http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/in-williamsburg-cmj-kicks-off-in-a-warehouse/?emc=eta1

Delta State University students Katie Gibson of Summerdale, Ala., and Joanna Sabine of Columbia, were invited to participate as production assistants for the 4th Annual Mississippi Grammy™ Legacy Celebration recently held at the Hard Rock Live! venue in Biloxi.

Gibson and Sabine are members of the Delta State Grammy U chapter and are enrolled in courses at the Delta Music Institute (DMI), a recording arts and music industry studies program at Delta State University.

The annual gala event celebrates the state’s Grammy™ winners and their musical legacies. Mississippi boasts more Grammy™ winner per capita than any other state in the union.

The GRAMMY University Network (GRAMMY U) is a unique and fast-growing community of college students who are pursuing a career in the music industry. The Recording AcademyY created GRAMMY U to help prepare students for careers in the recording industry through networking, educational programs and performance opportunities. GRAMMY U is designed to enhance students’ current academic curriculum with access to recording industry professionals to give an “out of classroom” perspective on the recording industry. Delta Music Institute’s Grammy U chapter was formed in the fall of 2008 and now has over 50 members.

The Delta Music Institute is an independent center of study under the College of Arts & Sciences at Delta State University. The focus of the DMI is to provide students with a broad and thorough education in the technological, creative, and business areas of the music and entertainment industry.

Michael Mattox, Delta State student from Madison, Mississippi, recently contributed his long beautiful mane to the Locks of Love program for cancer survivors. Everyone at the Delta Music Institute (DMI) likes the new look, Michael!

Cole Furlow, Delta State graduate of the Delta Music Institute, is releasing his first full length release, “End of Days, Why Not You?” from his project DEAD GAZE. Copies will be available to purchase from Mirroruniversetapes.blogspot.com on March 16. Congratulations, Cole!

Award winning singer-songwriters George Jackson, Troy Jones and Patti Ryan will be the featured songwriters during the live broadcast of Thacker Mountain Radio as part of the Delta Music Institute (DMI) Anniversary Celebration on Saturday, March 6 at 3 p.m. in Studio A of the DMI in the historic Whitfield Building on the Delta State University campus.

In addition to the radio show, Jones and Ryan will perform a Songwriter’s Show the evening of March 6, at 7:30 p.m. in Studio A. Jones and Ryan will be joined by DMI Director Tricia Walker, who spent over 25 years in Nashville as a performer and songwriter before returning to Delta State University in 2006 to lead the DMI program.

Born in Port St. Joe, Florida, Jones worked in the cotton mills of Alabama for over 20 years before trying his hand as a songwriter in Nashville. He commutes weekly to Music City to write as a staff songwriter for Carnival Music Publishing, while maintaining his home in Alabama with his wife, three children, and a dog named Buster. Jones’ songs have been recorded by Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Joe Nichols, Billy Currington, and many more.

Jones’ most recent hits include “Shiftwork” by Kenny Chesney and the smash hit, “People Are Crazy,” by Billy Currington, which was #1 on the Billboard charts for two weeks. He also performs in the comedy stage play, “Toe Roasters,” with fellow songwriters Bryan Kennedy and Wynn Varble.

Mississippi native Patti Ryan grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, graduated from the Mississippi University for Women, then began a career in teaching while performing on the weekends in a musical group with her brothers. Ryan’s, colleague Wanda Mallette, and musician Bob Morrison co-wrote one of the most successful country hits of all time, “Lookin’ For Love,” which held the #1 chart position for three weeks and launched country singer Johnny Lee’s career in the movie Urban Cowboy. “Lookin’ For Love” was also featured in the Broadway show “Menopause, The Musical.” In addition to that standard, she wrote additional hits “Americana” for Moe Bandy, “Just Another Woman In Love” for Anne Murray, and “Out Of Your Shoes” for Lorrie Morgan. Ryan has two ASCAP Pop Awards, 15 ASCAP Country Awards, a Tony nomination, and two Grammy nominations. She moved to Nashville in 1984, where she continues to work as a songwriter. She is looking forward to the release of her upcoming book,” An Intimate Look At Songwriting.”

