Music has long been a vital part of Mound Bayou's African American culture, spanning blues and R&B in cafes, lounges, and juke joints as well as programs in schools, studios, and churches. Its performers, both formally trained and self-taught, have included Charley Patton, Henry "Son" Simms, Nellie "Tiger" Travis, Sir Lattimore Brown, and Eddie El. The town's blues and rhythm and blues legacy reaches from early Delta blues into 21st century southern soul. Patton lived, performed, and preached in and around Mound Bayou at various times, while Simms, a resident in 1900, later performed and recorded with Patton and Muddy Waters after moving to Farrell. A Mound Bayou dance band called the Southern Rangers was reported in the Chicago Defender in 1932, and the town also appeared on the route of many minstrel shows. Several performers with Mound Bayou roots built careers after leaving Mississippi, including Lattimore Brown, Eddie El, General Crook, and Sylvester Boines. In the 1960s and '70s Brown recorded regularly, mainly in Nashville, and later experienced a career revival after being found in Biloxi by a soul music internet blogger. El and guitarist Earl Drane recorded in Chicago as the Blues Rockers for the Aristocrat and Chess labels in 1949-50. Crook placed six singles on the Billboard soul charts from 1970 to 1974 and later wrote songs in Chicago for Syl Johnson, Willie Clayton, and others. Boines played bass in Chicago blues, and his brother Aaron played guitar and harmonica. A younger generation developed in Mound Bayou under R&B veteran Ed Townsend, who in 1984 founded a program to form a band, produce recordings, and teach local people about the music business. The band, named SSIPP by Nellie Travis, included Linda Gillespie, Joe Johnson, Gene Williams, Trenis Simmons, Grover Miller, Jr., Donald Grant, and Cedric Evans. Travis later became one of Chicago's most prominent blueswomen, Miller did blues session work in Clarksdale and wrote "The Centennial Song: Happy Birthday, Mound Bayou" in 1987, and Johnson played drums with major blues artists before founding the Eagle Music & Media Academy in Mound Bayou in 1997 to continue Townsend's mission. Other former residents of note included O. B. Buchana, Harvey Marshall, Ernestine Rundless, and Annie Mae, Sam Cooke's mother. Musical events were also presented at places such as Tippy Hill's Main Street hotel, the IBPOEW Elks Lodge, the American Legion hall, and venues including the Paradise Lounge, where deejays and jukeboxes often supplied the music.