Amory’s history and musical legacy were closely tied to the railroad, with several generations of blues, soul, and gospel performers coming from families of African-American Frisco workers, while others worked as sharecroppers or for local businesses. Its blues tradition centered on talented local performers who kept the music alive as community entertainment on weekends or after hours while holding regular daytime jobs, and in a dry county where juke joints and nightclubs did not flourish as in many Mississippi towns, blues found expression in streets, cafes, house parties, secret hideaways, festivals, schools, receptions, reunions, the American Legion hut, and events in Frisco Park. The only Amory resident to become a nationally known blues singer was Lucille or Lucile Bogan, who also recorded as Bessie Jackson; in the 1910 census she was living in Amory, where her father worked for the Frisco, and she married railroad man Nazareth Bogan, but although their son Nazareth Jr. identified Amory as her birthplace on her death certificate, census and Social Security records indicate she was born in Birmingham, where she lived most of her life. Her recordings from 1923 to 1935 included many classics, some famously bawdy boasts, and songs about streetwalking women, moonshine whiskey, and trains. In 1939 many Amory girls recorded for a Works Progress Administration and Library of Congress folk music study at Monroe County Training School, and two songs were released on a children’s music album in 1978. Other performers connected to Amory included Frank Swan, who played drums on records by Earl Hooker, Ricky Allen, Big Walter Horton, Willie Dixon, and others in Chicago, worked with many bands there and on tour, served as a bus driver for Albert King and Little Milton, and in Amory worked various jobs while promoting shows by Muddy Waters, Little Milton, and others at the American Legion or the West Amory High School gym. Recording and touring credits also belonged to Roger McKinney, who sang gospel with Tupelo-based Lee Williams and the Spiritual QC’s, and Tony Hooper of the Christian blues-rock band Blues Counsel. In the 1960s West Amory band director Charles Toy hired students to play blues and soul music in his Top Hats band at gigs in various towns; the Top Hats or related groups included Al and Richard Rachel, James and Johnny Whitfield, Cliff Mallard, John Randle, Jimmy Pounds, Johnny Jenkins, Gussie Bassett, and Michael Freeman. Older traditional bluesmen included guitarists Albert Dooley, who also lived and played in Clarksdale, Bennie Osborn, Zimey Sykes, and John Arthur, known as Guitar John, who came to town on Saturdays to play for tips, as well as pianist Essie Gillum. From Monroe County, Benny Sharp, Willie Curtis Rhoden, a railroad employee, and Ruben McBeth went to St. Louis, while others from the county who migrated north and west to various cities included Richard Harmonica Slim Riggins, James Woodie J.W. Alexander, and noted bluesmen from the Aberdeen area such as Howlin’ Wolf, Bukka White, and Albert King.
