Pryor Center Presents Lecture and Juke Joint Performances in June

The Pryor Center Presents lecture series continues this summer with blues historian Cliff E. Jones at 6 p.m., Wednesday, June 22, as he presents “The Arkansas Delta Blues” at the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. The lecture is being held in conjunction with The Juke Joint Project: An Exhibit which is cosponsored by the Pryor Center and The Music Education Initiative and is currently on display in the Pryor Center atrium.

The lecture will be held in person and via Zoom. If you wish to attend virtually, please register in advance with an email address that is associated with your Zoom account. Registration is not required for in-person attendance.

The Music Education Initiative and the Pryor Center host musicians on the front porch of the Juke Joint each Friday from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Upcoming performances include roots/blues/Americana singer-songwriter Billy Jeter on June 10 and Sarah Lily on June 17.

The Arkansas Delta Blues commands an important role in the development of American music. The region maintained a vibrant blues scene from the 1920s until the 1970s. Early blues musicians such as Son House, Robert Johnson, Johnny Shines and Howlin’ Wolf played in the juke joints and cafes throughout the area. Folklorist Alan Lomax recorded St. Francis County blues musicians during his Southern Journey expedition in 1959 and chronicled these experiences in his classic work, The Land Where the Blues Began.

During the following decades, many of the musicians passed and music changed, but the stories of these legendary artists and their significant cultural contributions remain strong. Jones’ presentation will highlight select Arkansas connections to the blues and share the accounts of those who witnessed the performances and frequented the venues.

Jones serves as deputy director at the Delta Center for Economic Development at Arkansas State University. He began his career as executive assistant to the chancellor and adjunct instructor at Baton Rouge Community College. Jones then served as a founding faculty member and department chair and later dean of arts and technology at Cy-Fair College in Texas. He returned to Arkansas in 2008, working as vice chancellor for academics at the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville. He then served as senior vice chancellor for learning and instruction at Arkansas State University Mid-South.

Jones received his B.S.B.A and M.P.A. degrees from the U of A and his Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of Texas at Austin.

Register to attend Pryor Center Presents Cliff E. Jones – “The Arkansas Delta Blues” via Zoom.

The Pryor Center is located at 1 E. Center St., Suite 120. The events are free and open to the public, and parking is available on the Fayetteville Square.

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Monday thru Friday, 8 a.m to 6 p.m.
  The Juke Joint Project: An Exhibit is open to the public in the Pryor Center atrium on the Downtown Fayetteville Square
• Friday, June 10, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
  Roots/Blues/Americana singer-songwriter Billy Jeter will perform on the porch at The Juke Joint Exhibit and share the origins of his songs. Jeter will be joined by the rhythm section of the Shine Eye Band.
• Friday, June 17, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
  Performance on the front porch of The Juke Joint Exhibit by Sarah Lily.
• Wednesday, June 22, 6-7 p.m.
  Pryor Center Presents “The Arkansas Delta Blues” featuring Cliff E. Jones.

About the David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History: The David and Barbara Pryor Center for Arkansas Oral and Visual History is an oral history program with the mission to document the history of Arkansas through the collection of spoken memories and visual records, preserve the collection in perpetuity, and connect Arkansans and the world to the collection through the Internet, TV broadcasts, educational programs, and other means. The Pryor Center records audio and video interviews about Arkansas history and culture, collects other organizations’ recordings, organizes these recordings into an archive, and provides public access to the archive, primarily through the website at pryorcenter.uark.edu. The Pryor Center is the state’s only oral and visual history program with a statewide, seventy-five county mission to collect, preserve, and share audio and moving image recordings of Arkansas history.

This story also appeared in the University of Arkansas News publication.

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