On air and online: Friday, Feb. 2 – Sunday, Feb. 4 – A special homecoming show with three Mississippi artists: illustrator/author Sarah Frances Hardy: country star Steve Azar and Grammy winner, Cedric Burnside!
Author/music: Steve Azar – One Mississippi
Author/illustrator: Sarah Frances Hardy – One Mississippi
Music: Grammy winner Cedric Burnside – I Be Trying
Hosts: Jim Dees with Paul Tate and the Yalobushwhackers
(Original air date: 11-9-23)
Air times:
Friday, Feb. 2 – 6 am (CT) WYXR 91.7 FM Memphis, TN
Saturday, Feb. 3 – 3 pm (ET) WUTC 88.1 FM Chattanooga, TN
7pm (CT) Mississippi Public Broadcasting
9pm (CT) Alabama Public Radio
Sunday, Feb. 4
3 pm (ET) WUOT | 91.9 FM, Knoxville
2 pm (MT) KNCE 93.5 | Taos, New Mexico
Cedric Burnside, torchbearer of the North Mississippi hill country blues, won “Best Traditional Blues Album” at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards for his 2021 album, I Be Trying.
Cedric was born and raised around Holly Springs, and now makes his home in Ashland, MS. His CD, Benton County Relic (Single Lock Records) was nominated for a 2018 Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album. His CD, Descendants of Hill Country, was also nominated for the Grammy as the Best Blues Album of 2016. His previous CDs include, Hear Me When I Say, and Take Me As I Am.
Cedric is the grandson of the legendary R.L. Burnside and son of drummer Calvin Jackson.
He is a four-time winner of the prestigious Blues Music Award’s Drummer of the Year (2010-2014) and is widely regarded as one of the best drummers in the world and an accomplished guitarist and vocalist.
Steve Azar, a Mississippi Delta native, is a hit songwriter, recording artist, music producer and author. He has released seven critically acclaimed studio albums including Waitin’ on Joe which rendered a hit title track and #1 music video as well as the smash hit “I Don’t Have To Be Me (‘Til Monday).”
His latest, My Mississippi Reunion, won the 2021 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters award for best contemporary album, and features the song “Coldwater” with Cedric Burnside.
The song “One Mississippi” became the new official state song of Mississippi in 2022.
Azar is the author of the One Mississippi children’s book, based on his lyrics. The book is illustrated by Sarah Frances Hardy.
Azar was enshrined on the Mississippi Country Music Trail as the trail’s 32nd marker in 2019. He is the recipient of the 2018 prestigious Mississippi Arts Commission “Governor’s Choice Award” and 2023 Mississippi Music Awards Lifetime Achievement award.
Sarah Frances Hardy is an author and illustrator of children’s books.
Her latest book, containing her illustrations, is One Mississippi (Nautilus Publishing) based on the newly adopted official state song of Mississippi with lyrics by Steve Azar.
Her previous books include Puzzled by Pink (Viking Children’s Books); Paint Me! (Sky Pony Press), and Dress Me! (Sky Pony Press).