Born in Greenville, George Jackson started recording for Ike Turner’s record label in 1963. He journeyed to Muscle Shoals, Ala., to work at Fame Recording Studio, where he became a staff songwriter and wrote such hits as “One Bad Apple,” which was #1 for five weeks on the pop charts for the Osmond Brothers in early 1971. During the mid-’80s, Jackson joined Malaco Records as a staff songwriter where he penned the classic blues song, “Down Home Blues” for Z.Z. Hill. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2000. Jackson’s most recognizable hit is “Old Time Rock And Roll,” which has been recorded countless times, most notably by rocker Bob Seger.

The Songwriter’s Show is free and open to the public.

For more information on the DMI Anniversary Celebration, please call (662) 846-4579 or visit dmi.deltastate.edu.

Patti Finley, 50, died Thursday at a Memphis hospital.

Finley, an elementary school music teacher, was with the Winona Show Choir on Feb. 2, when the group recorded “Rise Above” at the Delta Music Institute at Delta State University. The choir is comprised of students from kindergarten through 12th grade in the Winona School District. It is preparing a demo to be considered in a Kennedy Center Honors program, which will including a trip to Washington, D.C., and a visit with President Obama.

During an interview that day, Finley said she had been told to, “get my things in order.” She wasn’t expected to live long enough to see the completion of the project.

Friends say she denied chemotherapy in recent weeks so she could continue working with the choir.

Before Finley’s death, the choir returned to DSU to record the video portion of the package that will be submitted to the Kennedy Center.

On Wednesday, she was taken to a Memphis hospital for treatment. She died there on Thursday.

Funeral arrangements were pending Friday at Oliver Funeral Home, Winona.

Patti Finley, seated in DMI Studio A, directs the Winona Show Choir during the recording of her original song, "Rise Above."

The Delta State University’s Delta Music Institute will present Dr. Mark Snyder in a faculty recital on Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 8 p.m. in the Recital Hall of the Bologna Performing Arts Center.

Snyder will perform his own works on tuba, clarinet and accordion. All of the compositions have video, electronics and live processing and are part of his second solo album, “Messy,”which was released on January 19, 2010 by Royal Livermush Music.

Using sound and light, Snyder spins stories about his world and the people that populate it. “Malmö” is a caricature of a Swedish dock worker turned astronaut, “Copenhagen” chronicles a weekend chaperoning Baby Elvis and his fellow students for the production of the Michael Frayn play and “Harvey” details the struggle to trust and return to a normal life after the tragic loss of a young family.

Snyder joined the faculty of the Delta State’s Delta Music Institute in 2007, where he teaches courses in music software and technology, multimedia, electronic music history, film scoring and music production.

He also founded and directs the Electroacoustic Juke Joint, an annual festival of electronic art and music that attracts composers and artists from around the world to Delta State University and thegreater Cleveland community for three days each November since 2007. For more information about Snyder and his music, visithttp://www.marksnyder.org.

The Delta Music Institute is an independent center of study under the College of Arts and Sciences at Delta State University. It began with a generous donation by Fred Carl of the Viking Range Corporation in 2003. The focus of the DMI is to provide students with a broad and thorough education in the technological, creative, and business areas of the music and entertainment industry.

The recital is free and open to the public. For information, call (662) 846-4579 or visit http://dmi.deltastate.edu.

Winona Elementary School Music Teacher Patti Finley directs the choir and arranged for the recording session with DMI Director Tricia Walker. “Patti has done an incredible job with these students and we were happy to welcome them to Delta State and introduce them to the DMI,” said Walker. “Studio A is a large format tracking room capable of accommodating up to 150 musicians and is probably the only recording studio in the region that has a recording environment to handle a choir of this size.”