36th King Biscuit festival a huge hit
The 36th annual King Biscuit music festival in Helena-West Helena was again deemed a resounding success. Throngs of blues-lovers from around the world and food vendors from around the region filled Cherry Street and its surrounding blocks over the weekend.
Strolling down Cherry Street, one encountered fixtures such as longtime festival director Muni Jordan. This year will see the end of Jordan’s festival leadership after she took a second retirement from the position.
“It was 2017 when I got to come out just before B.B. King took the stage and announce ‘The Biscuit is back,’” she said, recounting her most memorable moment at the helm. “The crowd went wild to have our name again!”
She was referring to the time the festival had to be renamed the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival during a protracted licensing issue over who actually owned the “King Biscuit” name.
Jordan said this year’s King Biscuit festival had more people than ever for its Oct. 4 opening night.
“Marcia Ball did a fabulous job performing. The weather is cooperating, things are running smoothly and everyone appears to be having a great time,” she said.
Of her second retirement from the director position, Jordan said, “I’m taking a step back until we figure it all out.”
Jordan was honored on the main stage Thursday with a red rose bouquet and sash.
“I was surprised, overwhelmed and awestruck,” she said.
Then there was Helena-West Helena City Councilman and proprietor of Pasquale’s Tamales, Joe St. Columbia.
“This festival is the best thing happening in east Arkansas,” he
said. “It dumps a lot of money into the area and gives us a shot in the arm when we need it most. This morning I’ve already met folks from Germany, the Netherlands and England. One thing they all comment on is Southern hospitality. They can’t get over how friendly everyone is and how much they look forward to coming back.”
At 85, St. Columbia said, “I told my kids I plan to do this for 15 more years then retire.”
Missing from the familiar faces that have been involved with King Biscuit from its inception was Berbon “Bubba” Sullivan,who died Aug. 19, 2021, shortly after a celebration of his 81st birthday on Aug. 5 of that year.
John Goodwin won the 2023 King Biscuit poster competition with his 18 x 24-inch painting of Sullivan. It was Goodwin’s second year in a row as a successful entrant to the competition, which is now in its 34th season. He explained how the competition is open to all artists each year with more than 20 judges deciding the winner.
“Due to covid, the fest that I first won the poster competition for was canceled in 2021, so I ended up doing my poster-signing at Bubba’s birthday celebration. Reba Russell and Bobby Rush were among the many folks there to wish him well. It was just a few weeks later that he ended up in the hospital and we lost him,” Goodwin said.
After the festival cancellation in 2021, Goodwin’s poster design made a return trip as the 2022 festival print. He was at the Delta Cultural Center on each day of this year’s event signing his 2023 posters.
One of the highlights of Friday night’s main-stage offerings was the Paul Thorn Band. Thorn and his group of musicians are another annual fixture of King Biscuit, and he delighted fans with his humor, songwriting and musical talents. He signed CDs after his show.
“You know the Biscuit is always one of my favorite gigs. The crowd is always great and the music is, too. It’s always wonderful coming back to the Biscuit,” Thorn said.
Remembering his friend, Thorn added, “We all miss Bubba.”
A new addition to the weekend festivities, with a mind toward the many festival participants who have come and gone over 36 years was a “second-line” parade down three blocks of Cherry Street.
Beginning at 10:30 a.m. Friday, a Memphis-based group made up of performers on tuba, saxophone, trombone, washboard, bass and snare drum led about 60 followers with white handkerchiefs waving in a dancing march down the street. The players stopped at each corner along the way to perform a couple of numbers before they ended up in front of Bubba’s behind the main stage.
Saturday was filled with numerous performances at several free stages strewn about downtown, as well as street performers on every corner. Pine Bluff’s own Detroit Johnny Johnson graced the Front Porch stage for a noon set.
Mississippi Cotton Patch blues was well represented with Kent Burnside and Robert Kimbrough Sr. playing on the Cedell Davis stage. As the sons of two world-renowned bluesmen, R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, the two young artists proudly represented their fathers’ Hill Country tradition.
They were followed by Bobby Rush’s backup singer Mizz Lowe introducing her new solo recording, “Classy Woman.” Her 45-minute show featured a guest appearance by Rush, who played harmonica and sang. After the show, Rush said of his unscheduled arrival, “I wouldn’t be here tonight because I was already set to play with Buddy Guy in Chicago, but Buddy got sick so that was postponed for the time being.”
Another surprise harmonica performer was the No. 5-rated living blues harp player in the world, Blind Mississippi Morris, who performed with Jess Hoggard and friends on Cherry Street’s sidewalk in the mid-afternoon.
Other regional and national performers made appearances during the fourday festival. The weekend culminated with Tab Benoir performing an hourlong set on the main stage.