The North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic takes place June 24-25, 2022 in Waterford, Mississippi
The Local Voice media company in Oxford, Mississippi is proud to partner with Kenny and Sara Brown to bring you an official festival guide. There are free souvenir printed copies around the picnic grounds and a digital download is available here. Scroll down this page for additional information and links to all the artists at this year’s Hill Country Picnic. See you at the Picnic!
– Newt Rayburn (Publisher) and Nature Humphries (Editor)
The Hill Country Picnic takes place at Betty Davis Ponderosa
Corner of HWY 7 South and HWY 310
3359 Old Oxford Road
Waterford, Mississippi 38685
View Map
Click here for Vendor Information
Robert Kimbrough Sr. Blues Connection
Playing Friday, June 24 at 4 pm
Robert Kimbrough Sr continues the Cotton Patch Soul Blues style created by his father, the legendary Junior Kimbrough. From an early age, Robert was steeped in the sounds and life of North Mississippi and its distinctive style of blues.
Website: RobertKimbroughSr.com
Rocket 88
Playing Friday, June 24 at 5 pm
Rocket 88 was formed in the summer of 2005 and has since brought its Mississippi soaked sound to venues all over the Southeast. Rosamond Posey (vocals, rhythm guitar) from Vicksburg, Miss., Jamie Posey (vocals, lead guitar, harmonica) from Meridian, Miss., Robert Chaffe (keyboards, organ) from New Orleans, La., Ryan Rogers (drums, vocals) from Forest, Miss., and Nathan Robbins (bass, vocals) from Pontotoc, Miss. make up the core.
Website: Rocket88Music.com
Instagram: @Rocket88music
R.L.Boyce
Playing Friday, June 24 at 6 pm
RL Boyce began his blues odyssey on drums at age 15. First recorded at a family picnic September 4, 1970 by famed Folklorist Dr. David Evans. RL accompanied his Uncle Otha Turner’s Rising Stars Fife and Drum Band and never stopped.
Website: RLBoycepicnic.com
Kudzu Kings
Playing Friday, June 24 at 7 pm
Click here for more Kudzu Kings articles and videos from The Local Voice
Kudzu Kings is an alternative country/roots rock jam band from Oxford, Mississippi. Their sound has been categorized as a blend of country music, bluegrass, and improvisational rock & roll.
Website: KudzuKings.com
Instagram: @KudzuKings
Kent Burnside
Playing Friday, June 24 at 8 pm
Kent Burnside hails from Holly Springs, Mississippi, as the oldest grandson and pupil of blues legend, R.L. Burnside. His playing dots the globe and his style is unlike any other: dark, hypnotic, inviting… and very dance-able.
Website: BurnsideKent.com
Cary Hudson
Playing Friday, June 24 at 10:15 pm
Click here for The Local Voice’s 2022 interview with Cary Hudson
Cary Hudson is a singer-songwriter and guitarist from the great state of Mississippi who resides somewhere between Memphis and New Orleans.
Website: Cary Hudson
Facebook: caryhudsonmusic
Instagram: @thisiscaryhudson
Duwayne Burnside
Playing Friday, June 24 at 9:15 pm
Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Duwayne Burnside is one of 14 children born to legendary North Mississippi musician R.L. Burnside. He has been a frequent performer with the North Mississippi Allstars since the early 1990s. The young Burnside learned his first few guitar licks and chords from his father, but proved a quick study and soon began playing with local club owner Junior Kimbrough and the Soul Blues Boys.
Facebook: DuwayneBurnsidemusic
John McDowell & Christine Conley
Playing Saturday, June 25 at 9:30 am
While their love of music began long before their love for each other, Christine Conley and John McDowell have combined the two to create fun and inspiring songs that will leave you smiling.
YouTube: Songwriter Spotlight E20 John McDowell and Christine Conley, September 16, 2021
Just Groovin’ Experience
Playing Saturday, June 25 at 10 am
Just Groovin’ Experience musical performances from various Memphis musicians and singers from all walks of life.
