Mississippi Article Archives
Gimme Some Sugar, Darlin': The Quintessential Southern Cookbook
If you love to cook or just love to collect cookbooks, start making space on your bookshelf now because there's a new cookbook in town. This delightful compendium of all things culinary, Gimme Some Sugar, Darlin' by Mississippian Laurance Daltroff Triplette, is true piece read more...
Luther Dickinson: A Thousand Footprints in the Sand
By James Calemine Luther read more...
Tennessee Williams: 27 Wagons Full of Cotton
Tennessee Williams: 27 Wagons Full of Cotton By James Calemine Born in Columbus, Mississippi, on March 26, 1911, Thomas (Tennessee) Williams wrote plays, short stories, novels and poetry. Some of his characters rank as the most memorable in read more...
Swampland's Top 25 Albums of 2011
As March fades and the first quarter of 2012 comes to a close, Swampland has used this moment to look back on 2011 putting together our list of last year's best music releases from the South. Although we've named 25 records on our Top 25 Albums of 2011, each one serves as read more...
"What Does the Lord Require of You But to do Justice...?"
By Patsy Glenn, Guest Writer
The GRITZ Stone Ground & Southern Compilation Home Page
Welcome to the official information page for the GRITZ Stone Ground and Southern Music Compilation Series. We hope you will enjoy these free downloads, visit the band websites and order their albums. Please be sure to give us your read more...
Truth And Salvage Company: From the Hills of Carolina To the Hills of California
Truth and Salvage Company: From the Hills of Carolina To The Hills of California By James Calemine The rare collection of songwriters in Truth And Salvage Company originate from Atlanta, New Orleans, Tupelo and Ohio, met in Asheville, North Carolina, read more...
New Orleans Journal Episode Three: Culture, Cuisine, and "Coffee Shop Chronicles"
Randy and I arrived in NOLA on April 9 by way of Hattiesburg, MS. We elected to spend the first night of the trip in Mississippi because we had heard of a superb restaurant in downtown Hattiesburg read more...
Expanding The NCAA Tournament Would Further Erode An Already Suffering Sport
It’s Championship week in college basketball, and it’s a thrilling time to watch teams from smaller conferences earn their way into the Big Dance. While few believe that the regular season is what it used to be (especially when compared to college football), the read more...
Six Degrees of Swampland: The Dickinson Family
Jim Dickinson--The High Priest of Memphis Mojo--shines like a beacon of light in the music world. Dickinson’s indelible read more...
SEC, Big 12, & ACC Bowl Primer: Post-January 1 Edition
SEC 01/01 –.Auburn vs. Northwestern - Outback Bowl (11 am EST – ESPN) 01/01 – LSU vs. Penn State - Independence Bowl (1 pm EST – read more...
SEC, Big 12, & ACC Bowl Primer: Pre-January 1 Edition
SEC 12/27 – Kentucky vs. Clemson - Music City Bowl (8:30pm EST – read more...
Weekly Fever Review #5: The ACC Still Not Progressing Quickly Enough
As we head into October, we've learned quite a few things about this current college football season. SEC - This conference remains on top, not only for our Footprint, but also nationally. There are still 3 SEC teams in the top 5, and there are two teams read more...
Weekly Fever Review #4: NYC Bowl Hypocrisy, Etc.
It's going to be a briefer than normal weekly fever. We will take a look at some key games coming up and how they affect our teams and conferences as a whole, but first let's start with a subject that really has us a bit miffed.
Weekly Fever Review #3: The South "Officially" Becomes the Home of College Football
We would be remiss if we didn't start our Weekly Fever with some big news - the College Football Hall of Fame will relocate from South Bend, Indiana (home of Notre Dame) to Atlanta by read more...
Weekly Fever Review: College Football's Week Two - Big 12/ACC Struggles, etc
Now that week two of the college football season is behind us, we've learned a little more about our teams and what the season might have in store.
Weekly Fever Review: Reflections on College Football's Week One
We thought we'd provide a few thoughts after the first week of the college football season just before tonight's Clemson - Georgia Tech game. In the months that pass between each football season, certain things are put under the microscope by the media and the fans. Here read more...
Walking Through The Fire with Mark Karan
by Sonny Edwards Because live music is what it’s really all about, Jemimah Puddleduck will celebrate the release of Mark Karan’s Walk Through the Fire by playing on David Gans’ Dead to the World show on KPFA on July 1st, 2009, from 8 pm to read more...
