Themed Photo Gallery and Information: West Point
Background
West Point is a city in Clay County, Mississippi, in the Golden Triangle region of the state. The population was 11,307 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Clay County and the principal city of the West Point Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the larger Columbus-West Point Combined Statistical Area.
West Point, MS is located in the North East section of Mississippi just across the Alabama state line. West Point has a rich heritage with generations of family lineage calling it home. Historically the area has a blend of African American, White and Native American lineage.
West Point is the home of the Howlin’ Wolf Blues Museum. Each Labor Day weekend the town of West Point hosts the Prairie Arts Festival. The weekend kicks off with the Howlin’ Wolf Blues Festival on Friday night followed by the Prairie Arts Festival during the day on Saturday. The festival showcases the areas arts and crafts with shopping, music, rides for children, a 5K race and a car show.
Source: Wikipedia
Mississippi Blues Marker : Howlin’ Wolf
Full text:
One of the giants of post-World War II Chicago blues, Chester Arthur Burnett, aka “Howlin’ Wolf,” was born in White Station, just north of West Point, on June 10, 1910. In his early teens Burnett began performing in the Delta and was later a pioneer in electrifying the Delta blues. After moving north, Burnett nonetheless remained a strong presence on the Mississippi blues scene by returning home often for visits and performances.
An imposing figure both physically and artistically, Chester Arthur Burnett was named after U.S. President Chester Arthur. Burnett’s grandfather gave him the nickname “Wolf.” He learned to play a one-string “diddley bow” and harmonica as a child, but his early life was difficult. Cast out by his mother, Burnett lived in White Station with his great uncle until he ran away from home at 13 and hitched a train to the Delta.
On the Young and Morrow plantation near Ruleville he had a warm reunion with his father, who bought him his first guitar in 1928. Burnett soon fell under the wing of blues pioneer Charley Patton, who taught him showmanship and songs that Burnett would later record, including “Pony Blues.” Burnett developed a distinctive style, highlighted by his naturally raspy voice and howling, a technique he developed by trying to imitate Jimmie Rodgers’s signature yodels. As “Howlin’ Wolf” he performed in the region with bluesmen including Johnny Shines, Floyd Jones, Sonny Boy Williamson II, and Robert Johnson. Every spring he returned from his wide travels to plow his father‘s farmland.
After serving in the Army (1941-43), “Wolf” took up farming, and in 1948 moved to West Memphis, Arkansas, where he formed an electric blues band and hosted a radio show on KWEM. Wolf’s music caught the attention of Memphis producer Sam Phillips, who famously recalled: “When I heard Howlin’ Wolf, I said, ‘This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.'” Phillips first recorded Wolf in 1951 for the RPM and Chess labels. In 1953 Wolf moved to Chicago, where he continued to record for Chess, waxing classics such as “Spoonful,” “Killing Floor,” “Back Door Man,” “I Ain’t Superstitious,” and “Howlin’ For My Darling” with protégé Hubert Sumlin on guitar.
Wolf’s music reached new audiences in the 1960s, when his songs were covered by artists including Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream, and the Doors. His own 1956 recording “Smokestack Lightnin’” even became a hit on the pop music charts in England in 1964.
Wolf’s music remained popular down South long after he moved to Chicago. He frequently returned to this area to visit friends, hunt and fish, and performed at local venues such as Ferdinand Sykes’s place on Cottrell Street in West Point, Roxy’s juke joint in White Station, and the Chicken Shack in Union Star. He died on January 10, 1976, in Hines, Illinois. West Point established a festival in his honor in 1996 and a museum in 2005.
Source: http://msbluestrail.org/
The Howlin’ Wolf Blues Society of West Point, Ms. Inc. is a state chartered non-profit corporation and was established in 1995 by Mayor Kenny Dill, Dr. Joe K. Stephens, and Albert Mattix. That same year, Chester Arthur Burnett, “The Howlin’ Wolf”, was inducted into the West Point Hall of Fame.
The objectives of the Blues Society are to promote blues education in North Mississippi and to perpetuate the musical achievements of Chester Arthur Burnett, a native son of Clay County, Ms., and other blues greats such as Bukka White, Big Joe Williams, and West Point’s lesser known Bluesman, “Piano Red”. To honor “The Wolf”, his home town holds an annual memorial festival. To date, there have been eleven successful festivals and a memorial black granite statue of “The Wolf”, along with a memorial bench and marker honoring Lillie Handley Burnett, “Ms. Wolf”, placed in our park. In honor of Wolf, our society and the Burnett family received the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame Award, the Walk of Fame Award on historic Beale Street at the VIP party before the 2002 Handy Awards, and the Peavine Award at Cleveland, MS. given by Steve Lavere and the Mississippi Delta Blues Hall of Fame. In 2007, the Society was honored by receiving the prestigious Keeping the Blues Alive Award.
Full details http://www.wpnet.org/index.php/attractions/howlin_wolf
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