| In '94, Cora Mae and I were returning from our performance at the Blind Willie McTell festival in Thompson, GA,..... ...she turned to me and said, "How come nobody ever did a festival for my father....they (McTell) were good friends". Gee! Great idea! This was fall, so we waited till spring. Meanwhile, I had started the habit of throwing Frank Edwards a birthday party a few years earlier. They began quite small..a packed house at the tiny Silvia's Atomic Cafe with chicken & dumplings (Franks request) and Collard greens (my request). Seeing how Frank's Birthday is early spring, I decided to combine the two into one Jamboree. Ellyn (Webb, owner of Northside Travern) was very open and accommodating. In fact everybody at the Northside (and my band) werevery creative and gung-ho, unselfishly giving 300 percent!I made a list of all the local talent I knew, All Americana & roots music, and started calling folks." Hey, will you come down and play for free?" What I didn't expect: everyone said yes! |
I didn't make it very far down the list. What a party! Everyone giving back so generously! We brought in Drew Galloway to paint portraits of our honorees...the ones on our Wall of Fame. The idea is to preserve and celebrate these folks' contributions to our culture. I was overwhelmed with demands for more festivals (much to the dismay of my ulcer). At first,we had a pretty large percentage of the local scene...since then, Atlanta has burst it's seams. A few years later, Music Maker Relief Foundation started subsidizing the elders and now we can bringheritage players from far away.
Giving it Back is a win-win-win situation: Daniel "Mudcat" Dudeck 4/2000 |
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