Press

Jambase.com
The Rockin' Chair: My Southern Town
by Tom Speed

. . . Beanland was right in the thick of the southern jam scene in the late 1980s. Like The Tangents, they harnessed the sound of Mississippi, from Memphis to New Orleans, but added a healthy dose of the exploratory influence of the Grateful Dead to the mix. In the late 80s and early 90s, Beanland was not only Oxford's band, they were Mississippi's band. Their self-titled debut, produced by Jim Dickinson, won them legions of fans as their touring radius sprouted beyond the Southeast to Colorado and even to (gasp!) New York City! But in 1992, keyboardist Jojo Hermann left Beanland to join Widespread Panic, and Beanland sputtered out a little more than a year later, releasing one more album (the also brilliant Eye To Eye), with a different lineup just before their demise. A decade after that, guitarist George McConnell joined Panic following the loss of Michael Houser. [For a great look at Beanland and Oxford in the 1980s, I advise that you check out the documentary Rising From The Riverbed, by Oxford filmmaker Scotty Glahn] . . .

Read full article.

The Local Voice
Oxford, MS
04.19.06

Music on Video

Beanland : Rising from the Riverbed

You know how it is: hang out in Oxford long enough and you will see two Ole Miss girls in a fistfight. I saw one yesterday in front of As Seen On TV. I go there at least once a week, because they get new releases at least that often. On this night, the story circulating through the crowd was that both showed up at the same time to rent "the Scotty Glahn movie" and there was only one left. I knew "the Scotty Glahn movie" meant his excellent documentary feature about local band Beanland and Oxford. What these gals evidently did not know is even though the movie was produced and Directed by Scotty Glahn, he is not actually in it.

Someone walked by carrying a large blackboard, so I scraped my fingernails down it and the ensuing painful screech stopped the fistfight, and I addressed the dueling damsels.

"You ladies are here for Scotty Glahn?"

They both emphatically said yes, while sneering and snarling at the other.

"Scotty is not actually in this movie," I told them. "Scotty made this movie about a sublime Oxford band and the Oxford music scene in the late 1980's .

Then I went Kissinger .

"It is an excellent documentary, but there is only one copy left, so why don't y'all flip for it and the other goes over to Hot Dog Records and buy the Beanland disc? That way you both win .

"They have Beanland at Hot Dog?" they asked .

"Yep, right there between the Beach Boys and the Beatles."

The girls agreed and the day was saved. As the crowd dispersed, a sweet little elderly lady tapped me on the shoulder.

"You're wrong, young man," she told me . "Over at Hot Dog Records, Beanland is between the Beach Boys and the Beastie Boys."

--Chico Harris

THE LIBRARY TEAMS WITH SWEETWATER BREWERY AND WNC FILM TEAM TO PROVIDE ENTERTAINMENT AND RELIEF FOR PANIC FANS

9/21/05 – The Appalachian

The Library Restaurant and Pub, Atlanta’s Sweetwater Brewery, Panic
Fans for Food and WNC’s Mill Valley Management have teamed up to
provide a night of entertainment while spurring relief for Katrina
victims.

Boone, NC: Located at 603 Blowing Rock Rd., just across the street from
the Holmes Center, The Library is perfectly situated to attract many of
the Widespread Panic fans who will descend on Boone come Wednesday,
September 21st.

Restaurant GM, Blake Sorenson said, “We wanted to do something special
for all the people coming in town, so we called the Sweetwater guys and
the plan just rolled on from there.”

That plan includes two bands, a movie screening, a can food drive and
beer specials. The Loft Ridge Band will perform outside starting at 4PM
and play until 7PM. During this time The Library will screen the film
Beanland: Rising From the Riverbed on all of it’s 35 plasma-screen
TVs. The film stars Widespread Panic members, John ‘JoJo’ Hermann and
George McConnell, and focuses on their original band from Oxford, MS.
Portions of the film team will be in attendance giving away Beanland
merchandise and holding a raffle for some special items with the proceeds
going to hurricane relief.

Starting at 10PM North Carolina-based Dystonic will bring their brand of
jazz-influenced rock to the stage inside The Library. The band is
comprised of former ASU and NC School of the Arts students and promises
to keep attendees dancing into the late hours of the night.

Panic Fans for Food (PFFF) will be on-hand in the afternoon hours to
collect can-goods or monetary donations for local and national food bank
efforts. Since the formation of the non-profit, volunteer only,
business, the group has raised more than 18,000 pounds of food and
$29,311. In it’s six year, PFFF continues to make a positive impact in
most of the cities in which the hard-touring machine of Widespread Panic
touches down.

Running throughout the day will be specials on some of Sweetwater
Brewery’s most popular beers. Fan favorites the 420 Extra Pale Ale and
Porter will be flowing, as will the new Blue that is enhanced with a hint
of blueberry.

More information can be found at the web sites of the participating
organizations:
www.risingfromtheriverbed.com
www.panicfansforfood.org
www.sweetwaterbrew.com
www.dystonic.com

Beanland: Rising From The Riverbed (Cloudscapes Productions)

By Will Jordan
Rib Magazine

Chronicling nearly 20 years of Mississippi groove, Beanland: Rising From The Riverbed steps back in time with the beginnings of southern jam band’s seminal outfits, Beanland. With interviews and archival video footage “from back porch Mississippi hippie-cover band to their hard earned arrival as a genuine musical force across the south” the documentary offers true insight into the life of the musicians who set off to conquer the jam band music scene. Interviews included are with some of the leading stars of the southern music including: JoJo Hermann and George McConnell of Widespread Panic; Cody and Luther Dickinson of The North Mississippi Allstars; Rev Jeff Mosier of the Aquarium Rescue Unit; Cedric Burnside of the Burnside Blues Family; Cary Hudson of Blue Mountain and legendary producer, Jim Dickinson. Beanland: Rising From the Riverbed is a two disc set and includes the film and a 12 track CD by various artists: Beanland, Aquarium Rescue Unit, Allgood, The Grapes, Cary Hudson of Blue Mountain, The Tangents, White Buffalo, Kudzu Kings, Daniel Karlish, Sweetbush Revival, Guelel Kumba, and the hidden track is Nichol and Cody Dickinson. There are also DVD bonus features with George and Bill acoustic, JoJo unplugged, Outtakes, and a moment with Jim Dickinson. This disk is a must have for anyone who made it out of the Delta region and have longed to look back. The era is painted as it was back then and those that lived it, now can put their memories on a shelf.

Bands offer sights and sounds

The Charlotte Observer
www.charlotte.com
By Lawrence Toppman (Movie Critic)
Reprinted by Permission
Originally Published Thursday May 19, 2005

Outformation will play after showing of Beanland’s film

The almost-a-trend these days is to pair bands with movies. Promoters give fans more for their money; managers market DVDs as souvenirs and/or pay homage to someone who influenced the musicians who are playing.

