Newly appointed board works to bring music museum to Cleveland

By Mark Stowers
Photography by Jordan Thomas

Mississippi just got another step closer to having its own GRAMMY museum. With the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, and the B.B. King Museum in Indianola, a GRAMMY museum could be the ideal thing to create real tourism synergy in the area, according to Judson Thigpen, executive director of the Cleveland/Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce. The first major step towards making a GRAMMY museum a reality in Cleveland took place recently with the establishment of a board of directors for the museum.

The 18-member board will be led by Thigpen, who currently serves as the interim chair of the board. The group met in late November and talked briefly about the status of the project, and to review proposed bylaws. “Once the by-laws are passed, we will move forward with a strategic plan, a fundraising campaign and the design of the building,” says Thigpen.

The corporate name of the organization in charge of the museum is the Cleveland Music Foundation Inc. The Foundation has applied for a 501c3 non-profit status.

According to the GRAMMY website, www.GRAMMY.org, the GRAMMY is the recording industry’s most prestigious award, presented annually by The Recording Academy. A GRAMMY is awarded by The Recording Academy’s voting membership to honor excellence in the recording arts and sciences. It is truly a peer honor, awarded by and to artists and technical professionals for artistic or technical achievement, not sales or chart positions.

The GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles explores and celebrates the enduring legacies of all forms of music: the creative process, the art and technology of the recording process, and the history of the GRAMMY Awards, the premier recognition of recorded music accomplishment.

So why a GRAMMY museum in Cleveland? “There is no doubt that Mississippi is the birthplace of American Music,” says Allan Hammons of Hammons & Associates in Greenwood. “That’s exactly what we told the GRAMMY folks in Los Angeles. Without Mississippi, there would be no American music. We gave the world Jimmy Rogers, the father of country music, B.B. King, the king of the Blues, and Elvis Presley, the king of Rock ‘n Roll.”

Thigpen says that the Chamber is working to focus on the area’s heritage, and music is a major part of that. In keeping with the Mississippi Arts Commission and Mississippi Development Authority’s Creative Mississippi initiative, Hammons pitched the idea of the museum to focus not only on Mississippi musicians, but also on the music industry as a whole in the state.

After a series of meetings with John Hornyak, senior executive director of the Memphis Recording Academy, and Bob Santellis, executive director of the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles, it became clear that having the nation’s only other GRAMMY museum in Mississippi would be a good idea.

Tricia Walker, director of the Delta Music Institute at Delta State University, and herself a GRAMMY winner, is thrilled about having a GRAMMY museum in Cleveland. “This is an important event for Cleveland, for the Delta and for Mississippi in general,” she says. Delta State now offers a Bachelor of Science in Music Industry Studies.

“Music and the GRAMMYs are big business,” says Walker. “American music is one of the country’s top exports. The GRAMMY Museum’s partnership with the DMI will give our students the opportunity to develop additional developmental and business skills.”

Board members for the Cleveland Music Foundation include Thigpen, Hornyak, Walker, Reuben Anderson (Phelps Dunbar, LLP, Jackson), Calvin Dye (Cleveland State Bank), Blake Wilson (MS Economic Council), Emily Havens (Chickasaw Council, BSA), Carol Puckett (Viking Hospitality Group), Jim Tims (Quality Steel Corporation), Wilma Wilbanks, Willie Simmons (MS State Senate), Lucy Janoush, Nan Sanders, Gary Gainspoletti (Alderman, City of Cleveland), John Hilpert (President, Delta State University), Will Hooker (Administrator, Bolivar County), Billy Nowell (Mayor, City of Cleveland), Paul Janoush (Alderman, City of Cleveland). DBJ

Delta Music Institute, a music industry studies program at Delta State University, is set to launch its DMI All Access series, beginning with guest Tommy Couch, co-founder of Malaco Records, on Monday, October 3 at 6:00 pm in Studio A at the DMI. DMI All Access is planned to be a series of open forums and lectures throughout the academic year featuring industry professionals from various areas of the music business.

Tommy Couch started Malaco Records, “The Last Soul Company,” as a pocket-change enterprise in the early 1960s with fellow college student Wolf Stephenson to book bands for fraternity dances at the University of Mississippi. After graduation, Couch opened shop in Jackson, Mississippi as Malaco Attractions with brother-in-law Mitchell Malouf (Malouf + Couch = Malaco). Wolf Stephenson joined them in promoting concerts by Herman’s Hermits, the Who, the Animals, and others.

In 1967 the company opened a recording studio in a building that remains the home of Malaco Records. The company began producing master recordings, and licensed their early recordings with established labels for national distribution. Between 1968 and 1970, Capitol Records released six singles and a Grammy-nominated album by legendary bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell. Deals for other artists were concluded with ABC, Mercury, and Bang.

The Malaco recording of Dorothy Moore’s “Misty Blue” earned gold records around the world, peaking at #2 R&B and #3 pop in the USA, and #5 in England. This was followed by thirteen chart records and five Grammy nominations for Moore by 1980.

Clearly the dominant contemporary southern blues label, Malaco purchased the gospel division of Savoy Records in 1986 and became the preeminent black gospel company in North America. The Savoy acquisition brought a vast catalog of classic recordings dating back decades, including albums by Shirley Caesar, Rev. James Cleveland, Albertina Walker, The Caravans, Inez Andrews, The Georgia Mass Choir, and The Florida Mass Choir.

Under the leadership of Tommy Couch, Malaco Records continues to define the state of contemporary southern rhythm and blues, soul, and gospel.

Tommy Couch will discuss a great chapter in Mississippi’s musical history on Monday, October 3 at 6:00 pm in Studio A of the DMI. The DMI All Access series, hosted by Steve Azar, is open to the public at no charge.

The Delta Music Institute is an independent center of study under the College of Arts & Sciences at Delta State University, offering a B.S. degree in Music Industry Studies. 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. For information, contact (662) 846-4579 or visit http://dmi.deltastate.edu.

For over ten years Thacker Mountain Radio has produced a live, unrehearsed broadcast that features author readings and a wide array of musical performances. The free show is normally recorded and broadcast weekly from Off Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi, but will relocate for this special show in DMI Studio A as part of the institute’s spring fundraiser for student scholarships.

This year’s featured literary guest is Leland native Culpepper Webb, author of the acclaimed work “Lifted From The Waters.” Musical guests are brothers Bryan “Beaches of Cheyenne” Kennedy and Gordon “Change The World” Kennedy. Both Kennedy brothers, sons of music legend Jerry Kennedy, have won multiple Grammy awards for their songwriting and producing.

Thacker Mountain’s house band, the Yalobushwhackers, features the Delta’s own Duff Dorrough. Joining the band for this special Thacker edition will be former Tangents keyboard player and Delta native Jim “Fish” Michie. They will be backing the show’s musical guests as well as playing featured performances of their own.

Thacker Mountain is hosted by Jim Dees and is broadcast live on Rebel Radio 92.1 FM and rebroadcast statewide on Mississippi Public Broadcasting at 7:00 p.m. on Saturdays.

The Delta Music Institute began with a generous donation by Fred Carl of the Viking Range Corporation. The focus of the DMI is to provide students with a broad and thorough education in the technological, business, and creative areas of the music industry.

The public is encouraged to come be a part of this entertaining broadcast on March 5 at 3:00 p.m. to support the Delta Music Institute. For more information on the Thacker in the Delta event, please call (662) 846-4579 or visit dmi.deltastate.edu.

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!

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."