A Sunday in Holly Springs! – An afternoon visit with words and music to one of the region’s most historic towns.
Sunday Nov. 16 – 4 pm
Kate Freeman Clark Gallery – 300 E College Ave, Holly Springs, MS 38635
Phone: (662) 252-5300
Limited seating – FREE Admission!
Featuring:
Author: John T. Edge – House of Smoke – A Southerner Goes Searching for Home – “He does that Mississippi work and creates a lush, self-reflexive Southern monument that will last forever.”—Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
Music: Autumn Nicholas – Baggage – Nashville songwriter goes global
Music: Afrissippi – Mississippi meets Senegal
Hosts: Jim Dees with house band, Paul Tate and the Yalobushwhackers
No live broadcast. This show will be recorded for air this fall/winter.
Painting of Kate Freeman Clark by William Merritt Chase (1902)
John T. Edge is the author of the unflinching memoir, House of Smoke (Crown).
“In the book, Edge writes honestly of his tumultuous childhood in Georgia in the 1960s, his family’s embracing the Lost Cause mythology, his dramatic and free-spirited mother (who created her own mythology), his wild college years, and on to his enrollment at the University of Mississippi and his career as an explorer of Southern culture and food.” – Lyn Roberts
John T. Edge writes and hosts the Emmy Award-winning television show True South on the SEC Network, ESPN, Disney, and Hulu. He also writes a restaurant column for Garden & Gun.
His 2017 book The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South was named one of the best books of the year by NPR and Publishers Weekly.
He lives in Oxford, Mississippi with his wife, the artist Blair Hobbs.
“John T. Edge refuses to allow himself or the reader the comfort of spectacle here. He does that Mississippi work and creates a lush, self-reflexive Southern monument that will last forever.”—Kiese Laymon, author of Heavy
Autumn Nicholas (she/he/they/them) is a gifted Nashville songwriter and performer whose powerful voice and poignant lyrics have moved audiences across the country.
Their releases include the singles, On A Sunday, Be Gentle, Baggage, Slow Down and Made Yet.
Recent appearances include Bonnaroo, Nashville Pride Fest and at the fabled Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, opening for Jason Isbell.
This January they will head to Mexico to appear on the massive Girls Just Wanna Weekend 7 concert with The Chicks, Brandi Carlisle, Sam Smith and many others including the Marshgrass Mamas.
In September (2025) they went to Denmark as part of the Nashville Nights series which connects songwriters with global audiences.
Guelel Kumba is a singer/songwriter from the Futa Toro region in the Senegal River Valley in northern Senegal, West Africa. He moved to Oxford in 2003 where he jammed with Eric Deaton, apprentice to the late R.L. Burnside. The two discovered the similarities between the hill country blues of North Mississippi and Kumba’s traditional Senegalese melodies, and the nucleus of their band, Afrissippi, was born.
The revolving group, at times with Kent Kimbrough, son of the late Junior Kimbrough, on drums, has released two CDs on Hill Country Records, including Fulani Journey and Alliance, which was produced by Jimbo Mathus and features fellow African musician Papa Assane M’Baye on percussion.
Kumba is also known for his cooking which combines, African, French and American South influences. His dishes include chicken yassa, mafé (Senegalese peanut stew), pastels (meat-filled pastries served with habanero sauce), banh mi, tortas, chicken tchou, and lamb kebabs.