The GRITZ Legends of Southern Rock Photo Scrapbook
Sometimes, a picture truly is worth a thousand words... Welcome to the GRITZ Legends of Southern Rock Photo Scrapbook. This will be an ongoing, often updated, collection of classic and new Southern Rock photographs, many of which have never before read more...
Ean Evans of Lynyrd Skynyrd: A Memorial; Frynds Remember the "Mississippi Kid"
Wayne “Ean” Evans, bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd, has died after a hard fought battle with cancer. He was 48. Evans was
The GRITZ Legends of Southern Rock Photo Scrapbook : Part 16
Volunteer Jam: Toy Caldwell, Dobie Gray; Henry Paul; Jimmy Hall.
The True Era of Southern Rock 1969-1979
by Michael Buffalo Smith The definitive Southern Rock era began in 1969. In Macon, Georgia. Phil Walden, who had previously been known for his work with r&b acts like read more...
It Came from Old Memphis
The Death of Community Activist/Blues Musician Willie King 1943-2009 by Andy Moore In early 2002, I worked a stint at a small, family owned record distributor in Nashville. Nothing too exciting, we had our only sales success with some locally read more...
The Legends of Southern Rock Photo Scrapbook, Part Two
THE RANTS: Toy Caldwell and George McCorlkle's pre-Toy Factory, pre-Marshall Tucker band. read more...
The Legends of Southern Rock Photo Scrapbook, Part Four
Mark Emerick (Commander Cody) jams with Dickey Betts & Great Southern.
Southern Literature: Roots and Branches
---by Penne J. Laubenthal What is Southern literature and when did it begin? We know that literature was being written in the not yet self-consciously read more...
The 25 Best Album Covers of Southern Rock
by Michael Buffalo Smith I am really excited about the recent comeback of vinyl records. I mean, not only is the old analog sound richer and warmer, but the big LP jackets were always a treat in and of themselves, from the liner notes and photos to the inserts. (Our read more...
Recruiting Never Ends in the South
When it comes to college football, just ‘Google’ the phrase “recruiting is the lifeblood” and you’ll see a ton of results. The fact that quality recruiting is the number one key for long-term success in the big-time world of college football has never read more...
Power Rankings: College Football Tradition By State
by Patrick Snow With the football season fast approaching, we thought it was time to take a State-by-State look at the schools and traditions that make up the religion that is college football in our Swampland footprint. Gold read more...
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends: Six Degrees of Swampland
SPF T.I. Poll (Week 13): William Faulkner Provides Our Rankings
As the season nears conclusion, it's time to break down our 13 teams into groups, Faulkner-style. With apologies to this great writer, the titles and themes of his novels and stories seemed to fit our group of thirteen as the season nears its close.
Suicide and the South
by Penne J. Laubenthal When he was only 31 years old, the brilliant and talented John Kennedy Toole killed himself by using a garden hose to asphyxiate himself with exhaust fumes from his car. His read more...
The 100 Defining Moments in Southern Rock: Part Six (Final Installment)
17. Bonnie Bramlett’s Run On Roseanne (1991) Bonnie (Then called Bonnie Sheridan) shows up as a waitress in a diner and a friend of Roseanne in both the third and read more...
What It Is--Is Swamp Music--Is What It Is
What It Is—Swamp Music—Is What It Is
GRITZ Presents: Buffalo Roaming
BUFFALO ROAMING
The 100 Defining Moments in Southern Rock: Part Five
by Michael Buffalo Smith And we continue.... 28. “Stompin’ Room Only” Released (2003) The “Holy Grail” for Marshall Tucker Band fans, read more...
The 100 Defining Moments in Southern Rock: Part Four
by Michael Buffalo Smith 39. Jammin’ for Danny Joe Brown - (July 18, 1999) An all star concert headed up by Riff West to raise money for
The 100 Defining Moments in Southern Rock: Part Three
59. “Freebird” The Movie Premiers (1996) Drawn mostly from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s 1976 show at Knebworth Fair in England. the movie also included footage from a few read more...
The 100 Defining Moments in Southern Rock: Part Two
79. Cameron Crowe Puts The Allmans On the Cover of the Rolling Stone (December 6, 1973) Cameron Crowe went on the road with The Allman Brothers at the age of 15, and read more...
A Southern Strategy For The NBA
Now that we welcome another NBA team to our Footprint (three cheers for OKC), it's time for the NBA to start making some other changes that will help this league's popularity continue to grow in our read more...