Facebook: Just Groovin Experience
YouTube: Just Groovin” Experience 05/27/2022
Bill Steber & Libby Rae Watson
Playing Saturday, June 25 at 11 am
Click here for The Local Voice’s 2021 interview with Libby Rae Watson
Libby Rae Watson is an authentic Blues woman who has been playing since the early 1970s, when she discovered the Blues in her hometown of Pascagoula. She helped organize the talent for the very first Delta Blues Festival in Greenville, Mississippi in 1978. Libby Rae has played many festivals and music venues all over the world, as a solo performer and collaborator. At the 2022 North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic, Libby Rae will be joined by legendary blues documenter, photographer, and musician, Bill Steber of Murphysboro, Tennessee.
Webpage: Libby Rae Watson
Webpage: Bill Steber
YouTube: Libby Rae Watson, Bill Steber, and Sam Rorex – Hill Country Picnic 2016
Facebook: Libby Rae Watson
Facebook: Bill Steber
Brad Moneymaker with Marlow Dorrough
Playing Saturday, June 25 at noon.
Click here for The Local Voice’s 2022 interview with Marlow Dorrough
Marlow Dorrough is a drummer and guitarist from Ruleville, Mississippi. He is the son of legendary Mississippi guitarist Duff Dorrough. He has played with Duff Dorrough & The Revelators, Solar Porch, Brad Moneymaker Band, and more.
Facebook: MarlowDorrough
Facebook: Brad Moneymaker Band
Trenton Ayers ft. Wolfeagle
Playing Saturday, June 25 at 1 pm
Trenton Ayers has been playing guitar since age four. He has played with The Electric Mudd, Cedric Burnside Project, and more. He was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2015.
Webpage: Trenton Ayers
Facebook: Trenton Ayers
Twitter: Trenton Ayers
Instagram: Trenton Ayers
YouTube Channel: Trenton Ayers Hands of Fire
YouTube: How to get that Hill Country Blues guitar tone with Grammy nominee Trenton Ayers
Memphissippi Sounds
Playing Saturday, June 25 at 2 pm
Memphissippi Sounds is Cameron Kimbrough (grandson of Junior Kimbrough and native of the famed Mississippi Hill Country) on drums and Damion “Yella P” Pearson on harmonica. Their custom blend of North Mississippi Hill Country Blues, Memphis Blues and Soul, Rock, Pop, and Hip-Hop has taken them around the state and beyond.
Webpage: Memphissippisounds.com
Facebook: Memphissippisounds
Instagram: Memphissippisounds
You Tube: Memphissippisounds
Rising Stars Fife & Drum Band
Playing Saturday, June 25 at 3 pm.
Click here for The Local Voice’s 2022 Interview with Shardé Thomas
Traditional fife and drum music is a vanishing American folk music tradition derived from country blues, martial music tradition, and African rhythms. The late Otha Turner founded the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band, which is now led by his granddaughter Shardé Thomas.
Facebook: @risingstarsfifeanddrum
Facebook: @fifemastor
Instagram: @risingstarsfifeanddrum
Eric Deaton
Playing Saturday, June 25 at 4 pm.
Click here for The Local Voice’s 2022 Interview with Eric Deaton
Eric Deaton is a torch-bearer of the North Mississippi Hill Country Blues tradition, having received an apprenticeship first-hand from the masters of this particularly hypnotic, backwoods strain of blues. Eric recently recorded albums with The Black Keys and Hank Williams, Jr.
Website: EricDeatonMusic.com
Facebook: @Eric Deaton
The Local Voice: The Black Keys Release R.L. Burnside Cover Song Video Featuring Local Musicians Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton
Garry Burnside
Playing Saturday, June 25 at 5:30 pm.
Click here for The Local Voice’s 2022 interview with Garry Burnside
Garry Burnside is a gifted guitarist inspired by his father the late legendary, RL Burnside. Garry Burnside is a native of Holly Springs, Mississippi, and has been playing guitar and traveling the world since the age of 11.
Website: GarryBurnside.com
Facebook: @GarryBurnside
Instagram: @Garry_Burnside
Kenny Brown
Playing Saturday, June 25 at 7 pm
Kenny Brown is an American blues slide guitarist skilled in the North Mississippi Hill Country Blues style. He played for over 20 years with the legend RL Burnside, who refered to Kenny as his “white son.” Kenny has released many solo albums and his music has been featured in film on Black Snake Moan (featuring Samuel L. Jackson). He’s played on tracks by by Asie Payton, CeDell Davis, Paul “Wine” Jones, Frank Frost, and Cyndi Lauper. Most recently, Kenny Brown has been featured on albums by The Black Keys and Hank Williams Jr.