Thus tonight’s double-bill at the Visulite has an aural/visual component. Onstage you get Atlanta-based Outformation, which released its first full-length album this week through Outerprise Records, a division of Red Eye U.S.A. (“Tennessee Before Daylight” came out Tuesday.)

Onscreen you’ll get “Beanland: Rising From the Riverbed.” Beanland is the band JoJo Hermann and George McConnell played in for years before getting Widespread Panic together. Hermann produced “Tennessee Before Daylight” at the Hum Depot in Nashville, Tenn., and contributed keyboards and vocals to many of the tracks.

Outformation is on a CD-release tour that will include a two-set performance at Bonnaroo in June. The band has been described as rootsy/classic, drawing heavily from ‘70s guitar rock, bluegrass and a touch of country.

They have more than a little in common with Beanland, on the strength of that loose but engaging documentary. Beanland actually started as a guitar duo before adding a drummer, a bass player and a piano player who was channeling Professor Longhair’s New Orleans boogie-woogie.

The film shows the haphazard way bands come together: accidental meetings, lack of a game plan, vague imitations of other (often better) bands, willingness to play for $35 a week and all the cheese sandwiches they can eat. The movie also gives a sense of the black blues tradition in Mississippi, where Beanland came from, and how that tradition led to the band’s “river music.”

The doors open at 1615 Elisabeth Ave. at 8 p.m., with the film at 8:30 and the band going on afterward. Tickets are $7. Call (704) 358-9200 for details.

BEANLAND—RISING FROM THE RIVERBED

By Rob Johnson
Reprinted by Permission
Originally Printed in Issue 45 of Hittin’ the Note (www.hittinthenote.com)

This DVD is billed as “a celebration of a time and place,” and anyone who has ever been involved in a thriving local music scene will feel profound déjà vu when watching it. Beanland began as friends playing Dead songs, most often at 1313 Beanland Drive in Oxford, Mississippi. The musicians played on top of the garage, making them a literal “garage band.” This DVD covers the fascinating journey, with captivating stories and many entertaining detours.

The arc of Beanland’s existence seems almost pre-ordained. George McConnell and Bill McCrory met by happenstance, assigned to adjacent seats in a class at Ole Miss. When McConnell and McCrory began playing real gigs, the club advertised them as “the guys from 1313 Beanland.” The residents objected to the club’s use of the address, so George and Bill went simply by Beanland, a name uniquely suited to their brand of rural Mississippi “river music.” They hooked up with drummer Rod Laird and bassist Ron Lewis, and soon became local favorites.

At this point, young JoJo Hermann enters the scene. The city kid from New York had hopped a bus to Mississippi in search of the music that he craved. One fateful day, someone suggested that JoJo play piano for tips at a local bar called the Hoka. Hermann dropped in, sat at the keys, and started playing Scott Joplin and Professor Longhair. The rest, as they say, is history.

JoJo’s strong New Orleans influence added the X factor that Beanland needed to distinguish themselves from other bands. Slowly but surely, they conquered their hometown of Oxford, playing rowdy late-night shows at the Hoka until the police shut them down. Beanland had by influenced other musicians, including Cody and Luther Dickinson, who are featured on Rising From the Riverbed, explaining Beanland’s broad appeal.

The Dickinson connection led Beanland to the Memphis studio of family patriarch and legendary producer Jim Dickinson. The band had wanted him to produce their debut album, but had had no luck until this fateful meeting. This story is too good for HTN to tell – let’s just say that, if it hadn’t happened this way, someone would’ve had to make it up. Indeed, the storytelling – engaging accounts provided by colorful, uniquely Southern characters right out of a Faulkner novel – is as much a feature of Rising From the Riverbed as the music.

Having completed their self-titled first album with Dickinson, Beanland hit the road in earnest, playing hundreds of shows between ’88 and ’92, playing songs that are still fresh and powerful years later.

During their travels, the band met other pioneers of the fledgling jam band scene, including members of Widespread Panic and Aquarium Rescue Unit. Beanland’s friendship with Panic also meant the end of the band that had s sprung with so much promise from Oxford. JoJo’s unique keyboard stylings were just what WP needed to flesh out their sound. Widespread had used T Lavitz of the Dixie Dregs on their debut album, Space Wrangler, but, for their second album, they called Hermann in to lay down some tracks. Soon, JoJo accepted an invitation to join the band.

“I was really disappointed,” admits Cody Dickinson. “I always loved Widespread Panic, but I was a Beanland fan.”

Beanland’s identity crisis deepened when founding member Bill McCrory got tired of life on the road and quit at about the same time. The band added guitarist Barry “ Po” Hannah and recorded an excellent album, Eye to Eye, in 1993, but they remain refreshingly honest about the void JoJo had left when he joined WSP.

“We would go on tour, and people would say, ‘Where’s the keyboard player?’ road manager Lance Lawrence recalls, “We would tell them, ‘Well, he joined Widespread Panic, ‘ and they would ask, ‘Why don’t you get someone to replace him?’ We would always say, ‘How do you replace JoJo?”

The band eventually called it quits with a farewell show in Oxford. Ten years later, after the tragic death of Michael Houser from pancreatic cancer, guitarist George McConnell would become the second member of Beanland to fill an urgently needed role in Widespread Panic. No wonder Widespread is such a powerful band: they absorbed the heart of another great band along the way.

Nevertheless, Beanland deserves to be considered on its own merits, not just as a footnote to the Widespread Panic story. As the DVD’s red-hot scenes from a 2004 reunion show testify, they can still jam with the best of them. If there is any justice, Rising From the Riverbed will help win Beanland the respect they deserve.

Beanland: Rising From the Riverbed

by Ari Surdoval
Performing Songwriter Magazine
June 2005

A fan’s eye–view of the much loved Beanland, this documentary traces the group’s rise from fraternity party cover band to progenitors of the jam band scene that nurtured Phish, Widespread Panic and Aquarium Rescue Unit. The original members recount coming together as students at Ole Miss in the late ‘80s and blending their love of the Grateful Dead with an admiration of New Orleans boogie-woogie and steeping it all in the deep musical traditions of Mississippi. There is a good-natured humility to the band (and the film), especially when depicting the joy and excitement of playing live. There is a sense of high-drama when Beanland make the leap from playing covers to original material and a feeling of triumph when their fans embrace them. By the time Jim Dickinson appears, like a cool rock and roll Buddha, to recount producing the band’s first record, there is a sense that what is really happening is no less than the reinvention and revitalization of Southern rock. As much about a place and time as it is about a band, the film mirrors the slow, easy pace of Mississippi and Beanland’s music. A friendly and absorbing story.

www.performingsongwriter.com

Beanland - Rising from the Riverbed DVD

by Sutton Stevens
www.homegrownmusic.net
March 21, 2005

Rising from the Riverbed is about the people, the moments and --- the music.

