Tchula developed a thriving blues culture during the segregation era as a freewheeling home base and gathering spot for musicians from throughout the area, and even after many of its best-known performers left, it remained a center of juke joint revelry along Highway 49. Musicians associated with Tchula and nearby communities included Elmore James, Hound Dog Taylor, Jimmy Dawkins, Jesse Robinson, Lewis "Love Doctor" Clark, Little Smokey Smothers, Arelean Brown, Lester Davenport, Woodrow Adams, Wylie Gatlin, Bobby Foster, Matt Nickson, Emmett "Maestro" Sanders, James "Quick" Smith, and Lee "Shot" Williams. Jesse Robinson recalled the local scene as highly energetic, with musicians playing all over the place. According to local lore, Elmore James was inspired by guitarist Henry "Nub" Craft, and James, who recorded "Dust My Broom," gave a rural Tchula address when he registered for the Navy in 1943. Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor was influenced by Willie Collins and later taught guitarist Wylie Gatlin while living here in the 1930s and 1940s; after moving to Chicago, Taylor became the first artist to record for Alligator Records. Tchula natives Gatlin and Woodrow Adams later moved to Tunica County and recorded in Memphis in the 1950s. Holmes County relatives also became part of the Chicago blues scene: Little Smokey Smothers played with his cousin Lee "Shot" Williams and later mentored Elvin Bishop, while Otis "Big Smokey" Smothers and their cousin Lester Davenport recorded albums, and Davenport also played harmonica with Bo Diddley. Members of the Brown family included vocalist Arelean Brown and her brothers China, George, and King, and Arelean became known for her topical 1970s records "I Am a Streaker Baby" and "Impeach Me Baby." Lee "Shot" Williams recorded extensively as a soul-blues singer, sometimes on his own Tchula Records label, and sometimes returned to live and perform in the area. Jimmy Dawkins became one of Chicago's most critically acclaimed blues guitarists after recording his debut LP "Fast Fingers" in 1969 and later founded his own publishing, recording, and management companies. Other musicians with ties to Tchula and nearby places worked in Peoria, Saint Louis, Memphis, Buffalo, and on the southern soul circuit, and in 1994 local doctor Ron Myers released a track called "Blues for Tchula."

Photo: Mark Hilton

Photo: Mark Hilton

Photo: Mark Hilton

Tchula, Mississippi · USA