Pryor Center Presents 'The Arkansas Delta Blues' Wed., June 22

Photo by Orson Weems

"The Juke Joint Project: An Exhibit"

As part of the Pryor Center Presents lecture series, blues historian Cliff E. Jones will present "The Arkansas Delta Blues" at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Jun. 22, 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 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.

​In a conversation with Rex Nelson, Jones said, "Mississippi has done a great job preserving and promoting its blues music history. It has a trail of historical markers, festivals, magazines and academic conferences. But the Arkansas Delta also was home to a vibrant blues scene from the 1920s until the 1970s. That history is still alive but scarce. We need to support all efforts to record, document and perform Arkansas blues." 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 via Zoom at Pryor Center Presents Cliff E. Jones - "The Arkansas Delta Blues."

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

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.

About the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences: The Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is the largest and most academically diverse unit on campus with three schools, 16 departments and 43 academic programs and research centers. The college provides the majority of the core curriculum for all University of Arkansas students.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research News.