Beanland was part blues, part ragtime, and part boogie woogie all coming together to create what Bill McCrory perfectly calls, ‘river music.’

The core of river is the soul, the culture, and the heart that lies in every person who lives their life according to this same groove. JoJo Herman, original member of Beanland and current member of Widespread Panic, says, “Mississippi has a groove, it has a vibe from Junior Kimbrough [and] RL Burnside. And Beanland is a part of that.”

Rising from the Riverbed paints the picture of this timeless and influential band with roots plated firmly in the ground of Mississippi. It chronicles the crazy adventures and misadventures of some good ole Southern boys, and one Yankee, who had fingers like hammers that could dance gracefully across the keys of a piano. In the late 80’s, the guys were brought together because of their common love for the Grateful Dead. They were all diggin’ what the Grateful Dead was doing for music and what they were doing on stage, and wanted to do something like that.

Chico Harris, fan from the heyday, on Beanland, "They never professed to being great players or being too serious about it, but they knew something connected between the band and the audience during the shows and fell in love with that feeling."

This amazing film, part documentary, features interviews and stories from all those involved. It’s also part concert, showing scenes from many shows including their 2004 Reunion show in Oxford and the Grove show from 2001. Rising from the Riverbed is an incredible journey told through the eyes of first-time filmmakers Scotty Glahn and Kutcher Miller.

Beanland was “right at the cutting edge of what turned into jambands, when no one knew what it was,” says Producer Jim Dickinson.

Beanland will forever be in the hearts of those lucky enough to have witnessed their groundbreaking shows in the late 80’s and mid 90’s.

Rising from the Riverbed takes you to that time and those moments when anything could happen – and it did.

Riverbed Tracks Early Jam Band - An Honest Tune Magazine

An Honest Tune Magazine Spring 2005

Beanland:Rising From The Riverbed
Cloudscapes Productions

Watching the Beanland DVD Rising From The Riverbed is like taking a trip down the Mississippi from Memphis to New Orleans. It provides you with the inspiration for the unique sound that is the band Beanland.

First time filmmakers Scotty Glahn and Kutcher Miller have provided the rest of the world a peek into the band that served as an unheralded flashpoint in the jam band explosion of the 1990's. And even though Beanland no longer plays together (save the occasional reunion show) they have had a profound effect on fans and other musicians alike.

Rising From The Riverbed charts this influence with what is part documentary, part concert film and part fond reminiscence. Although there were thousands of stories about the road, Glahn and Miller sliced through to the pertinent ones, shining a light on what it was like to be living through that time in history. They chart the band's first shows, the big shows, the lineup changes and the painful end.

They also, in part, define what Beanland, the band, really was. Bill McCrory puts it best: Beanland is river music, Delta blues and Memphis Soul with New Orleans rhythm. And you learn how producer Jim Dickinson taught them to take breaths of clean, fresh,Mississippi air choked by kudzu and small hills and cigarette-filled bars and translate that all into something meaningful. Beanland fed off of the art and writing culture of their Oxford, Mississippi and made it a musical hotbed as well. They were the mud providing the base to the river water...the curves and the swirls giving the bends in the water a place to go.

Even though Rising From The Riverbed can seem a little long at times, how else could you understand the significance behind something that looms larger than life?

---Rebecca Lauck Cleary

Glahn and Miller Score Underground Hit with Beanland Movie

By Ben Bounds
Oxford Town
#598 27-Feb 2005

Rising From The Riverbed, the new Beanland Documentary shot by Scotty Glahn and Kutcher Miller, is on shelves and striking up conversations in clubs, taverns, record stores, radio stations and after-hour cocktail parties in North Mississippi, Memphis and beyond.

Shot on-location between 1987 and 2004, Rising From The Riverbed (RFTR) is a look back at the history and legend of a band that laid the foundation for what is the Oxford/North Mississippi music scene as we know it today.

Glahn and Miller's film is an historical account of the band's history beginning with the meeting of George McConnell and Bill McCrory and running through the additions of the original lineup from Rob Laird and Ron Lewis to Lance Lawrence, JoJo Hermann, and JK Terrell, RFTR looks into the band's early days at the Hoka Theatre, Syd & Harry's and Forrester's and sheds light on the band's influences ranging from the Grateful Dead to Professor Longhair and Delta blues to hill country blues.

Director Glahn also delves into the band's relationships to the early "jam band" movement and the bands that helped spawn that movement such as Widespread Panic, Aquarium Rescue Unit, The Grapes, Blues Traveler, and Phish. The film the dissects the band's decision to play originals only and the financial woes that come with such a decision, as well as their hectic touring schedule of 180 or more shows per year from 1988-1993, the band's first recording experience with producer Jim Dickinson(Big Star,Ry Cooder), the firing of Rob Laird, and the replacement of keyboardist JoJo Hermann .

The end of the film has clips of former Beanland members McCrory, Lewis and Laird explaining, and sometimes lamenting, the shakeups and lineup changes including emotional recounts of Laird's meltdown, the devastating effects of Hermann's leaving the band to join Widespread Panic, McCrory and Lewis' departures and the anti-climatic second album, Eye To Eye, that McConnell did with an entirely new lineup consisting of no other original members.

Throughout the film are clips of the last Beanland Reunion at the 2004 Double Decker Festival in Oxford. Much of the still-shot photography was done by Atlanta-based photo-journalist Adam Smith.

RFTR includes interviews and cameos by such characters as Jane Rule Burdine, Paul "Crumpy" Edwards, Cody and Luther Dickinson, Jim Dees, Ron Shapiro, Bill Forrester, Reverend Jeff Mosier, Cary Hudson, Cedric Burnside and later Beanland members Barry "Po" Hannah and Harry Peel, just to name a few.

Rising From The Riverbed also comes with a kick-ass accompanying CD with songs by Beanland friends such as The Tangents, Cary Hudson, The Grapes, Allgood, ARU, Kudzu Kings, Sweetbush Revival, Guelel Kumba, Daniel Karlish and more.

Beanland influenced and inspired an entire generation of Oxford rockers, and the effects of that influence are even more visible today, possibly, than in the last 10 years of the 20th century. They bridged the gap between the R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough era and the Blue Mountain and Kudzu Kings era, paving the way for the new blood of current bands.

We give the film an overall rating of A-. Obviously, there have been better documentaries made about bands, but there aren't many documentaries about Mississippi bands out there, and Glahn and Miller have done well with the small amount of original footage and second-hand accounts.