The 100 Defining Moments in Southern Rock: Part One
by Michael Buffalo Smith 100. “Pony Boy” Hand bone (1973) Dickey Betts brought country music sensibility into
Guest blog by Bebe Gish Shaw: Magical Mississippi Tour
There are magical moments in teaching which remind us that we do not teach to live but rather live to teach, and Saturday, April 19, 2008, was one of those halcyon days of academic heaven in which one goes into third person, watching himself watching the wonderment sparkle in read more...
Ten Great DVD's For Southern Rockers
by Michael Buffalo Smith 1. Almost Famous (2000) The semi-autobiographical story of read more...
The Greatest Songwriters of The Southern Rock Era
by Michael Buffalo Smith 1. Dickey read more...
The Greatest Instrumentalists of The Southern Rock Era
INSTRUMENTALISTS (OTHER THAN GUITAR/KEYS/DRUM KIT) by Michael Buffalo Smith
The SEC At A Crossroads: Don't Make NASCAR's Mistake
The SEC sets the pace in all of college athletics. The question is what will it do for an encore? Last week's meetings in Destin, FL ended up largely becoming a time to reflect on
The Greatest Keyboard Players of The Southern Rock Era
by Michael Buffalo Smith 1. Chuck Leavell Take one look at the Georgia boy’s
The Greatest Bass Players of the Southern Rock Era
1. Tommy Caldwell - According to all of the members of The Marshall Tucker read more...
Great Southern Record Producers
"There are three kinds of record producers. The first kind is the documentarian -- someone like Leonard Chess, who goes into a bar on the South Side of Chicago, sees Muddy Waters with a six-piece combo, then pulls him into the studio the next day and says, read more...
The Greatest Drummers of The Southern Rock Era
by Michael Buffalo Smith 1. Jakson Spires of Blackfoot In my opinion,
Top 25 Songs of The Southern Rock Era
by Michael Buffalo Smith 1. Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd As if there was any doubt read more...
The Greatest Vocalists of The Southern Rock Era
by Michael Buffalo Smith
The Top Ten Guitarists of the Southern Rock Era
The Greatest Guitar Slingers of The Southern Rock Era by Michael Buffalo Smith
GRITZ Southern Rock Lists
SWAMPLAND'S SOUTHERN ROCK LISTS
Southern Sporting "Events"
by Patrick Snow As I attended a Kentucky Derby function this past Saturday, it was never more evident that Southerners must throw a pretty good party. We are probably more known
Gritz Legends of Southern Rock
A handful of bands from the Southern Rock Era have earned the title of "Legend." These are the bands that defined the genre and set the bar for all other bands in their wake. These are the few, the originals, the Legends of Southern read more...
The BCS: A Friend to the SEC (and the Rest of the Footprint)
We at Tribal Fever find it odd that it would be the SEC who would call for a playoff system. We wonder how the SEC can be so blind to the fact that the BCS has been great for that conference. For those that love the idea of a playoff, we will list the reasons why most read more...
Snowman's 2008 Draft Wrap Up
The annual NFL Draft is now over, and the critics will have a field day with opinions on who did well and who faltered with their choices. I thought I would take a look at the Draft from the collegiate view and see who from our region will have the biggest impact on their new read more...
Jim Dickinson's All-Star Music & Film
In Jim Dickinson’s first contribution to Swampland/Mystery And Manners, he wrote an indelible piece on Memphis barbecue. For his second installment Dickinson cites his favorite pianists, films and a desert island music stash. The High Priest of Memphis read more...
Record Stores of the Swampland Footprint
ALABAMA CD Cellar Anniston AL Oz Music Tuscaloosa AL ARKANSAS
Jim Dickinson's Best Memphis Barbecue & Favorite Meals On The Road
When I interviewed the High Priest of Memphis Mojo—Jim Dickinson—I asked him if he’d be interested in submitting his inimitable insight on barbecue, music and movies. Mr. read more...
Natasha Trethewey: Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
by Penne J. Laubenthal Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey is a poet who gives voice to the voiceless, names to the nameless, and who creates read more...
The Top Ten Albums of Southern Rock According to...
On the heels of my own Top Twenty Five Southern Rock albums, we asked a few of our friends to share their own lists of Favorite Southern Rock albums, and we got a few real surprises, but one fact read more...
The Top Ten Albums of Southern Rock
Southern Rock’s Top Ten Welcome to a new feature at GRITZ called Southern Rock’s Top Ten, where we will be asking the stars an journalists associated with the genre, as well as some of today’s country music stars, to share
Darius Goes West: Twelve Guys and a Dream
Once in a great while, just when you think there is no reason to get up in the morning and that there is no hope for humanity, and that people will just go on killing one another forever, and that tomorrow will be probably be even worse than today, then something happens to turn read more...
