Pensive
Blues Still Ring in Yazoo County
By Johnny
Langston - The Yazoo Herald - 1972
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Old Juke Joint in White Station, Mississippi. |
The main
room is now a kitchen, but the crowd of people, including those who have come
to hear Jack play, bring back its old atmosphere. Along one wall is a wood
stove which, as soon as it is fired up, warms the room, and Jack begins playing
"Cherry Ball."
A short,
stocky man whose wide grin reveals four gold teeth, Jack Owens has been playing
the guitar and singing blues "ever since I was a baby crawlin' around on
the floor." His harmonica accompanist, Bud Spires, has been wailing with
Jack so long that "if he can pick it, I can blow it."
Together
they make the kind of music that the Southern black man is famous for—a soft
but hard-driving blues that speaks from the bottom of his emotions.
Mostly, he
sings about love. About losing his best woman and getting drunk on Saturday
night, or chasing after the younger and prettier girls.
Jack plays
an ancient National guitar which is made entirely (except for the neck) of
steel covered with peeling silver paint. [This guitar, a steel-bodied National, was purchased under rather dubious circumstances by a visiting Virginia Cavalier, who paid a visit to Bentonia in the winter. Sometimes in , Owens would find himself in financial straights; he sold that National for $60 cash to one early blues tourist in the mid-1970s.]
"About 40 years ago a group of us had a band," explained Owens, "but as time went on, we went our separate ways, some died, and some got married, and I was just left with the box."
"About 40 years ago a group of us had a band," explained Owens, "but as time went on, we went our separate ways, some died, and some got married, and I was just left with the box."
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Bud Spires, Jack Owens, and Tommy Lee West warm up their spirits with "Catfish Blues." |
Guzzling
some "nerve comforter" (a half-pint of Jim Beam) Jack and Bud are
just getting warmed up, but it's getting late and time to go. "When are
ya'll gonna come back. Why not tomorrow. Well, before you leave, I want to play
you a song off my album."
And a few
minutes later, outside, on the quiet, moonlit Delta, "Good Morning, Little
Schoolgirl" can still be heard.
This old building is still standing in White Station Community,in West Point,Ms.,next door to where my siblings and I was raised!!!
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