The Human Link to Our Legacy

After the blues got prayed in, many of us went into the parish hall at St. Paul’s to eat blue beans and rice, and hear Michael Birnbaum give a presentation on his unique friendship with Mance Lipscomb. Birnbaum had fallen in love with blues, the mother of all American music, and someone told him to listen to Mance. He ended up picking with him backstage at a concert Lipscomb gave in California. Just a kid, he made trips out to Navasota, Texas to play and learn from Lipscomb, who he described as a genuinely kind and decent human being. Eventually Birnbaum got it, and today is considered one of the most reliable music experts about Lipscomb’s style and techniques. He and his daughter will be playing at the opening of the Bluesfest Friday night, but more importantly, Birnbaum will be teaching those blues techniques at the Bluesfest Saturday morning. This is a rare opportunity for anyone that would like to learn from a master who learned from a master.

Rockin the 'Bluescopalian Church

I had no idea what “Praying in the Blues” meant, and sat near the back row just in case… Then to everyone’s delight we got a wonderful dose of entertain ment at the official opening of the Navasota Bluesfest at St. Paul’s, Thursday night. Johnny and Lisé McNally, Jimmy Killingsworth and Mark Oakland, excellent musicians all, seemed to immediately give the church an old time Black church feel. Everyone was in the mood for some git-down sweaty blues, and they got what they came for. The air conditioning was struggling under the 100 degree strain, but local Gospel Queen Karan Chavis soared divinely through several numbers that threatened to test the stability of the one hundred-plus year old Episcopal sanctuary, as blues enthusiasts stomped, clapped and boogied in the aisles to her renditions of Will the Circle Be Unbroken and Amazing Grace. Something tells me if church was always like this, St. Paul’s would need to knock out some of those beautiful Victorian walls. Lawd have Mercy!