North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic Sponsor Spotlight: Cetacea Sound, Inc

Longtime Picnic Friend and Sponsor John McDowell Becomes Part of the Official Lineup

by Davis Coen

For over forty years, Memphis/Atlanta-based Cetacea Sound, Inc., has been on the front edge of mobile communications in the United States, and offered in-house capabilities for “total wireless system development,” intended for large trucks.

Cetacea co-owner and Memphis native John McDowell, also a longtime musician who plays mostly acoustic instruments alongside partner Christine Conley, has graced the Hill Country Picnic stage for over a half a decade, but only for Saturday morning breakfast.

2024 will mark the first year that McDowell joins the official music line-up, as the duo kicks off the festival at 4 pm, Friday, June 28.

“These two folks are kind enough to let me play there, but I’m pretty sure it’s because I’m a sponsor,” McDowell joked about organizers Sara and Kenny Brown, who are also his longtime neighbors. “For some reason this year they moved me to the opening act,” he said modestly. “My girlfriend and I are just two old singer-songwriters. We just love doing it.”

McDowell’s admiration for the Browns also extends beyond just their annual event. “I love Kenny’s music. I wish I could play like that but I’m not capable of getting that loud,” he said, with a chuckle. He also reflected that “blues was brought up on the fields, and the porch. Local people doing a simple thing.”

Then he added, “we kind of slide away from that, and Kenny and Sara are trying to bring it back.” He also expressed admiration for the general goal of the event, as it reads in the mission statement.

“The fact that they’re working with young folks too—it’s wonderful,” said McDowell.

He said that his favorite memory from the many Picnics he’s attended over the years was a great reaction he got from a lady in the audience, after playing his own original song called “Together Again.”
She approached the stage “with a tear in her eye,” McDowell said. “That song was beautiful. You made me cry,’” she told him. “As a writer, a compliment doesn’t get much higher than that,” he added.

“It’s just the energy that Kenny and the other younger guys bring to the stage. I’m way out of that energy, so it amazes me. People love it, and you can tell it by the crowd. They eat it up.”