‘ARKANSAWR’N’B: THE STATE’S FORGOTTEN RHYTHM ‘N’ BLUES LEGACY’
Noon, Old State House Center. Free.
The Old State House Center’s weekly “Brown Bag Lunch Lecture Series” returns for another week of sammiches and learnin’ with Stephen Koch, musician, playwright, creator and host of NPR’s invaluable “Arkansongs,” and the capital-a Authority on Louis Jordan. “Arkansawr’n’b: the State’s Forgotten Rhythm ‘n’ Blues Legacy” is an overview of Arkansas’s underestimated R&B legacy from the 1940s to the 1970s, from Camden-born Little Willie John to Hot Springs songwriter Henry Glover and iconic Stax chief Al Bell*. A long-time champion of Arkansas’s role in the development of rhythm and blues, Koch goes beyond the recordings themselves and takes the music as “a springboard to discuss Arkansas history, politics, social issues, geography — you name it.” It’s a “must-do” for any music geek worth his or her weight in wax.
