Byway Blues Project

article by Vanelis Riviera

Blues music may have a reputation of being the music of sadness, but Lesli Rambin, founder of the Byway Blues project, also recognizes that its a cathartic experience. It’s the act of driving out the sadness of the soul in order to reclaim your own power back.

During her grad school days, Rambin was an avid blues rock listener, but was just listening to artists from the 60s and 70s. She didn’t explore the roots of the genre until she visited the apartment of a fellow grad student to grade papers and was captivated by the sound of Bessie Smith. “I walked into the room, and I just sat my butt down. Sometimes you hear something that just focuses all of your attention,” she recalls. Entranced, the songs reminded her of Sappho, an ancient Greek female poet. That serendipitous moment led to the focus of her thesis. “When you think about Sappho and Bessie Smith, both are women that have been marginalized in society,” informs Rambin, noting that both women, although centuries apart, are singing about the same things.

Bessie Smith became Rambin’s white rabbit. She followed Smith “down YouTube holes” of music. “I fell way way way way down.” She found “really weird stuff” like Alcide “Blind Uncle” Gaspard, a white Creole singer from Plaucheville, Louisiana (fun fact– his song “Sur Le Bord De L’eau” was featured in HBO’s hit series True Detective). Captivated by the warm and intimate tone of the blues, Rambin notes that whether it’s “Mississippi John Hurt finger picking the guitar, or Bessie Smith singing, or the way the only music that Son House is producing is him clapping and stomping, it’s just you and that person in the room.” She noticed how instantly introspective she became and how the blues would pull her own troubles and thoughts from places that she hadn’t explored before– “It does what reading a poem does for me.” She always goes to Mississippi John Hurt when she’s feeling sad “no matter what.” When she’s broken-hearted, she wants to hear Bessie Smith. Nina Simone brings her a lot of joy, specifically how she sings “Trouble in Mind.”
Her fervor for the music allowed her to bond with former husband and local musician Kirby Rambin. Whenever they had a day off, they would pick a place on the Mississippi Blues Trail, drive into obscure towns and just wander around. During a family wedding, about three years ago, the idea of a Louisiana Blues trail came from Kirby’s Pawpaw. Excited by the “genius” idea, they pulled out a napkin and started writing down the “big and important people” that they could think of in Louisiana. Naturally, they began mapping from New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette and the Lake Charles area, quickly realizing how disproportionate the distribution was. This was not discouraging. Instead, they began digging more furiously to find information about blues connections in northern Louisiana– “There’s a whole lotta’ heritage in the Shreveport area, and there’s a whole lot in the Louisiana part of the Delta,” says Rambin. Suddenly they had a long list of people and places, a list they carried around for about a year with the hopes of finding a way to get funds to continue their research. All they had at the time was the “want to know,” so in 2015 they began with a GoFundMe for travel and research, raising $650.00. But the more they got out there, the more they knew there was more to discover.

When they got back from their mini quest, friends encouraged them to write a grant, so Rambin, also a ULM English instructor, began with ULM grants, which led to further interviews. During her excavations, she realized how much “untapped blues history and culture there was in Northeast Louisiana” which led to the development of radio segments. Lesli and Kirby got on KEDM’s Lagniappe, a show that discusses “what’s happening” in northeast Louisiana, in order to present the idea of a blues trail. That night they also went to another KEDM event, Policy and a Pint, where they met future project partner Lila Strode, ULM Director of Development in the School of Humanities. The policy at hand that night was regarding the preservation of historical buildings, which prompted the pair to ask questions during the segment, specifically their interest in the Miller-Roy building, located in 1001 DeSiard Street in Monroe. The building was built in 1929 and is “central to the African American community.” It’s Savoy Ballroom was a frequent stop on the “Chitlin’ Circuit” and “hosted performers, such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday.” Strode was taken by how “energetic and excited” the pair were, and as a Mississippi native she knew what the trail did for Mississippi and knows what it can do for Louisiana. Strode became the KEDM component that would effectively “preserve the voices and conversations” that are being lost to time. Strode helped Rambin put together a grant from the Entergy Charitable Foundation to get better field recording equipment. That funding combined with recently attained funding from the Louisiana Endowment of the Humanities (LEH) segued into the creation of an intricately constructed radio show, Byway Blues. Thanks to the reception of another grant from the Monroe/West Monroe Convention and Visitors Bureau, an app and a website for the project is currently underway. While more funds are needed to develop the app, the website will be the first stage for their digital pursuits, where people will be able to customize their itinerary, find archived radio segments and search through photographs.

Rambin and Strode’s future plans include writing a guide book for Louisiana Blues because the music taps into the international market. “Mississippi draws people from Finland, Japan all over the place,” explains Rambin who wants that niche to travel on over to north Louisiana. Thus far, the guidebook plans have begun in the form of a picturesque brochure that features a map of north Louisiana showing 20 markers in parishes, such as Ouachita, Madison and Concordia. The big project will be setting up actual markers where people can travel “and take pride in that piece of land,” says Rambin. Her idea for Louisiana markers, unlike those set up in Mississippi, are to have them be “regional pieces of art” where local artists will design the markers, uniquely paying tribute to the Blues artist presented. Strode believes that the interesting part about the “Northeast Louisiana piece of the puzzle” is that since the Mississippi Blues Trail begins in Memphis, most travelers will begin there with the intention of ending up in New Orleans. On the way, they’ll stop into places like Yazoo City, but between the Greenville Bridge and Natchez, there is a gap that Strode wants filled with the Byway Blues markers. She suggests hopping over from Greenville, beginning in Lake Providence, passing through Oak Grove, hitting up Log Cabin and Bastrop, then coming into Monroe.

The story these blues-loving women want to tell is clear – preservation and appreciation of local history. Thus far, KEDM has aired two Byway Blues radio segments. The first featured Toussaint McCall, who was born in Monroe. He went on to establish the McCall Institute for Performing Arts in Inglewood, California. The second segment featured Ivory Joe Hunter, born in Texas, he “blazed a blues trail through the heart of the Louisiana Delta” and collaborated with the likes of Elvis. You can pick up your own guide to Northeast Louisiana Blues History at the KEDM office located in Sandel Hall 319, on the ULM campus. Local markers include The Elite Lounge, which “housed acts such as BB King, Bobby Blue Bland and Mable John” and Doug Duffey, Monroe’s own National Blues Hall of Famer, has a marker tagged in West Monroe.

Rambin’s hope is that the project emphasizes the relationship between the land, “where these people lived,” and how it influenced “what they sing about and why they sing.” The complexity of the blues is worthy of exploration because the manner in which it is performed and sung is a coded language that’s waiting to be deciphered.

If you’d like more information about the project, would like to attend the trail cutting release party on March 2nd or would like to offer a donation, feel free to contact Lesli Rambin at rambin@ulm.edu or Lila Strode at strode@ulm.edu. You can also visit the Byway Blues page at kedm.org or follow them on Facebook.