Join us Thursday, Sept. 28 at 6 pm at Off Square Books (129 Courthouse Square, Oxford, MS 38655). FREE Admission.
Guests: Author Michelle Kuo with musical guests roots rockers Blue Mother Tupelo and New Orleans funk band, Water Seed
Hosts: Jim Dees and our house band, the Yalobushwhackers
Radio: WUMS 92.1 FM (Oxford)
Online: http://myrebelradio.com/
Blue Mother Tupelo are Ricky and Micol Davis from Hendersonville, TN. The husband and wife duo belt out mountain blues that blends soul, country and gospel. Micol plays keyboards, drums and tambourine while Ricky moves from dobro to slide guitar all the while harmonizing as only loved ones can. Micol says it’s music to “make you stomp and sway.” Their latest CD is, Only Sunshine.
Michelle Kuo’s Reading with Patrick (Random House) is a stirring memoir about the life-changing friendship between an idealistic young teacher and her gifted student, jailed for murder in the Mississippi Delta. Following graduation from Harvard, Kuo joined Teach for America and landed in Helena, Arkansas where she encountered Patrick Browning and his eagerness to learn and hunger to read books. When he is later charged with murder, Kuo puts her life on hold to continue tutoring Browning in jail as he awaits trial. Their bond is the heart and soul of this shattering but ultimately hopeful book.
Water Seed is a funk band from New Orleans that is on tour in support of their latest album, We Are Stars. The album draws from classic funk, 60s and 70s soul mixed with hip hop influences. The band’s founder is drummer Lou Hill who says, “We were taught to be versatile,” noting the band’s origins at Xavier University. Gambit Magazine said of We Are Stars, “Within 15 minutes, the band spans the funk encyclopedia, leafing through pages of gospel, R&B and soul.”