Roots Music Journey: The Sequel : Austin and Navasota 2/16-17/12

We next headed for Austin for a very short visit that included a stay in McKinney State park and a visit to the art museum at the University of Texas for an exhibit of paintings of the American West. Austin has more than doubled in size over the last 30 years growing from 325,000 to close to 800,000. I hadn’t been to Austin since 1980 when I spent a week sitting in with Texas blues singer and pianist Marsha Ball with my good friends guitarist Danny Caron and singer/saxophonist Craig Knudsen who were working with Marsha at the time.

Kate and I had drinks on 6^th Street where there are more music venues per square inch than anywhere in the world but we were so overwhelmed by the choices and underwhelmed by the music we heard coming out of numerous open doors that we didn’t even go to a show.

Sixth St at Dusk

There was still one more stop in Texas that I insisted on, Navasota, the home of songster Mance Lipscomb and the Navasota Blues Alley Museum/giftshop/antique store. Mance Lipscomb was a farmer and musician who played guitar and sang in a variety of styles including country, blues, ballads, string band music and virtually anything you could think of. Historians refer to him as a true American “songster.” He was discovered and recorded by my Richmond neighbor, roots music song collector and historian Chris Strachwitz in 1960 on one of his first trips in search of rural music. In fact this recording became the first on Strachwitz’s legendary roots music label Arhoolie records. (Definitely worth a trip to the website) http://www.arhoolie.com/about-us.html?sl=EN

Like so many small towns in Texas, Navasota is economically depressed with a small historic downtown that includes many shuttered store fronts and yet an attempt has been made to capitalize on the rich blues history of the area including a wonderful life size statue of Mance and the annual Navasota Blues festival. The Blues Alley museum was started by Navasota immigrant, artist Russell Cushman, who moved to Navasota from Houston about 10 years ago. In rural Texas 10 years in a small town is equal to about 2 weeks and Russell has, as he put it, had some issues with being accepted by the community. There is an annual blues fest in Navasota but he can’t even get on the festival board and there is only minimal connection between the festival and the museum.

Russell Cushman at the Blues Alley Museum

This story turns out to be a recurring theme that we have seen repeated over and over in small towns with rich cultural histories. Outsiders will come to town fascinated by the history and see the opportunity to develop it into a local resource for tourism and commerce while locals remain skeptical and in some cases openly hostile to what they see as someone “messing in their business.” In some instances there is also a reluctance by the local, largely white, community leaders to promote the status of a town’s African American History and place it into full view. Many white folks in the rural south remain quite uninterested in remembering their racist past or even acknowledging its existence.

By the way I am writing this 3 weeks later in Clarksdale, MS where this is even more relevant and controversial. The state of Mississippi has made a point of marketing their rich blues heritage while often downplaying the true story of “the rampant rural poverty, the wide disparity between rich and poor, and the insidious racism . . .” (Stephen King, “I’m Feelin the Blues Right Now: Blues Tourism and the Mississippi Delta,” U Press of Miss 2011)

Russell continues to persevere but expressed his frustration that he was unable to make any inroads with the promoters of the blues festival. He had hopes of holding a “Chris Strachwitz Day” in Navasota and bringing Chris out to honor his work but was getting no traction. His museum remains a labor of love and we wished him the best of luck as we headed towards New Orleans

Just for fun . . . . lunch in Navasota