Mississippi Arts Hour

David travel to Hattiesburg to speak with singer/songwriter Elsie, who is currently competing on America's Got Talent tv show. She tells David about her years growing up in Columbia, Mississippi, the lessons she learned as a church musician, and her travels throughout the world.

Larry talks with Oxford writer Larry Wells about his new book, Backstory: A Literary Life on the Run. Co-authored with his late wife Dean Faulkner Wells, the book highlights the couple’s years working as freelance journalists, traveling throughout the U.S. and writing stories on wing walkers, cave exploring, literary graveyards and more.

David travels to Meridian to visit with Penny Kemp, President and CEO of the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience (The MAEX). They talk about Kemp’s roots in Meridian and her previous work in the arts. They also highlight MAC’s upcoming “Day for Artists” convening at the museum and several of the MAEX’s ongoing and planned activities.

This week Larry travels up to Oxford to talk with singer/songwriter Arnie Brenn. Brenn is a Laurel native who creates multi-layered psychedelic influenced rock. They talk about Brenn's childhood working as a church musician, how the bass lines in his music originate from him playing sousaphone in marching band and the freedom of creating music in a tiny house.

This week, we’re playing a classic “Arts Hour” show featuring the late Calvin Phelps, founder and longtime director of Pike School of Art who passed away last month. Through PSA, Phelps produced a lot of innovative arts programming in McComb and across the county. The interview was recorded in May 2017 by Malcolm White, MAC’s former executive director.

Larry catches up with Scott Barretta, host of Highway 61 on MPB. They talk about a number of things in the current blues scene in Mississippi, including the re-constituted blues band at the state penitentiary (Parchman), Mississippi artists at the Chicago Blues Festival and some of the young musicians who are starting to make a name for themselves, including Harrell “Young Rell” Davenport. 

This week, David visits with painter and visual artist Brejenn Allen from Meridian. They talk about her rural roots and the creative spirit within her family, her studies at the Art Institute of Chicago, and the role that Mississippi plays in her work and artistic practice.

This week, Larry talks with Harrell “Young Rell” Davenport, a 19-year old blues guitarist and Vicksburg native who has been taking the national blues scene by storm. Davenport has just released Young Rell, his debut album that features his own original songs. He is touring throughout the U.S. and Europe through the end of this year.

Guest host Julian Rankin (Walter Anderson Museum of Art) visits with painter and visual artist Jerrod Partridge from Ocean Springs. They talk about Jerrod’s recent artist residency at the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum and his current project documenting the shrimpers on the Gulf Coast.