Web page: KennyBrownMusic.com
Spotify: Kenny Brown
Facebook: Kenny Brown
YouTube: Kenny Brown – “You’ve Got to Move” and “France Chance” at Music in the Hall 13
YouTube: Kenny Brown’s Band “Goin’ Down South” with Cedric Burnside Blues Rules 2019
YouTube: Kenny Brown – Full Set – Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival (2018)
The Local Voice: The Black Keys Release R.L. Burnside Cover Song Video Featuring Local Musicians Kenny Brown and Eric Deaton
Guitar World: Meet Kenny Brown, the greatest of the Hill Country blues sidemen
Memphis Flyer: Kenny Brown: Mississippi Blues Heavyweight Weighs In On His Country Heroes
Alvin Youngblood Hart’s Muscle Theory
Playing Saturday, June 25 at 8:30 pm
Known as a “musician’s musician,” Alvin Youngblood Hart’s praises have been sung by everyone from Bob Dylan to guitar gods Gary Moore & Mick Taylor. Alvin was born in Oakland, California in 1963 to a family of post WWII Mississippi transplants. After a couple false starts, he began to play the guitar, in earnest, in 1977. The Hart family was never one to stay put. Spending his formative years on the West Coast, in the Midwest and the Mid-South surely influenced Alvin’s wide ranging musical perspective.
Website: Alvin Youngblood Hart
Facebook: Alvin Youngblood Hart On Tour
Spotify: Alvin Youngblood Hart
Instagram: Alvin Youngblood Hart
YouTube: Alvin Youngblood Hart
YouTube: Alvin Youngblood Hart’s Muscle Theory – Millennium Stage (May 14, 2022)
YouTube: Alvin Youngblood Hart & Muscle Theory – Full Set – Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival (2016)
North Mississippi Allstars
Playing Saturday, June 25 at 10 pm
Click here for The Local Voice’s 2021 interview with Luther Dickinson
After 25 years, twelve albums, four GRAMMY® Award nominations, and sold out shows everywhere, North Mississippi Allstars open up their world once again on their thirteenth album, Set Sail [New West Records], welcoming other family (by blood and by the road) into the fold. As legend has it, Luther and Cody Dickinson started the band in 1996 as a loose collective of like-minded second-generation musicians who shared a local repertoire and regional style. Over the years, the lineup shifted by design, and each subsequent record offered up a different combination of collaborators. This time around, they mined the talents of Jesse Williams on bass and Lamar Williams, Jr. on vocals. During the Allman Betts Band Family Revival, the Dickinsons first linked up with Lamar, son of the Allman Brothers bassist Lamar Williams, Sr., becoming fast friends and collaborators and eventually paving the way for Set Sail.
Website: North Mississippi All Stars
Facebook: North Mississippi All Stars
Instagram: North Mississippi Allstars
Twitter: North Mississippi Allstars
YouTube: North Mississippi Allstars
iTunes: North Mississippi Allstars
Spotify: North Mississippi Allstars
Hill Country Kings
Playing Saturday, June 25 at 11:30 pm
Featuring an all-star lineup of North Mississippi Hill Country musicians, this late night jam is sure to be exciting!
More Hill Country Picnic articles from The Local Voice:
2021 – North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic Brings the Heat June 25–26, 2021
2019 – North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic Returns Friday and Saturday June 28–29, 2019
2017 – North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic Venue Change Due to Weather
2017 – Get Ready for the 12th Annual North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic June 22–25, 2017
2016 – North Mississippi Hill Country Blues Picnic is June 23–25, 2016
2015 – 10th Annual North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic: June 26-27, 2015
2014 – North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic Returns June 27-28, 2014
2013 – Eighth Annual North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic Set For June 28-29, 2013
2012 – Time For the 7th Annual North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic!
North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic Sponsors
R&B Feder Charitable Foundation for the Beaux–Arts • The Local Voice • Cetacea Sound • Yuengling • Visit Mississippi • Fat Possum • Frank Kossen • One Day Signs • Margo Cooper • Hick’s Convention Services • Mike & Lisa Bennett • Haynie Construction • The Library Bar & Grille • Tom & Connie Kossen • Court Square Inn • Home Place Pastures • Blues on the Porch
Click here to go to North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic website
