(Clarksdale, MS) – The Fifth Annual Pinetop Boogie and Crawfish Boil will take place on Saturday, May 13, 2017 at Ground Zero Blues Club, adjacent to the Delta Blues Museum, in downtown Clarksdale, MS. Tickets are $15 at the door and all money raised at the event will benefit the Pinetop Perkins Foundation Scholarship Fund. The foundation’s mission is to provide support and encouragement to young musicians at the beginning of their career, as well as to bring comfort and safety to older musicians in the twilight of their career.
At last year’s event, $6,676 was raised for young musicians to attend the Pinetop Perkins Foundation master class workshop held every June at the Hopson Plantation. At the workshop, young musicians learn from award-winning musicians and master bluesmen like the workshop’s headmaster Bob Margolin, Victor Wainwright, Mitch Woods and John Del Torro Richardson, just to name a few. Thanks in large part to the people who donated, every young musician who wanted or needed a scholarship received one.
This year’s event will feature over nine hours of music from the strongest line up of entertainers yet. The schedule is heavy on award-winning musicians and includes performances from John Primer, Anthony Geraci, Monster Mike Welch, Diunna Greenleaf, Michael Ledbetter, Clarksdale favorites Heather Crosse and Lee Williams, Bob Corritore, Bob Stroger, Billy Flynn, Steve Kolbus and the Clarksdale Blues Revue, Lala Craig, and more. Most of the scheduled entertainment and the Crawfish boil will take place between 3:00 PM and 8:00 PM with a youth Showcase at 8:00. Steve Kolbus and the Clarksdale Blues Revue will kick off the pro jam at 9:00 PM till Midnight. David Dunavent will be playing guitar with the Clarksdale Blues Revue. Two renowned bluesmen have been added to the program: piano player Mitch Woods and drummer Jimmy Mays.
There will also be 50/50 drawings, a silent auction, and a scholarship cash box and artist’s CDs will be for sale. This event is sponsored by Blues Festival Guide magazine. Meredith Nowell Funeral Home is also sponsoring the event by providing hundreds of fliers.
James Butler from the Hopson Commissary has once again donated the first $100.00 to be dropped in the scholarship cash box. Advance donations are being accepted for the “Hopson Commissary Scholarship Cash Box,” and every advance donor will receive a brief mention as we drop their donation into the box at the event. For information on how to sponsor the event, any of the entertainment, or make donations to the silent auction and the scholarship fund, call Steve Kolbus at 317-373-8918.
