Authentic blues bands play downtown for 31st annual blues fest
Robert Kimbrough Sr., Lucious Spiller Band, Chris and Lolly, Big A & The All-Stars, Mark McGee/Buddy Shute, Lala Craig and James "Super Chikan" Johnson visited Fort Smith for the Riverfront Blues Society blues fest from Clarksdale Mississippi and surrounding areas on Friday June 17 and Saturday June 18.
The Cate Brothers, Truck Stop Poets, Oreo Blue, Good Luck Slim, Larry McCray and Wanda Watson are all bands from Arkansas who also played at downtown bars and venues like Hero's, 906 Lounge, The Majestic, Kinkead's and more.
The Times Record had the chance to catch up with McCray, Craig and members of the Spiller band before their shows.
McCray is from Magnolia, Arkansas, where he started playing the saxophone in school. He worked for General Motors in Michigan until 1989 until he quit to pursue music full time.
McCray has visited Fort Smith for the Riverfront Blues festival in years past and enjoys coming home to his native state.
McCray said he recently strained his arm and it has affected his playing the guitar.
"This is the first time in 50 years that I ever had a physical situation stop me from playing," he said. "It feels like I got a straight jacket on, I can't even make a good fist and it's hard to hold onto a pick."
McCray said despite this physical challenge and being on the road touring for the last 40 years, he still knows music is his favorite thing.
"It's what I love to do, that's what keeps me going," he said. "That and the love of people, I've met so many nice people playing music."
McCray is heading on to Europe with the Allman Brothers who he calls the "southern blues bible."
Craig got her start in music in her family's country band in Oceanside, California as a rhythm guitarist. She says she can still beat a mean rhythm.
In 2002, James "Super Chikan" Johnson asked her to be part of his female backup group, The Fighting Cocks.
Craig has also performed with the Divas on Fire in Fayetteville. She hopes to "tear up" the blues on a flute like Rachel Fields one day.
Craig said she started in blues music at the age of 33. She's now 60.
"I was like, well what would happen if I just pretended I was on a deserted island and had no one to teach me blues? What would I do?" she said. "Rather than to try to sound like Otis Spann or Professor Longhair or Marcia Ball or somebody, what would happen if I just tried to be me?"
Craig said in her family, writing songs was just like tying your shoes.
When she was 6 years old, her uncle gave her a leather bound notebook and that's where she started writing lyrics and poems.
"It's just what my family does, so I don't feel like it's hard because it's always been what I do," she said.
Jaxx Nassar is a bass player and drummer for the Lucious Spiller band who says Lucious is "crazy as hell."
"You never know what he's going to throw at you onstage," she said. "That's the one thing I love, being spontaneous, you never know what you're going to play and it challenges that part of you."
Nassar said the blues were a way to escape and express herself.
Spiller said he's excited to play since coming back from the pandemic.
Lee Williams, Spiller's other drummer, calls him a "human jukebox."
Matt White, vice president of the Riverfront Blues Society, said the reason he helps out with the blues fest is because he loves the history and the stories behind each band.
"When you know the story and then you hear the music that they play, it helps you change your perspective," he said. "You take it from more than just a few notes on a guitar."
White said there's something unique about all the blues bands who came in town.
"There's something about that Mississippi delta blues that you can just feel the sadness, but also the happiness," he said. "It's a true yin and yang type of deal. But when you know their stories it definitely changes the experience."
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Riverfront Blues Society festival is a hit downtown
