m. Valerie June in concert

Music of the South Concert Series

Ford Center for the Performing Arts Studio Theatre, Tickets, $10.00,

available at the door

9:30 p.m. Jake Fussell and Friends, Lamar Lounge, 1309 N. Lamar, Oxford

Thursday, April 4, 2013

9:00 a.m. POPULAR MUSICIANS AND SOUTHERN TRADITION

Alan Harrelson, a discussion of music traditions of the upcountry South

Kaitlyn Vogt, “From O, Brother to the Punch Brothers: The Sound, Appeal,

and Aesthetic of Pseudo-Bluegrass”

Mel Lasseter, ’Don’t you think we might have heard that before?’: The

Looping Temporal and Spatial Patterns of Andrew Bird’s Armchair

Apocrypha”(Greg Johnson moderates)

Blues Archive – University of MS Library

10:30 a.m. FILM – “JESUS IS MY ROCK”

Film by Tyler Keith

Blues Archive – University of MS Library

AFRICAN AMERICAN GOSPEL QUARTETS

Jennifer Bingo Gunter, “When a Quartet Means More”, Tyler Keith (Jimmy

Thomas moderates)

Blues Archive – University of MS Library

12:00 p.m. Lunch in Oxford

1:00 p.m. SESSION & PERFORMANCE WITH BAND FEUFOLLET

Jennifer Ritter Guidry and some members of Feufollet

(Mark Camarigg moderates)

Blues Archive – University of MS Library

2:00 p.m. CREATIVITY AND ITS SOURCES

Charles Hughes, “’The South’s Gonna Rise Again’: Race and ‘Southern

Music’ in the 1970s”

Ben Sandmel, discussing Ernie K-Doe (Scott Barretta moderates)

Blues Archive – University of MS Library

3:00 p.m. RACE, HISTORY AND MUSIC IN THE SOUTH

Keith Fudge, “Marchin’ Through the Halls of Karma: Black Oak Arkansas’s

Hellfire, Brimstone, and Confederate Rock-n-Roll”

DeLisa D. Hawkes, “And this program has been brought to you by your

national white supremacists!” Redefining Reconciliation in Civil War Era

Popular Entertainments

(Adam Gussow moderates)

Blues Archive – University of MS Library

4:00 p.m. LOCATING HIPHOP IN NEW ORLEANS

Alison Fensterstock, “The ‘Sissy Bounce’ Crossover: How a National

Audience may be changing a New Orleans Sound”

Holly Hobbs, “The NOLA Hiphop Archive: Video and Analysis”

Matt Sakakeeny, “The Place of Hip-Hop in the New Orleans Brass Band

Tradition” (Scott Barretta moderates)

Blues Archive – University of MS Library

6:00 p.m. Thacker Mountain Radio

A one-hour program featuring several conference participants, who will

sign books and cds after the show. Audience members should be seated by

5:45.

The Lyric Theater, on the Oxford Square

10:00 p.m. Music on the Oxford Square

Venues on the Oxford Square

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Scott Barretta, University of Mississippi and Highway 61 Radio

Mark Camarigg, Living Blues, Center for the Study of Southern Culture

George Dor, Music Department, University of Mississippi

Alison Fensterstock, New Orleans Times-Picayune

Feufollet, musicians, Lafayette, LA

Keith Fudge, Department of English, University of Arkansas Fort Smith

Jake Fussell, Southern Studies, University of Mississippi, and musician, Oxford

Jennifer Guidry, Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism, University of Louisiana Lafayette

Jennifer Bingo Gunter, History, University of South Carolina

Adam Gussow, Center for the Study of Southern Culture and English, University of Mississippi

Alan Harrelson, History, Mississippi State University

DeLisa D. Hawkes, English/Communications, North Carolina Central University

Holly Hobbs, Music, Tulane University

Charles Hughes, The Memphis Center at Rhodes College

Greg Johnson, Blues Archives, University of Mississippi

Valerie June, musician, Tennessee and Brooklyn

Tyler Keith, filmmaker, musician, Oxford

Mel Lasseter, Southern Studies, University of Mississippi

Jim Markel, Swampland Media

Dent May, musician, Oxford

Beth McKee, musician, Florida and Mississippi

Susan W. Mills, Hayes School of Music, Appalachian State University

Clay Motley, Honors College, Western Kentucky University

Mark Neill, producer

Ted Ownby, Center for the Study of Southern Culture, University of Mississippi

Matt Sakakeeny, Music Department, Tulane University

Ben Sandmel, writer, New Orleans, author of Ernie K-Doe: The R&B Emperor of New Orleans

David Shirley, writer, Oxford, MS

Kaitlyn Vogt, American Studies, University of North Carolina

Tricia Walker, Delta Music Institute, Delta State University and musician, Cleveland, MS

David Wharton, Center for the Study of Southern Culture, University of Mississippi

Malcolm White, Director of Tourism, Mississippi Development Authority

Jesse Wright, Clarksdale Press Register

Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture, http://southernstudies.olemiss.edu/; Living Blues magazine, http://www.livingblues.com/; the Blues Archive in the J.D. Williams Library, http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/general_library/archives/blues/; the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts, http://www.fordcenter.org/; and the Future of the South Endowment. All events are open to the public, and all except the concert at the Ford Center are free.

2012 Symposium

The Music of the South Symposium was held in March 2012 and celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture’s Master’s program in Southern Studies. The Symposium recognized the varied and rich tradition of music research explored by students in the program, and featured academic panels, photo exhibits, and films about music; and a finale concert at the Lyric Theater.

The interdisciplinary nature of the MA program makes it particularly suited to the study of music and music’s role in the history and culture of the region. Trained as scholars, a number of graduates are also musicians of local, regional, and national renown in many different genres.

To see photos from the Symposium, click here.