Rising From The Riverbed is a must-have for any serious fan of Oxford History, Mississippi music or Southern roots-rock. You can pick up your copy of the film at Hot Dog Records, As Seen on TV or at the film's website www.risingfromtheriverbed.com, or the band's website, www.beanland.net .

The film's official Oxford screening will take place tonight at Proud Larry's, immediately followed by a performance with Cary Hudson, Duff Dorrough, Tate Moore and Dave Woolworth.

Proud Larry's Screens Beanland Documentary Tonight

by Kate Taylor Battle
DM Senior Staff Reporter
January 27, 2005

Whether you love or hate jambands, the new DVD “Beanland: Rising from the Riverbed,” created by Scotty Glahn and Kutcher Miller, is a film both Oxford and the rest of Mississippi should see.

Documenting the rise and fall of one of the college scene’s most popular bands, this film focuses on Beanland and on the people, sights and sounds that make Oxford, the state of Mississippi and the South rich in character, color and sound. In addition, the film gives insight into the birth and growth of today’s jam scene.

“Everything I learned in life that’s important, I learned in Mississippi,” New York-native JoJo Hermann said in the film. “I always say I’m from Mississippi when people ask me because, well, it’s a lot cooler.”

This DVD shows less of the talent of the band and more homage to the people and places that made that band successful. Scenes include Oxford hotspots of the past such as the Gin, the Hoka, Forrester’s, Syd and Harry’s and Lafayette’s that date back to the early and mid 1980s when closing time meant nothing to a good band in the face of the local authorities.

Throughout the film, members of Beanland – JoJo Hermann, George McConnell, Rob Laird, Bill McCrory, Ron Lewis, J.K. Terrell, Harry Peel and Barry “Po” Hannah – celebrate local and regional inspirations from the Delta blues to the kudzu-covered hills to New Orleans, emphasizing greats such as Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, Colonel Bruce Hampton, Professor Longhair, the Tangents, Aquarium Rescue Unit and contemporaries the Hilltops, which included John Stirratt (ex-Uncle Tupelo, Autumn Defense, Wilco), Laurie Stirratt (ex-Blue Mountain, Healthy White Baby) and Cary Hudson (ex-Blue Mountain, Cary Hudson Trio).

The film includes a colorful series of interviews from producing legend Jim Dickinson and his sons Cody and Luther (North Mississippi Allstars) to photographer Jane Rule Burdine from Taylor to local characters Jim Dees, Ron Shapiro and Chico Harris.

These people and more describe their part in rearing a 150-160 gig-per-year jam phenomenon, by producing their first records, protecting them from noise ordinance laws in Oxford, giving them a place to play at closing time, photographing their first album cover, naming their songs and giving them their first van (“the Orca”).

“I realize that what he (JoJo Hermann) was doing was bringing that Professor Longhair, New Orleans sort of groove to the young, what’s now called a jam band audience, but then they were making it up,” Cody Dickinson points out in the film.

While every interview pieces together the rise of Beanland from a hippie-cover band to what Jim Dickinson calls a new style of Southern rock, these interviews also remind the viewer that the South, Mississippi and Oxford are inspiring places with a wealth of homegrown brilliance through diversity and just the right amount of colorful peculiarity.

The DVD includes plenty of live concert footage such as Beanland’s earliest shows at a house on Beanland Road to Atlanta and Memphis all the way to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. In addition, you will most likely recognize yourself or a few friends in footage from the 2001 Grove and 2004 Double Decker reunion shows.

The DVD package can be bought at Hot Dog Records or Local Color.

Can’t buy the DVD? Then, go to the Oxford premier of “Beanland: Rising from the Riverbed” at Proud Larry’s tonight, and see it for $7. The film starts at 9:45, and the Cary Hudson Trio, which includes Hudson (guitar, vocals), Ted Gainey (drums) and Justin Showah (bass), will play immediately after the film ends.

Beanland: Rising From The Riverbed- The Review

by Jonathan Kiersky
January 28, 2005

In this, the last installment of the Beanland: Rising From the Riverbed coverage we will review the film for those of you who could not make the showing at Newby’s or have yet to see the film.

Rising from the Riverbed is not only a documentary on a band from Mississippi that played together some 15 years ago, it's a film about a culture being developed and the pitfalls that almost every band succumbs to. The documentary is an incredible look inside the music and the musicians who were at the forefront of a scene not yet realized, but a scene that would become monumental to Rock n Roll.

And it was this cultivation of a culture that holds Beanland so close to some of our souls. Many people have come up to me either before seeing the film or just after and remarked about how the film sent them back to a bygone day. A day that each one of these people hold in universal acclaim. For many, Beanland was an escape from the norm that was a slow living Oxford, Mississippi in those days. For others, it was the introduction to a new sound and a new band that made them want to go see live music. Regardless of the reasons, Beanland affected people and the documentary filmed by Kutcher Miller and Scotty Glahn did much of the same thing.

The documentary is based around three solid parameters- the band in its former state, the band in its current state and interviews with all of those people who were a part of the band in their present state. Each piece of the movie deserves its own description, so here goes.

While the film is interspersed with shots of old footage, new footage and interviews, the question I got the most was ‘How much old footage is in the film?” Well, you’ll be happy to know that a lot of the old shows were recorded and somehow Glahn and Miller got their hands on a substantial amount of the film. This footage, with some of the accompanying interviews, reminds us not only of what a Beanland concert was like but gives the viewer a distinct fell of what was taking place during this time. The shows were held in strange joints not normally accustomed to having a band like Beanland, with their fans and the overall raucous atmosphere, come into their venue and play. While the older footage takes on a grainy feel to it, the music remained intact and that old Beanland sound was and still is something that captivates the ear of the listener. Beanland was a true rock band and the movie does nothing but underscore that point throughout.

The band in their present state run the gamut from still on stage performing in front of sold out shows around the world to family men who have eschewed the rock world for a more normal existence. That being said, none of the band members have forgotten how to pick up their instrument and get right back in the groove. The footage from the Beanland reunion show at the Double Decker festival in Oxford last spring is very well filmed and the music from the show still captivates the audience.

While the movie is a documentary in its purest of forms, the feelings of the band members and friends runs the gamut. On one hand, there is a deep sense of pride in some of the people and that feeling is very prevalent in many of the interviews. On the other hand, there is certainly regret and almost indifference in the minds of others. (I won’t mention names, but you’ll get the feeling when you see the film.) Beanland meant a lot to a host of people, especially musicians, and those people will never forget them. In some cases, though, the thought of Beanland evokes an almost dread about decisions gone awry. This is the part of the movie that really tells the behind the scenes story of Beanland. The two filmmakers did an excellent job of bringing those emotions to the forefront and telling the story of the band in a light of truthfulness. Even though Miller and Glahn were (and are still) fans, this movie is not self-serving nor is it revisionist history. It’s also not made as a tribute to the band. There is a story to tell and that’s what the two filmmakers did- tell the entire story.

