Growing up next door to her grandfather–the late master fife player Otha Turner–Sharde Thomas was captivated by his music and how he could “cast a spell” on his audience. Turner first showed Sharde how to hold a fife and how to breathe into it, but he set her loose on the instrument after that. She […]
Sign painter and muralist Paul Gore received his first set of paintbrushes from his father when he was 14 years old. His father was an artist and a college art professor, who painted signs for extra money. He drove Paul to his first job, hand-lettering the logo on the window of the New York Life
Vishwanath N. Shenoy is a sitar player living in Clinton, Mississippi. He was born in India, and in 1988 he moved to Ohio to study to become a physician. In his professional life, Shenoy is an MD FACP Internist and Gastroenterologist, and in 2004, Shenoy moved to Mississippi for a job in this field. While
Alan Kolodny learned to crochet at a young age from his grandmother. As an Orthodox Jew, she would make his kippah (head covering) and tried to teach crocheting to Kolodny’s mother, but it never took. “My mother could not do it to save her life, so [my grandmother] figured she better teach me,” says Kolodny.
For nearly 20 years folks looking for good music and good food have gravitated towards Sparta, a small town in Chickasaw County in north-central Mississippi. In the early 1990s, a small group of men met in an abandoned house to play music. Now known as the Sparta Opry, with a nod towards country music variety
The Sebastopol Opry is a locally produced, bimonthly country and bluegrass show. It is presented on the second and fourth Friday of each month in a building in “downtown” Sebastopol (a town of 200 in far northeastern Scott County) and is managed by Joe and Brenda Fairchild. The show is very informal, primarily featuring musicians
Fresh-baked bread is an essential part of the daily culinary routine in Mexico, where neighborhoods have their own bakeries and neighbors know when bread comes out of the oven each day. The smells of freshly baked bolillos (French rolls) and pan dulce (sweet bread) spill into the street inviting passers-by to peruse the bakery racks.
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Each December 12th, the Mexican Catholic community of Scott County celebrates the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This celebration commemorates the appearance of Mary to the Mexican peasant Juan Diego in 1531. The feast day is an important holiday in Mexico. It has also become an important day for Mexican Americans to celebrate
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On the first and third Saturday of each month, Rodney Joyner and his friends got together in a converted barn on his property near Brandon and put on a live country music show. The Barnyard Opry started in September 1999, when Joyner transformed a livestock barn on his property into a small music theater. Joyner,
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L. V. Hull is an original, a self-taught artist and a lively raconteur. She has a house and yard incredibly crowded with her art. Hull was born and raised in McAdams, Mississippi, but moved to Kosciusko 35 years ago. Although no longer married, and with no surviving children, she retains an enormous “family” with the
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