September 28, 1999
Web posted at: 3:21 p.m. EDT (1921 GMT)

In this story: Racial dissonance among the harmony A national stage for the blues RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Randy Lilleston
CNN Interactive Producer

HELENA, Arkansas (CNN) -- If alive today, blues harmonica legend Sonny Boy Williamson might still recognize Helena -- at least most of the year. The downtown area still looks much as it did when Williamson died there in 1965, although he might give a long glance at the department-store-turned-club that now bears his name.

It's just one weekend of the year, the second in October, that might shock Williamson. The music he loved and played so well for decades has become Helena's best-known export. And it draws more than 100,000 people to this town of 7,500 each year for the King Biscuit Blues Festival.

Despite a racially charged attempt to block this year's festival in court, the program has announced one of the strongest blues lineups in the country. Zydeco-R&B musician Terrance Simien is the slated headliner on October 7. Vocalist and guitarist Little Milton leads the October 8 bill. And Son Seals gets the top spot on the closing roster, October 9.

Dozens more blues, zydeco and gospel musicians are set to perform on four stages around Helena. The artists include Robert Jr. Lockwood; Pinetop Perkins; Sugar Blue; Billy Branch; Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets with Sam Myers (as they teamed up for the CD released in March, "Change in My Pocket"); Little Charlie and the Nightcats; Magic Slim and the Teardrops; and (John) Cephas & (Phil) Wiggins.

After festival performances (no admission charge) end each night, music continues in small bars and clubs in Helena, into the early hours of the morning. It's not unusual for fans to bump into headlining musicians in those clubs and on the streets of Helena.

"They call it the premier blues festival in the country," says Randy Williams, King Biscuit director, "because it’s really where the blues began. It’s almost like going to church. It’s holy ground."

Branch, whose CD "Satisfy Me" was released in August on the House of Blues label, says, "You’ve got that kind of Southern hospitality vibe going on there" in Helena. Around the festival, Branch gives a weeklong "Blues in the Schools" seminar and teaches class at a Helena school, instructing students in the fundamentals of blues and harmonica.

"A lot of players, when they get on stage here, give their best performances of the year," says Jerry Pillow, who serves as the festival’s musical director. "I guess they feel like this place is the roots of their music and they want to put on the best show possible."

Sonny Boy Williamson

The crowds have attracted attention -- and not a unanimously warm welcome. The issue led to an unsuccessful legal attempt to block the festival this year.

A group of African-American merchants from Helena joined forces with the Phillips County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), to file a lawsuit against the city last month. The group said the festival hurts black-owned businesses in downtown Helena because festival crowds and temporary merchants prevent regular customers from reaching stores.

Court papers in the lawsuit complain of "a racially conspiratorial process which in effect, kidnaps, steals and disrespects, for the purpose of private profit, the musical legacy of African-American citizens in Phillips County." That's a particularly strong allegation in an area in which most members of the local blues society, and most of the King Biscuit organizers, are white.

The plaintiffs’ request to block this year’s festival was denied in mid-September by U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright in Little Rock, Arkansas. But the suit and its allegations remain a sensitive issue for all parties involved.

"Helena is festering with racial bigotry," says Dion Wilson, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the case. He says the concerns of his clients have been aired for years with city and festival officials, with no resolution.

Wilson says protesters will picket the festival and predicts, "It’s going to be an explosive atmosphere."

Festival director Williams downplays the issue, saying the plaintiffs’ views don't represent those of the community as a whole. "You would think that this would be a division in the black-white community, but it’s not," he says. "King Biscuit is not a black-white issue … . You’ve got one man speaking for a view, and it’s a sad situation."

He points out that the plaintiffs chose not to sue the nonprofit group that operates the festival.

Backers of the festival say they hope the lawsuit and its publicity won't steer fans away from Helena.

Helena lies in the Mississippi River Delta, an area that produced many of the nation's most influential blues and rock musicians from the 1920s through the early 1960s. The fertile area of Mississippi and Arkansas, south of Memphis, has nurtured some major components of American popular music.

The "crossroads" of the area's music lore is nine miles from Helena, across the river in Mississippi. From Robert Johnson to Muddy Waters to Howlin' Wolf and Williamson, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty and Levon Helm, music known as "blues" brewed in the area -- then was sped up and translated into rock 'n' roll.

The King Biscuit Blues Festival gets its name from a locally produced flour that sponsors a blues radio program once hosted by Williamson -- who was born Aleck Ford in Helena in 1899. The radio show debuted in 1941 and still is broadcast daily from a site near the festival. More than 12,000 "King Biscuit Time" programs have been aired.

"It’s very joyful," says Milton Campbell -- Little Milton to his fans -- "and the people seem to really have a ball. The phrase ‘King Biscuit’ has such a great history, in my opinion."

Funderburgh, a Texan by upbringing, agrees. "It’s just a great feel," he says. "I love it. It’s a small town that becomes really big during the three days."

The festival is in its 14th year. Its initial outing, a one-day affair, drew about 3,000 people. Arkansas tourism officials estimated last year’s crowd at 135,000 for the four days. This year’s event has been trimmed to three days because of budget constraints.

"It’s just hard to believe that a town of 7,500 can have that many people come through and have that much fun," director Williams says. "We’ve had rain a couple of times, but the Biscuit goes on, no matter what."