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Boo Hanks
James Arthur "Boo" Hanks (April 30, 1928 – April 15, 2016) was an American Piedmont blues guitarist and singer. He was billed as the last of the Piedmont blues musicians. Hanks recorded two albums in his lifetime, ''Pickin' Low Cotton'' (2007) and ''Buffalo Junction'' (2012), both released by the Music Maker record label. A one-time farmer, who grew up in and lived most of his adult life around Buffalo Junction, Virginia, Hanks appeared at the Roots of American Music Festival at the Lincoln Center, shared a bill with Patti Smith, was covered by ''The New York Times'', and performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival; plus he toured in both the US and Europe. Life and career Hanks was born in Vance County, North Carolina, United States, to the late Eddie and Fannie Hargrove Hanks. His heritage came from ancestors that variously were African American and Occaneechi. Family folklore reckons the family are descendants of Abraham Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks. Hanks atte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vance County, North Carolina
Vance County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 42,578. Its county seat is Henderson. Vance County comprises the Henderson, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC Combined Statistical Area, which had a 2012 estimated population of 1,998,808. History The Occonacheans Native Americans were the first inhabitants of what became Vance County in 1881. The first white explorer of the region was John Lederer and his Native American guide in 1670. Originally part of colony of Virginia, King Charles of England redrew the colony lines in 1665, so what is now Vance County became part of the Province of Carolina and then the Province of North Carolina in 1725. In 1826, the first armed forces academy, the Bingham School, was built by Captain D. H. Bingham in Williamsborough, North Carolina. It served for a short time as a training school for military officers. In 1871, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
String Band
A string band is an old-time music or jazz ensemble made up mainly or solely of string instruments. String bands were popular in the 1920s and 1930s, and are among the forerunners of modern country music and bluegrass. While being active countrywide, in Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs they are a huge part of its musical culture and traditions, appearing, among others, in the yearly Mummers Parade. History of African American old-time string band music Although African American old-time string bands recorded history is that of the early 20th century, the beginnings of the music started much earlier. Many people once believed that the role African Americans played in the upcoming of old-time string band music was either nonexistent or to interest the middle ages or medieval times. The genre of African American folk music actually began with the use of percussion instruments, which were used to create music in form of encouragement to keep the slaves exercising on slave ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guitar Gabriel
Robert Lewis Jones (October 12, 1925 – April 2, 1996), known as both Guitar Gabriel and Nyles Jones, was an American blues musician. Gabriel's unique style of guitar playing, which he referred to as "Toot Blues", combined Piedmont, Chicago, and Texas blues, as well as gospel, and was influenced by artists such as Blind Boy Fuller and Reverend Gary Davis. After hearing of Guitar Gabriel from the late Greensboro, North Carolina blues guitarist and pianist, James "Guitar Slim" Stephens, musician and folklorist Tim Duffy located and befriended Gabriel, who was the inspiration for the creation of the Music Maker Relief Foundation. Gabriel wore a trademark white sheepskin hat, which he acquired while traveling and performing with Medicine Shows during his late 20s. Biography Gabriel was born in Decatur, Georgia, moving to Winston-Salem, North Carolina at age five. His father, Sonny Jones (also known as Jack Jones, James Johnson, and as Razorblade for an act in which he ate razor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cool John Ferguson
Cool John Ferguson (born December 3, 1953) is an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has released five albums under his own name and played on around twenty others. He is the Director of Creative Development for the Music Maker Relief Foundation, and plays his guitar "upside down". Taj Mahal stated that Ferguson ranks "among the five greatest guitarists in the world. He is a force to be reckoned with in the music industry. He is with the ranks of Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, and Django Reinhardt." At various times, Ferguson has played the guitar backing Taj Mahal, B.B. King, Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne, Beverly Watkins and the Stylistics. Life and career Ferguson was born in Beaufort, South Carolina, United States. His father, John Wesley Ferguson, was head deacon at the Beaufort New Church of Christ, whilst his mother, Martha Jenkins Ferguson, hailed from Saint Helena Island. The connection to Gullah culture remained strong in Ferguson's life. He had learned to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adolphus Bell
Adolphus Bell (June 5, 1944 – October 28, 2013) was an American electric blues musician, best known as a one-man band. He performed in a professional capacity for five decades and released two albums on the Music Maker label. He also played at various music festivals. The music reviewer, Jim DeKoster, writing in ''Living Blues'' magazine, noted that "Adolphus Bell's music stands so well on its own merits that the CD listener soon forgets that he's listening to a one-man band. He's got the same sort of idiosyncratic appeal as Juke Boy Bonner or Guitar Gabriel". Biography Bell was the son of a coal miner who died two months before Adolphus was born in Birmingham, Alabama. The young Bell later worked on local farms. He moved with his mother to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1962, and learned to play the guitar from their neighbor George Benson, eventually joining his "All Stars" band as a bassist. During the 1960s he played around the city with his own quintet called Adolphus Be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Documentary Film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in terms of "a filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception [that remains] a practice without clear boundaries". Early documentary films, originally called "actuality films", lasted one minute or less. Over time, documentaries have evolved to become longer in length, and to include more categories. Some examples are Educational film, educational, observational and docufiction. Documentaries are very Informational listening, informative, and are often used within schools as a resource to teach various principles. Documentary filmmakers have a responsibility to be truthful to their vision of the world without intentionally misrepresenting a topic. Social media platfor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denise LaSalle