Another area where the filmmakers excelled was in the interviews with musicians that crossed paths with Beanland during their shorter-than-it-should-have-been run. Excellent interviews with the Dickinson’s, the Reverend Jeff Mossier and others gives the viewer a great look at the outside looking in aspect of Beanland. Where others marveled at the band, the band itself didn’t always do the same thing. But, regardless of that, the band made an influential impact on many musicians coming up in that particular scene. An influence that every musician who was interviewed in the documentary basically said the same thing; the band was awesome, before it’s time and had a profound effect on each of these musicians to a varying degree. And at the end of the day, that might just be how Beanland will be remembered- the band that set the table for so many others and gave the scene, at that time, a legitimate voice.

But, it wasn’t the interviews with the other musicians around Beanland that made this film so special. The interviews with the band members are the backbone of the film. Through the words of George, Bill, JoJo, and the other members of Beanland, you get a sense that even they didn’t know what was happening. They could feel the energy coming from both the music and the crowd on a regular basis and Beanland, as the film shows, stepped to the plate and produced some of the finest music the local Memphis area scene ever witnessed. But, you could see the writing on the wall as the band members were looking at different career paths and what each of them thought Beanland could accomplish. That segment of the film and the band’s history is the most important piece of the film, for both the viewer’s sake and the final explanation of what exactly happened to this band from Oxford that took the western part of the Southeast by storm.

In terms of a documentary, Beanland: Rising From the Riverbed is one of the best I’ve seen in quite some time. Regardless of the fact that I used to sneak into Beanland shows at a way to young age to be in a bar, the film was excellently done. It reminded me a lot of another one of my favorite documentaries of the past five years- the Stacy Perralta classic Dogtown Z-Boys. Both films intertwine the present and the past so well, while continuing to stick to a very intriguing plot line.

Beanland: Rising From the Riverbed is available by clicking the link at the top of this page, or by going to the film’s website or just head up to Shangri-La Records on Madison.

The Clarion Ledger - Jackson, Mississippi - 01.20.05

'Beanland: Rising from the Riverbed' documents breakthrough band

By Cori Bolger
cbolger@clarionledger.com

Special to The Clarion-Ledger

The first time Scotty Glahn saw Beanland perform, he was a high school student with an affection for hippie cover bands.

Conveniently, Beanland members were shaggy-haired Oxford rockers with an affection for tie-dye, cheap beer and Jerry Garcia.

The electronic '80s may have been slow to embrace Beanland's backyard party band formula, but when the jam band phenomenon erupted with Blues Traveler and Phish, Beanland rode the wave to national fame.

Next week, Glahn will premier his directorial debut, Beanland: Rising from the Riverbed, a documentary on the breakthrough band, whose legacy is still evident — keyboardist JoJo Hermann, lead guitarist George McConnell and now members of the seminal Widespread Panic.

The film's DVD package was released in November, and includes bonus features and a 12-track CD by various artists.

The concept came to Glahn, 33, during a March 2001 skiing trip with Hermann.

"We were reliving some of the old times and I decided I wanted to start interviewing people," Glahn said. "It kind of snowballed ... When we got to (producer) Jim Dickinson's interview, we knew it was real."

Glahn and co-producer Kutcher Miller spent three years filming and editing interviews with Beanland veterans and archival footage of live performances. He kept at his pet project for a reason: he sensed the band's potential in the early days and missed their sense of fun.

"What made them so special," Glahn recalled, "is that they weren't so serious ... It was all George's smile up there."

But one fan's enthusiasm doesn't equal success.

"We were concerned about whether there were enough people who remembered Beanland," to appreciate the project, he said. "To our surprise, we've gotten tons of fan mail. People are really excited about it."

The group was born in 1984, when Ole Miss students McConnell and Bill McCrory teamed up to play Thursday night parties at 1313 Beanland Drive in Oxford. One outsider dubbed their sound "river music." In actuality, it fused funk, rock, acid and blues together to mimic the sound of The Grateful Dead.

"It was all about digging what The Dead did and doing something like it," said drummer Rob Laird.

Eventually, McConnell and McCrory scored a regular gig at Ireland's in Oxford and added Laird, bassist Ron Lewis and ragtime-style pianist Hermann.

A cover band no more, Beanland began writing their own material and developed a serious following.

Legendary Memphis producer Dickinson agreed to help with their first album. His sons, Luther and Cody, were already huge Beanland fans.

"They were right at the cutting edge of what people now call 'jam bands,' " Jim Dickinson, 63, said. "It was a metamorphosis of Southern rock ... They were what Southern rock is now."

Hermann left Beanland to join Widespread Panic in 1992, but the other members kept making music until they eventually parted ways. McConnell opened a guitar shop in Oxford and also joined Widespread Panic.

Since the initial breakup, Beanland has reunited five times for sold-out shows in Oxford, including the 2004 Double Decker Music Festival in Oxford Square.

"Their reunions are always successful," said Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars. "I've always wanted to play with them when they got together ... I know their songs like the back of my hand, so it'll be no problem."

The purpose of a documentary, Glahn said, is to chronicle the origins of the Southern jam band scene and explain Mississippi heritage to those who don't get it.

"Mississippi has a groove and Beanland is part of that," Hermann explained in the film. "The groove is a way of life."

Details:

Beanland: Rising from the Riverbed

Cost: $21.95. Available at BeBop Records in Jackson, Hot Dog Records and Local Color in Oxford and on the Internet at www.risingfromtheriverbed.com.

Guest appearances: Jim Dickinson, Luther and Cody Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), Cedric Burnside (Burnside Blues Family), Cary Hudson (Hilltops, Blue Mountain), Paul "Crumpy" Edwards (White Buffalo, Bloodkin, Barbara Cue), Jeff Mosier (Aquarium Rescue Unit, Blueground Undergrass, Ear Reverents), Romin Dawson (The Grapes), Duff Dorrough (The Tangents), Ron Shapiro, Jim Dees, Bill Forrester, Jane Rule Burdine, Ollie Carrathers, Barton Segal and Chico Harris.

What: Premiere of Beanland: Rising from the Riverbed, featuring a concert by Tate Moore and Dave Woolworth from The Kudzu Kings and Duff Dorrough from The Tangents.
When: 9:30 p.m. Jan. 27.
Where: Proud Larry's, Oxford.
Tickets: $5.
Phone: For more information, call (662) 236-0050.
www.clarionledger.com

Mountain Xpress

Asheville, NC
December 15-21 Vol 11#20

FILM

George McConnell co-stars in Beanland: Rising From The Riverbed. A documentary about the seminal Mississippi band, the film premieres Friday, December 17 at Emerald Lounge.

