Oxford and surrounding communities gathered this weekend to dance, sing and celebrate Mississippi music at the 12th Annual Oxford Blues Festival on Oct. 12-14.
Darryl Parker, host of the Oxford Blues Festival, shared that he was inspired to bring the blues to Oxford after realizing that Double Decker was the only annual music festival in the community.
“The best part is to see people smiling, dancing and enjoying themselves, tapping their toes when they hear the music and seeing the reaction on the fans’ faces. That’s when you know you did a good job,” Parker said. “It’s about bringing different people from the community together. It’s always good to be amazed by some music that you weren’t expecting to hear.”
The blues showcase began on Thursday, Oct. 12 with a panel discussion led by blues singer and guitarist Willie Farmer. The panel continued with a discussion of blues music and the ongoing pursuit for justice, led by Brenda Luckett and Al White.
The Delta Project, Malach, Delo Brown, Cricket & the Boogieman, Steve Brewer & the All Tore Up and The Blues Experience took the stage at the Lafayette County Multipurpose Arena on Friday.
Oxford Blues Festival not only seeks to support musicians during the weekend of the concert but also strives to bring blues to the forefront of the local music scene and support music education in Mississippi. The festival donates a portion of profits to Mississippi public schools to buy new instruments and offer scholarships to music camps.
“The blues itself is deeply rooted in North Mississippi. It’s a different kind of music. It may not be as popular in Oxford, but it should be,” blues festival volunteer Willie Mounce said. “Bobby Rush is sitting there and to have somebody like that supporting this festival is just amazing. There’s a lot of history here.”
Although the festival has been taking place for 12 years, Parker and the Oxford blues community have goals to make the festival even better.
“We work to try to show that equity in music within the terms of the artists that are performing. We are always trying to get more women bands, but it’s a struggle and a challenge. My first year I had 100% all male bands, no women bands,” Parker said. “There’s plenty of women bands out there, I just have to seek them out, and I’m trying to do better with that.”
Blues icon Loretta Harris, known as “Mizz Lowe,” gave an exhilarating performance on Saturday night. The Greenwood, Miss. Native is an international performer and often collaborates with Grammy Award winner Bobby Rush, who made a debut as the festival’s special guest.
Lowe described the impact of music on her music’s importance to her and how it has affected her life.
“Music has helped me through so many things. I have to embrace this music because we can have so many problems today. How do you press through those problems? Music helps, music consoles everything,” Lowe said. “Music helped me to press through the hardest times in my life. Music creates fellowship and is able to bring people together as one.”
