Ozarks portrait courtesy of Jim Mayfield.
I learned many things from nearly 30 visits to Springfield, Mo. over the past ten years. but paramount is the way to live through the spirit of music. Unfiltered rhythms of life are everywhere in the “Queen City of the Ozarks” ; in the bars, the cars, the art , the photography, the food. Music cannot escape these influences.
Our 90-minute documentary is called “The Center of Nowhere, The Spirit and Sounds of Springfield, Mo.” It premieres May 20 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Robbie Fulks appears May 19 in a songwriter session and his performance [...]
Tail Dragger at Cook County Jail (Photos by Jon Sall)
James Yancy “Tail Dragger” Jones was confronted by fellow blues musician Bennie “Boston Blackie” Houston in the early morning hours of July 11, 1993 at the Delta Fish Market at Jackson and Kedzie. They had an ongoing dispute about payment at that year’s Chicago Blues Festival. Blackie had threatened Tail Dragger with a knife and according to 1993 court records, Tail Dragger testified that he shot Blackie in self defense. Blackie was hit in the left eye.
Blackie, 49, died on the scene.
Tail Dragger was convicted of second-degree [...]