Before there were jam bands, there was Beanland, an Oxford, Mississippi based six piece that wore a deep groove in the Southeastern touring circuit in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Two of Beanland’s original members went on to join seminal Southern jam kings Widespread Panic — keyboardist JoJo Hermann, in 1992, and, 10 years later, guitarist George McConnell, who replaced the late Michael Houser. Now, nostalgic Beanheads who missed this year’s reunion show can take comfort in the release of a new documentary, Beanland : Rising From The Riverbed, slated to premiere at the Emerald Lounge at 7pm on Friday, December 17. A performance by Willie & Me, Outformation and Dr. Dan and the MDs (featuring Yonrico Scott of the Derek Trucks Band) follows the show. Film alone is $5; $15 for the whole night. Call 232-4372 for details.

--- by A&E Staff

The Commercial Appeal

Memphis, TN
December 16, 2004

Beanland, which began in the 1980's, broke up about 10 years ago. Now fans of the Oxford, Miss. band can relive the memories in a new documentary, "Beanland: Rising From The Riverbed." The film, directed, funded, and produced by former Memphians Kutcher Miller and Scotty Glahn, will have its premiere at 8:30 tonight at Newby's at 539 S. Highland.

"When those guys were playing I was 17, 18 sneaking into 616 and South End to see them," said Kutcher, who now lives in Aspen." For both of us, it was a music that turned us onto the power of music."

"Although Beanland was short-lived, they were very important in the creation of what is now a very large,widespread musical scene,which,I use the term loosely, Jamband."

Beanland's music "was really a classic river music. They took music from New Orleans all the way up the mississippi River to Memphis and kind of combined it."

The documentary, which includes interviews with Jim, Luther and Cody Dickinson and Cedric Burnside, is now available in a two disc set for $21.99 from the website www.risingfromtheriverbed.com.

An Honest Tune December 2004 -Beanland Film Out

Documentary Available on DVD

Rising From The Riverbed,an independent film produced by first time filmakers Scotty Glahn and Kutcher Miller,was released on DVD on their website,www.risingfromtheriverbed.com,in November.

The Documentary focuses on the Oxford,Mississippi band Beanland. Beanland gained a large following in the late 1980's and early 1990's before splitting up in 1993. Two members-keyboardist JoJo Hermann and guitarist George McConnell-are current members of Widespread Panic.

The 2 disc Rising From The Riverbed includes archival Beanland footage,scenes from their recent reunion performances plus interviews with band members and Jim Dickinson, who produced the bands first CD [Beanland, 1991]. Extras include an acoustic performance by McConnell and guitarist Bill McCrory,plus a solo performance by Hermann.

NORTH CAROLINA PREMIERE OF BEANLAND: RISING FROM THE RIVERBED AT ASHEVILLE’S EMERALD LOUNGE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: David Dean
Mill Valley Management, LLC
Phone: (828) 877-3031
david@millvalleymanagement.com

Movie Premiere followed by night of music and a special performance by Dr. Dan and the M.D.’s, featuring Yonrico Scott of the Derek Trucks Band.

Cloudscapes Productions, a Memphis, Tennessee firm, in coordination with WNC’s own Mill Valley Management, will premiere the feature-length music documentary Beanland: Rising From the Riverbed Friday December 17, 2004 at the Emerald Lounge in downtown Asheville.

For those who do not know, or have a hard time remembering, Beanland was in heavy rotation on the southeastern touring scene during the late 1980’s and early ‘90’s. The band hailed from Oxford, Mississippi where most of the members attended the university. Not only did they provide a backdrop for many a raucous night in venues throughout the region, they were acknowledged by fans and fellow artists alike for their quality songwriting and arrangements. Beanland was on the leading edge of the genre movement that has come to be known as ‘jamband.’

In fact, a couple of Beanland’s members have moved on to what some consider the torchbearers for the jamband scene, Widespread Panic. JoJo Hermann left Beanland in 1992 to add his keyboard prowess to the Athens, Georgia quintet while guitarist George McConnell was called upon in 2002 to handle the heavy task of filling the gap left by the passing of original Panic guitarist Michael Houser.

From the beginning of Rising From the Riverbed, the filmmakers do a solid job of transporting the audience back to a time when rock n’ roll seemed a bit more organic than the product of today. Beanland opens the movie with a 2004 reunion performance of the popular ‘Take Me To the Show’. With the band at full-throttle and the audience being sonically situated, viewers hardly notice the video dissolve to a 1987 performance of the same tune.

Time was spent with each of the band members getting their input on and off camera. At the same time, the film has it’s share of interviews with other notables, such as: legendary producer Jim Dickinson, Luther and Cody Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), Cedric Burnside (Burnside Blues Family), Cary Hudson (Blue Mountain), Paul "Crumpy" Edwards (White Buffalo, Bloodkin, Barbara Cue), Charlie Pruet (Allgood), Jeff Mosier (Aquarium Rescue Unit, Blueground Undergrass); however, it is not your ordinary documentary style tour film. Rising From The Riverbed will capture the interest of music fans of all ages.

Following the movie premier that starts at 7PM and runs until 8:30PM, the organizers have lined up a night full of music geared towards the throngs that flock to Asheville each year for the Warren Haynes Christmas Jam. Headlining the night will be Dr. Dan & the M.D.’s, featuring Yonrico Scott of the Derek Trucks Band.

Both Dr. Dan and Yonrico were youngsters when the music world took note of their abilities. Dr. Dan and Japanese sensation Char had several hits when the good Dr. was only 17. Yonrico was in Detroit laying down his beats for gospel groups and was considered the top drummer, for that genre, at the time. Both of the musicians went to respected universities to reach farther into the musical realm and they could roll out a list as long as your arm in regards to whom they have performed with at various points in their careers.

For instance, Dr. Dan lent his keyboard mastery to Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown’s band in the ‘80’s and formed the Figi Mariners with Col. Bruce Hampton in the early 1990’s. Yonrico Scott is currently the drummer for the Derek Trucks Band but has played with groups as varied as Stevie Wonder, Kansas and The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Coming on the Emerald Lounge stage directly before Dr. Dan and the M.D.’s is Atlanta-based Outformation. Headed by guitarist Sam Holt, the three-piece rock band recently put the final touches on their first full-length release, which was produced by aforementioned keyboardist JoJo Hermann. Inevitably, JoJo laid down some keys on most of the album’s tracks.

