Farish Street Marriage Advice

One thing about the Delta is that there is always the possibility of humor lurking around any corner.  It was 1pm but Farish Street, the Jackson musical/historical equivalent of Beale Street in Memphis, was abandoned...that is, until I got out of my car.  I'm not sure if the street criminals have each other on speed text messaging or what but out of nowhere I found myself feeling very vulnerable to being robbed, beaten or whatever the will of the group of men I found myself confronted by.  I didn't let on any fear and just stayed focus on what I was there to do but that was tough let me tell you.  In the end I got hit up for two bits and said 'no' which is even more amazing for me.  But I digress...I turned the corner after being on Farish feeling a little more than afraid of what might have been when I came across this sign.  It was a relief to know that "Healthy Marriage Mississippi" shared the sole secret of a lasting marriage ...to keep my partner warm.  Phew!  Here I thought it had something to do with love and respect but turns out as long as my feet aren't cold I'm good to go.  Now I can sleep at night...ha ha.

Anyhow, Farish Street was the home of Trumpet Records owned by a woman named Lillian 

McMurray.  I was interested in her work because I had reviewed her boxes of business records at the Blues Archives in Oxford to learn that she was an outstanding advocate for recorded blues musicians (ie: Sonny Boy Williamson II, Howlin' Wolf, Sam Myers, etc.) royalties and also for raising money for many of the beautiful gravestones you've seen throughout the blog.  Thankfully the City of Jackson has declared this area an historical site with intentions to turn it into a Beale Street like atmosphere but that plan has been on hold for the past 10 years.  Most musicians around here agree that it's too late to renovate and turn it into something sweet as the crime is out of control in the area and the buildings are beyond decay (and most are) but I could see how this street has the potential to be much like Beale.  

The King Edward Hotel is a monstrous historical building that is being renovated into a hotel again.  The goal seems to be to turn it into the Peabody Hotel, Memphis equivalent which will be very cool for this city.  This building's musical history is that in December 1930 OKeh Records rented the top two floors shown here and recorded the first recordings of the Mississippi Sheiks.  

FYI Alert:  Steve Dawson from Black Hen Music out of Vancouver will be releasing his Mississippi Sheiks album in the Fall 2008.  Check it out it'll be a good another killer album from this young innovator.

Peace out...

Kat