GARY CLARK,JR.

NEWS FROM THE SHACK UP INN
What began as an offbeat idea has now become
a must-do on every blues lovers’ bucket list.
A stay at the Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale, MS.
offers blues fans more than just a night’s lodging.
According to Guy Malvezzi the expanded
Shacks accommodated almost 20,000 tourists in
2012. “But we want to be more than just a hotel.”
To that end, Malvezzi has grand Shack Up
plans. “Part of the plan from the start of this Juke
Joint Chapel building was to create a live recording
studio. We’re buying some vintage ribbon
mics and spending money on studio gear. We
don’t want a studio where people come in, practice
their songs and record. I want it to be like
what Chess or Sun Studios did. It’ll have an audience
there just like in a live show. That’s what we
want to catch. We want to be an out of the box
kind of label much like the
Shack Up Inn is out of the box.
“We’ve already recorded
Charlie Musselwhite in the
Chapel. Charlie was doing a
fundraiser for the Blues
Museum in Clarksdale. We
recorded him that day. The
next morning, I was playing
with the mix on it when Charlie
and his wife Henri walked in.
They loved it and said, that’s
gonna be our next album.
People like Lightnin’ Malcolm
and Kenny Brown both want me to put out their next CD.
“We are gonna pick the musicians we want to record here.
I want to record more then just blues. There’s some pretty cool roots
music out there I’d love to capture. I want to be able to create a CD
for an artist where he can buy it at a cheap price and make good
money from it. I don’t want to put an artist into debt to me at all.”
And there are other grand plans. Jon Gindeck, the author of
Harmonica for Dummies runs a harmonica camp here. “He started
doing camps here four or five years ago. Today he does camps in
March, May, and September. He’s talking with Charlie about teaming
up together and doing a camp for advanced players tentatively
scheduled for January 2014.
“I’ve got a blues guitar and bass camp run by Ralph Carter
scheduled for May 28 - June 1, 2013 and singer songwriter camps
in the works. And there is a Kenny Brown Birthday Bash scheduled
for July 4- 6 featuring Brown, Alvin Youngblood Hart, and Lightnin’
Malcolm.”
The Inn is also the venue for the Pinetop Perkins Foundation’s
fourth annual Master Class Workshops, where blues musicians
can continue the legacy of the late Pinetop Perkins on the year of
his centennial birthday. Open to both adults and youth over 12, this
year’s workshop will be held from June 12-14. The workshop features
features nightly jams and a final performance at the world
8 BLUES REVUE
famous Ground Zero Blues Club in
Clarksdale.
“I also want to create an affordable,
inland blues cruise experience here at the
Shacks. Maybe do four days of constant
music and food for the people who would
book to stay here. If you have two people
per bed, our capacity is about 100 people.
We could have major festivals here and fill
the grounds, but that’s not what we are
going for. We want something like this cruise
to be an intimate deal where the performer
can mingle with the crowd like they do on the cruise.”
You can check out all the happenings at the Shacks at
www.shackupinn.com.
PHOTOGRAPHY © ART TIPALDI
TROMBONE
SHORTY
and
TAB BENOIT
perform at
Woldenberg Park
in New Orleans
as part of
Super Bowl XLVII
week
PHOTOGRAPHY ©
AL PEREIRA