Fifth Annual Oxford Film Festival
The Fifth Annual Oxford Film Festival (OFF) will open Wednesday evening, read more...
SEC: Conference King Once Again
By Patrick Snow It’s an argument that will never end-whose Conference is better? Fans will debate this topic vociferously every season, and the answer always tends to lie close to your address. I’m not sure that the Bowl games are the best way to evaluate read more...
Huge Hires for the SEC Old Guard
By Patrick Snow It has already been quite the postseason in the SEC coaching ranks, and it’s only going to get more interesting. With the recent additions of Nick Saban and Bobby Petrino along with Houston Nutt and Les Miles staying in the conference, read more...
Goodbye, Babylon: A Patchwork Quilt of American Music
GOODBYE, BABYLON A Patchwork Quilt of American Music By James Calemine
SEC Coaching - None Better
In the end, it was a surprise. But the surprise came in the school chosen, no the destination - the SEC West. Bobby Petrino finally made it to the coaching promised land when he was named the head coach of Arkansas late last night. Fresh off of a Monday Night read more...
Reality Check
By Patrick Snow Some schools in our Swampland Region are currently learning a harsh lesson: if you are going to make a major change like firing your football coach, you must have a better alternative ready to go. Arkansas, Southern Miss(and Michigan on a national read more...
Coaching Carousel
By Patrick Snow The end of the college football season always brings with it unfulfilled goals which translates into coaching changes. There has been quite a bit of movement in our region. Some of the firings were inevitable while others showed us just how unrealistic read more...
The Great Southern Sportswriters Series
Writing and storytelling have always been deeply ingrained in Southern culture. The people that combined that art with the Swampland Footprint's passion for sports make the whole experience more special and unique. Swampland Sports is proud to offer this series of read more...
Enjoy the Season
By Patrick Snow Another college football season--another initial release of the BCS standings. This annual ritual seems to send everyone running to call a local talk show to scream about a Playoff system and how the middle letter should be removed from read more...
SEC: Top Level for Coaches?
By Patrick Snow Many of us who grew up in the South have always believed that the SEC was King when it came to sports and our allegiances. We watched and cheered for professional teams, but our passion was always at the collegiate level. For many years, read more...
The State of Baseball in the South
By Patrick Snow (editor's note: Swampland Sports considers the following teams to be part of the Footprint: Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds, Florida Marlins, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, read more...
A Modest Proposal: Southern College Conference Realignment
Now that Swampland Sports has launched Tribal Fever (TF), our dispatch dedicated to college sports in the South, we figured it was time to do weigh in on the current state of college football conferences. The college football conference landscape in the read more...
Athletic Directors: Be Ready To Ante Up
Southern college football-we live it and breathe it year-round, and it has become abundantly clear that the stakes of the game have been raised with some of the recent coaching hires. The ‘price of poker’ is increasing steadily, and if your school is not ready to ante read more...
W.C. Handy Music Festival, Florence, Alabama, July 22-29
“If Beale Street could talk Married men would have to take up their beds and walk…” Beale Street Blues W. C. Handy wrote those words when he was read more...
Clifton Taulbert at the 6th Annual Writers Conference
Ah, April in Alabama---blistering sun one day, pouring rain the next. A certainty regarding the South is that one just has to wait long enough and the weather will change. Outside the conference building at Calhoun Community College in Decatur, Alabama, a precious rain is falling, read more...
Marty Stuart Takes Charge of His Music
MARTY STUART TAKES CHARGE OF HIS MUSIC by Derek Halsey February, 2006 Marty Stuart has entered what may be the golden age of his career. He has taken hold of the reins of his musical visions and ideas by starting his own read more...
Mudcat: Shake 'Em On Down
MUDCAT: SHAKE ‘EM ON DOWN By James Calemine October 2004 Daniel “Mudcat” Dudeck sits in a wooden chair on the small stage playing Blind Willie McTell’s read more...
Hot Tamales and They Red Hot
Hot Tamales and They Red Hot by Ron Williams December 2002 On Friday, November 27, 1936, in a hotel room in San Antonio, Texas, Robert Johnson recorded "They’re Red Hot." While this song read more...
John Lee Hooker Memorial
John Lee Hooker (1917-2001) The Man is Gone, But The Boogie Lives On by J.C. Juanis June 21, 2001 The music community lost a great one today, when news of the death of bluesman John Lee Hooker read more...