On this episode of The Art of the Story, we hear about three shows paying tribute to the music and legacy of blues singer Ma Rainey.
Charlie Apicella is a New York-based blues guitarist, who plays primarily with the band Charlie Apicella & Iron City and puts on educational youth programs through Blues Alive. He received a Masterworks Arts grant, through the help of the North Jersey Blues Society, and will put on three shows called Ma Rainey and the Living Tradition of the Blues in the month of November.
On November 7, he’ll perform a show WITH singer Beareather Reddy at Factory Records in Dover, New Jersey. The next day, they’ll play with Avery Sharpe and Steve Johns in a quartet configuration and participate in a panel at the Brooklyn Folk Festival. On November 22, the larger band will headline the Reading Blues Festival.
At the first two shows, Florene Dawkins, the force behind The Ma Rainey House and Blues Museum, will be presented with a lifetime achievement award for her work as a folklorist by Apicella and Cristy Benvenutti, the President of the North Jersey Blues Society. WBGO’s Dave Popkin recently spoke to Apicella, Benvenutti and Dawkins…he wanted to know why Florene Dawkins is so passionate about the woman considered by many as the "Mother of the Blues".
You can SEE that interview below:
