Bonnie Raitt to help unveil blues marker for McDowell

Bonnie Raitt to help unveil blues marker for McDowell
Scott Baretta
clarionledger.com

Bonnie Raitt will be in Como at 2 p.m. today for the unveiling of the 71st Mississippi Blues Trail marker for her mentor Mississippi Fred McDowell. After his discovery in 1959 by folklorist Alan Lomax, the bluesman became a star of the folk and blues festival circuit.

# Beginning at 7 tonight, the Blues Music Awards celebrates its 30th anniversary at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis. The event will feature 29 10-minute sets by artists including Taj Mahal, soul queens Bettye Lavette and Irma Thomas, and Elvin Bishop.

# On Friday at 11:30 a.m. a Mississippi Blues Trail marker will be unveiled in front of the FedEx Forum in Memphis acknowledging Mississippians' influence on music of the Bluff City. Other markers are scheduled to follow in Chicago, New Orleans and Helena, Ark.

# There are three blues festivals in the Delta on Saturday - the Clarksdale Caravan Festival, the Crossroads Blues and Heritage Festival in Rosedale and the Pinetop Perkins Blues Festival in Belzoni.