Summer 2004 found the band opening several shows for super-group Stockholm Syndrome to much acclaim. As mentioned in their ‘band bio’, one of Outformation’s major influences is one of Warren Haynes’ avenues for exploration, Gov’t Mule. They seem a good match for what has become a weekend of musical mayhem in Asheville.

Starting off the musical portion of December 17th at the Emerald Lounge will be Wilmington favorites, Willie & Me. This might be the first time many in Asheville have had a chance to see this four-piece outfit but listeners will not be disappointed in the result.

In years past the faithful have had limited options on the Friday night prior to the actual ‘Jam’ but with Barbara Que (featuring Todd Nance) and Bloodkin at Stella Blue and the movie premier event at the Emerald Lounge, it seems local promoters and venues are trying to get locals and visitors off their couches and into beautiful downtown Asheville a night early. With as many of the musicians coming to town that have already collaborated, maybe this will be the spur to generate those bodies getting into the clubs.

More information on all of the above can be found: www.risingfromtheriverbed.com, www.doctordan.org, www.foryouroutformation.com, www.willieandme.com.

A New Documentary on Beanland tells how one man’s journey of discovery led to the story of how it all came to be, and almost was

By Tom Speed
From An Honest Tune Volume 5, Number 3 [Summer 2004]

Producers Corner: Rising From The Riverbed April 2004

When first time filmmaker Scotty Glahn set out to make a documentary film about the state of the grassroots music community in 2002, he first set his sights on the first Bonnaroo festival. In its inaugural year, the festival brought together all of the biggest names in jamdom—Widespread Panic, Trey Anastasio from Phish, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir from The Grateful Dead, moe., Galactic, Gov’t Mule and hundreds of others.

But daunted and discouraged by the sheer size and scope of the festival, he reassessed the story he wanted to tell and decided to start at the beginning— more than twenty years earlier, in 1984. For Glahn, the story began in Oxford, Mississippi when he began to visit the small college town as a high school student to see a band called Beanland. This was in the late 1980s, but Beanland had formed in 1984 just as other bands in Athens, Georgia and Burlington, Vermont and Charlottesville, Virginia and other college towns all over America had—with a determination to play music that matters and have fun doing it. Perhaps it was a backlash to the advent of MTV; perhaps it was just another chapter in the long story of musicians playing music for the love of it. But it was a spontaneous movement that gained a large head of steam with the first HORDE tour in 1992, and perhaps culminated with that first Bonnaroo festival, which Glahn refers to as the “orgasm” of the jam movement.

Glahn’s movie, Rising From The Riverbed, chronicles those rising times of the late 1980s by documenting Beanland in their heyday as a band that was as emblematic of the spirit of the times as anybody.

Thus it happened, almost, by accident.

Sparked by the genuine curiosity of a historian, Glahn set about interviewing band members, concert promoters, friends and fans of the band. And it grew to be much more than a movie about a band.

“This movie is about friendships,” says Glahn. “Really at that time had no clue what I was going to do with [the footage]. I was just doing it because I loved it. I took it home and watched it and I started seeing some of the powerful stories behind it. And I felt I had to do something to give back to what I’d got so much out of.”

As word of the project began to spread, the movie got legs of its own, with band members and fans submitting archival footage, photos and stories.

“It touched a nerve and everybody started pitching in,” says Glahn “We started getting phone calls and emails. Everybody wanted to help and they were excited about it. That pushed us and it became its own being. Some of that old footage is from Syd & Harrys. The problem is the footage is what it is—it is 1987. We were lucky to even have that stuff. Also some Hoka footage that is unbelievable. That place was a spiritual place. Then we have footage of George and Bill and Rob Laird where they used to practice. They’re kids and playing their hearts out. We have footage of the last show at Lafayette’s, footage from WC Dons in Jackson, the South End, Exit In, and Tipitina’s.

“The point where it went from being just fun to real was Jim Dickinson’s interview. I had trouble filming because I was such a fan. I was just freaked out and fascinated by how incredible and intelligent he was, how rock and roll he was. At that point I knew we had something. This movie is going to be about a good story. It’s about a story that has some power and magic to it. Beanland is the character of this story of what happed in the music world in the past 20 years. It’s about what happened in 1984 in Oxford and Athens and Vermont. What was happening over that 20 years and why, and some expert opinions on it, like Jim Dickinson’s. That’s what the movie is about, Beanland is the character.”

While the film still has no official release date, a 25-30 minute preview will be shown at a celebration show at Memphis’ Mud Island in May. The concert will feature such Beanland influences and acolytes as North Mississippi Allstars, Duff Dorrough, The Cary Hudson Trio, Alvin Youngblood Hart and Afrisippi.

And Glahn has been asked to debut Rising From The Riverbed at the Oxford Film Festival in June. But ultimately, the project was one of discovery, one of documentation, of telling the story of how a spontaneous spark across the country led to huge things for some, and to not so huge things for others.

“They were a damn good band,” says Glahn. “And they could have done some things. Fate had it different. But that didn’t change the way they were passionate and put their love into it. It hurt. And there’s no denying that. And to bring up all of these feelings again had to be hard on them. But I hope that this is positive in the end, and I think it will be. My goal is just to make [the band] happy. It’s their story and I just hope I document it. I hope I do it justice being a first time filmmaker.”

“It’s hard to name a film,” Glahn continues. “But when you know you have the right one, you know it. We were in the studio with Jojo in Nashville. We’d been there for about 8 hours, and Jojo could not get “Hold The Wheel” and it was driving him crazy. We were all swapping lyrics and trying to get the lyrics right. Finally I had to go to the car to get the CD. While I was doing that I called a buddy of mine Flynn. So I had the phone on, and Jojo was playing “Hold The Wheel” and he only heard a couple of seconds before I hung up. That night, he called back and said ‘I’ve got the title of you’re movie.’ I didn’t pay much attention to him, but then he said it. He had got the first verse, the first lyric. That’s all he’d heard –the lyric “rising from the river bed” from “Hold The Wheel” and I knew that was it. It encompassed so many things. Everything. The blues from Memphis and George and the Longhair from Jojo and New Orleans. And the river that joins them, and its Mississippi that connects them. That’s it.”

Beanland Documentary In The Works

An Honest Tune Magazine
Vol 5 Number 1, Winter 2003

A new documentary film is in the works about the legendary Oxford, Ms band Beanland. The band gained regional and national acclaim in the late 1980s and early 1990s and included current Widespread Panic band members JoJo Hermann and George McConnell.

Beanland : Rising From The Riverbed has been in production for more than a year. Filmmaker Scotty Glahn has documented interviews and special performances by band members as well as interviews with Oxford concert promoters, friends and fans. Glahn has also uncovered some archival footage of the band. Release is tentatively scheduled for early 2004 with cover artwork by Scramble Campbell.