Ora Denise Allen (July 16, 1934 – January 8, 2018), known by the stage name Denise LaSalle, was an American blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, and record producer who, since the death of Koko Taylor, had been recognized as the "Queen of the Blues". Her best known songs were "Trapped by a Thing Called Love" and "Down Home Blues". Early life LaSalle, the youngest of eight children, was born Ora Denise Allen on July 16, 1934, near Sidon, Mississippi in an area then known as The Island, to Nathaniel A. Allen Sr. and Nancy Cooper. Her family worked as sharecroppers, and she had to pick cotton and take up other paid labor to support her family. She was raised in Belzoni from age seven and sang in church choirs for local gospel groups around Leflore County. At age 13, she moved to Chicago to live with her oldest brother. Career She sat in with R&B musicians and wrote songs, influenced by country music as well as the blues. Around 1963, while she was working as barmaid at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Dee Holeman
John Dee Holeman (April 4, 1929April 30, 2021) was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His music includes elements of Texas blues, R&B and African-American string-band music. In his younger days he was also known for his proficiency as a buckdancer. Early life Holeman was born in Hillsborough, North Carolina. on April 4, 1929. He was raised on a farm in Orange County. He learned to play the guitar, and listened to traveling bluesmen from other parts of the South, as well as on the radio. Drawing inspiration from Blind Boy Fuller, he began singing and playing guitar at local parties and other community events by the time he was in his mid-teens. He went on to purchase his first electric guitar during his mid-twenties. Holeman relocated to Durham, North Carolina, in 1954, where he played with the pianist Fris Holloway. The duo became adept at the Juba dance, also known as the hambone or buckdance, which he had earlier learned at country dances. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ironing Board Sam
Samuel Moore (born July 17, 1939), who performs and records as Ironing Board Sam, is an American electric blues keyboardist, singer and songwriter, who has released a small number of singles and albums. His musical career, despite several low points, has spanned over fifty years, and he released a new album in 2012. "I'll tell you one thing, it's the blues," he stated. "That's why I look like a blues man now." One commentator, describing Ironing Board Sam's 1996 album, ''Human Touch'', noted that he "has a surprisingly smooth and effective croon and his piano playing, while subdued, is still remarkable." Biography Moore was born in Rock Hill, South Carolina, United States. He was the son of a sharecropper and his mother died when he was around three years old. In his teens, Moore learned to play the pump organ from his stepmother and would cut lawns to make extra money, often leaving enough time to play his customers’ pianos. While concentrating initially on boogie-woogie and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxford, North Carolina
Oxford is a town in Granville County, North Carolina, United States, with a population of 8,628 as of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Granville County. History The town's history dates to 1761, when local legislator Samuel Benton built a plantation home and called it "Oxford." The legislature ordered the area around his plantation to be the seat of Granville County. The town was not incorporated until 1816. The first Masonic orphanage for children in the United States was built in Oxford. It was originally established as St. John's College in 1858. The college ceased operations shortly after opening, however. In 1872 the community decided that the property should be repurposed to educate disadvantaged populations. In December 1873 the first residents were admitted to the Oxford Orphans Asylum, which is today known as the "Masonic Home for Children at Oxford." In 1851 James H. Horner established Horner Military School, which enrolled many young men from New York, Pennsyl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lenox (company)
Lenox Corporation is an American manufacturing company that sells tableware, giftware, and collectible products under the Lenox, Dansk, Reed & Barton, and Gorham brands. For most of the 20th century, it was the most prestigious American maker of tableware, as well as making decorative pieces. Several china services were commissioned for the White House. By 2020, it was the last significant manufacturer of bone china in the United States, until the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of the company's only remaining American factory. History Lenox was founded in 1889 by Walter Scott Lenox as Lenox's Ceramic Art Company in Trenton, New Jersey. At the start, it made American art pottery, and it was organized as an art studio and not as a factory. It did not produce a full range of ceramic articles but rather one-of-a-kind artwares. The company at first had just eighteen employees. Lenox's products were first displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in 1897. Lenox's products becam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russell Stover Candies
Russell Stover Chocolates, Inc., founded by Russell Stover, an American chemist and entrepreneur, and his wife Clara Stover in 1923, is an American supplier of candy, chocolate, and confections. The corporate headquarters are in Kansas City, Missouri. In July 2014 the company was acquired by the Swiss chocolatier Lindt & Sprüngli for $1.6 billion.The company operates as an independent subsidiary and still based in Kansas City. History Russell Stover Candies did not start with candy. In 1921, Russell Stover and his partner at the time, Iowa schoolteacher Christian Kent Nelson, created a chocolate-dipped ice cream sandwich. At a dinner party, Russell's wife Clara Stover suggested calling it an Eskimo Pie. The product was a success for them, and they began licensing manufacturers to produce it. As other companies soon began to release similar chocolate-dipped ice cream products, Russell Stover was nearly forced out of business. The Stovers sold their share of the company fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