The Commercial Appeal
Memphis, TN
1.22.04

by Michael Donahue

Former Memphians Kutcher Miller and (right) Scotty Glahn are working on their documentary "Beanland: Rising from the Riverbed," about a defunct '80s band that "embodied all these different kinds of music along with North Mississippi blues and New Orleans long-hair."

Hello, Beanland

"Beanland: Rising from the Riverbed," a documentary about Beanland, a defunct band from Oxford, Miss., is nearing completion.

It's directed, funded and produced by former Memphians Scotty Glahn and Kutcher Miller.

The documentary grew out of an interview Scotty conducted two years ago with a Beanland founder, George McConnell, now a guitarist in Widespread Panic.

"They made me look at music differently," said Scotty, who lives in Oxford. "I liked watching them create on stage. It was for fun, but they were making some really good music."

"Their music," said Kutcher, who lives in Aspen, Colo., "was some of the first music of that type - and I use the term very loosely: 'jam band' - that I got into. Beanland was a different sort of rock and roll in the late '80s. Everybody in high school was listening to AC/DC and Lynyrd Skynyrd, old Led Zeppelin, Grateful Dead. These guys embodied all these different kinds of music, along with North Mississippi blues and New Orleans long-hair."

The band began as an acoustic duo in the early '80s with McConnell and Memphian Bill McCrory. The band's members over the years included John 'Jojo' Hermann, now in Widespread Panic, and Po Hannah, son of author Barry Hannah.

The movie, slated to be released in May with a premiere in a venue in Oxford or Memphis, will include interviews with producer Jim Dickinson and others. "It's songwriting and camaraderie with band mates and friendships," said Scotty.

It's also about "why the songs were written and where. And at what point a songwriter gets creative."

The Commercial Appeal
Thursday, January 29, 2004

Festival snags Beanland as headliners

The Oxford Eagle-Oxford, Mississippi
Shea Stewart Staff Writer

The boys are back — at least for one more show.

The six-headed musical monster known as Beanland will once again get together, this time as the headliners on the south stage of the Ninth Annual Double Decker Arts Festival on April 24.

Texan singer/songwriter Robert Earl Keen will be the headliner on the north stage.

The pair will be joined at the festival by such diverse artists as blues showman Bobby Rush, multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter Gillian Welch and many others.

Last year, approximately 55,000 people helped set a new attendance record for the one-day festival and another large crowd is expected this year.

“We have grown each year,” said Kelley Norris, director of the Oxford Tourism Council.

Since playing its farewell show in 1993, Beanland has reformed, rehearsed and re-energized the Oxford music scene several times, the last being a concert in the Grove in August 2001.

The band first started in 1985 as the Beanland Boys with guitarists George McConnell and Bill McCrory playing together at parties in Oxford.

Soon the boys added bass player Ron Lewis and keyboardist JoJo Hermann, and old Oxford haunts such as Ireland’s, Lafayette’s and Sid & Harry’s exploded with the band’s bluesy, jammy, rock ‘n’ roll sound.

Over the course of its career the band released two albums, “Beanland” and “Eye To Eye,” before slowly dissolving. Hermann became the keyboardist for Widespread Panic (McConnell has since joined as guitarist) while other members moved away or joined other bands.

Although long gone, the lingering sound the band sprung upon Oxford refuses to drift away. Beanland will also be the focus of an upcoming film, “Beanland: Rising from the Riverbed,” by Scotty Glahn and Kutcher Miller.

“It was a good time for them to get together since Widespread Panic is not on tour,” Norris said. “The guys had some free time. We have wanted them in the past and it just happen to work out. We are excited to have them.

The 48-year-old Keen got started with his singer/songwriter career at Texas A&M University where he used to jam with singer/songwriter Lyle Lovett. Keen is touring in support of his latest release, “Farm Fresh Onions,” released on the Audium record label.

For more than 40 years, Rush, 63, has been molding a blend of funk, soul and jazz unlike any other artists in the country. He has penned such classic songs as “Chicken Heads,” “Camel Walk” and “A Women Named Trouble.”

In September 2003, Living Blues Magazine named Bobby Rush Best Live Performer. He received also received the award in 1995, 1996 and 1998. Bobby has been nominated for seven W.C. Handy Awards in the last three years. Rush last played Oxford in February 2003 as part of the “Blues Today: A Living Blues Symposium” at the University of Mississippi.

Welch’s stop at the festival will be part of her 2004 tour through the Southeast. She received a Grammy nomination in 2002 for Best Contemporary Folk Album with “Time” and won a Grammy in 2002 for Album of the Year for her part on the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” soundtrack.

Old Crow Medicine Show, also no stranger to Oxford, will be touring in support of their latest album, “O.C.M.S.,” to be released in February. With roots firmly planted in the Appalachian Mountains, Old Crow storms through pre-World War II blues, fiddle tunes, rags, hollers, hokum and jug band music with fiery results.

Other bands on the preliminary lineup include The Stooges Brass Band, Precious Bryant, the Kudzu Kings, Living Better Electrically, Stone Face Jazz, the Tennessee Bolt Smokers and Ned Rex. Lasting from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., the Ninth Annual Double Decker Arts Festival & Spring Run will feature two stages of live music on the Square.

The day also features a 10 kilometer run and 5 kilometer walk, the Downtown Council Sidewalk Sale with participating merchants selling their wares, “A Taste of Oxford” with local restaurateurs offering an eclectic sampling of the area’s best cuisine, approximately 100 artists from across the country selling their creations, and a Children’s Square Fair with petting zoo, music, clowns, storytelling and face painting also make up the day’s activities.

For additional information call (800) 758-9177 or (662) 234-4680 or visit www.doubledeckerfestival.com.

The Oxford Eagle
www.oxfordeagle.com

Beanland Film Set to Open for the North Mississippi Allstars

www.relix.com

Through the wonders of the cinema, George McConnell's and JoJo Hermann's pre-Widespread Panic band Beanland will open for the North Mississippi Allstars this May. Along with a myriad of musical openers, the North Mississippi All Stars will show a 15-20 minute sneak preview of Beanland: Rising From the Riverbed before the quartet's May 22nd Memphis, TN gig at the Mud Island Amphitheater. Other acts confirmed for the multi-band bill include Alvin Youngblood Hart, Duff Dorrough and Friends and Cary Hudson Electric Trio. The North Mississippi Allstars will also air footage from their Fall CD release party at the multi-media event.

Cloudscapes Productions' Beanland: Rising From the the Riverbed documents McConnell, Hermann and the Beanland boys through both interviews and live performances. Beanland will reunite for only one date while Widespread Panic is on hiatus this year. For more information please visit www.risingfromtheriverbed.com.