From Boyd to Boyce and Back Again
- Steve Likens
- Dec 17, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: Aug 9, 2024
Goin to Memphis
See that wordly fare
Reason I'm going
Baby's there
I'm goin to Memphis
See that wordly fare.
(R.L. Burnside - "Coal Black Mattie")
Early Fife & Drum Recordings
R.L.'s history with the Center for Southern Folklore in Memphis stretches back more than half a century. In 1970, ethnomusicologist Dr. David Evans and Center co-founder William Farris filmed a Mississippi farmer named Otha Turner playing his fife at home and, later, at a picnic in the Gravel Springs community outside Senatobia. At the picnic, Otha played with several others in a fife & drum band. One of the drummers was Otha's 15 year old nephew, R.L. Boyce. In 1971, Evans and Farris released their edited footage as the 10-minute documentary film Gravel Springs Fife & Drum. It was distributed by the Center for Southern Folklore.
In the 1970's, Dr. Dave made other recordings throughout north Mississippi that included R.L. on drums. Tracks from those recordings found their way onto a few folk compilation albums, including a release by the Library of Congress. R.L. later played on Otha's commercially released and critically acclaimed albums Everybody Hollerin' Goat (Birdman 1998) and From Senegal to Senatobia (Birdman 1999) - both produced by Luther Dickinson, who would later produce R.L.'s Grammy nominated album Roll & Tumble.
I once asked R.L. if he ever travelled with Otha. "All over the place." he answered. "And I did the driving. Otha would come by," R.L. continued, "and say, 'I need you to drive me somewhere.' I'd ask, 'Where we going?' and he'd say, 'You'll find out when we get there.' One time, I didn't find out we were going to Minnesota until we got there."
Shortly after R.L.'s death in November 2023, Dr. Dave explained, "On some of the early albums I regrettable spelled [R.L.'s] surname Boyd, as I only knew him briefly then at picnics and misheard the pronunciation. ... I didn't get to know him better until the mid-to-late 1980s working with Jessie Mae Hemphill." R.L. played drums on Jessie Mae's album Feelin' Good (High Water 1987). As an aside, R.L. once told me Jessie Mae "was the meanest woman I ever met."
The Memphis Music & Heritage Festivals
In the 1980's, the Center for Southern Folklore began a new project - producing the annual Memphis Music & Heritage Festival. The festival celebrated the musical and cultural roots of Memphis and the Delta region. Eventually, it turned into a two day, two block celebration on Main Street in downtown Memphis showcasing music of all genres on three outdoor and two indoor stages, as well as regional arts, crafts, dancers, and food demonstrations.
R.L. had also started a new project - singing and playing guitar.
2016 Memphis Music & Heritage Festival
In 2016, I served as the stage manager on the Folklore Stage, the more intimate of the two indoor stages. That year, we booked R.L. and Cameron Kimbrough in a sort of two-for-one deal. It was R.L.'s set, with Cam playing drums. Toward the end, however, we arranged for R.L. to slip back behind the drum kit while Cam played guitar and sang two of his original songs. Even though R.L. willingly took to the background and reminded us how well he played the drums, I could tell he was anxious to get back out front with his guitar.
Willie "William the Shaker" Miles joined them on tambourine while R.L. was out front on guitar. R.L.'s daughter, Sherena Boyce, stepped up and shook 'em on down while R.L. was behind the drum kit.
I filmed each performer on the Folklore Stage that year. After the festival, I edited a selected group of short clips into an 11 minute video retrospective. The clip of R.L. with Cam on drums starts around the 3:00 minute mark. The clip of R.L. playing drums for Cam appears later and starts at about the 7:00 minute mark. This video also includes brief portions of performances that weekend by Carla Thomas, Low Society, Earl Randle, Zeke Johnson, Billy Gibson with Lenear Smith, Moses Crouch, and others.
2017 Memphis Music & Heritage Festival
In 2017, I served as the production and booking manager for all five stages. That year, the Festival honored the memory of the aforementioned Otha Turner, the late leader of The Rising Star Fife & Drum Band. A proper tribute needed R.L. and Otha's granddaughter, Sharde Thomas. Sharde carries on Otha's tradition and keeps his legacy alive by leading a new edition of The Rising Stars. To complete the tribute, we added a set by Luther Dickinson, whose history with Otha also runs deep. According to Luther, that history involved many nights sitting on Otha's front porch playing guitars with R.L. In remarks read at R.L.'s funeral service on November 18, 2023, Luther recalled, "The times I spent on Otha Turner's front porch playing the endless boogie with R.L. are some of the happiest times in my life."
In an article published in Billboard magazine, Luther explained, "[Otha's] the last of his kind, but he's trying to teach me and his kids and R.L. Boyce to keep it alive and have a good time. ... He's the godfather of the hill country, no doubt about it." ("Music of Otha Turner is Worth 'Hollerin' About," Billboard 2/5/1998).
We scheduled R.L., Sharde, and Luther all on Saturday, September 2. That date fit nicely into a break in R.L.'s schedule, with plenty of time around it for him to rest between travels. In late July, he had played two shows in New York with Little Joe Ayers. In late September, he would be making two appearances in Los Angeles (with Sharde) before jetting across the pond to London for an appearance (with Lightin' Malcolm) on the BBC's Later ... with Jools Holland and club dates at The Blues Kitchen. [1]
R.L. set up inside on the Folklore stage for an early afternoon performance. Tim Scruggs, from Holly Springs, Mississippi, played drums. Sherena returned to shake the tambourine. As a bonus, Luther pulled double-duty and sat in with R.L. In the clip below, you see how much Luther enjoyed playing with R.L. Hearing those two together was always special.
CSF Director Judy Peiser introduced R.L. In her vision, the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival existed to educate as much as entertain. R.L.'s appearance gave her an early opportunity that weekend to tell stories about Otha, the Center's early undertakings to record and document fife & drum music, and the Center's other efforts to preserve the muscial heritage of north Mississippi. She further explained how R.L. directly linked to Otha and how thrilled they were to have R.L. perform.
A few hours later, Sharde lead the Rising Stars through the crowd on Main St., playing as they marched, up the stairs to the Peabody Place stage. Luther followed with his own set on the same stage later that evening.
R.L. Boyce - Hill Country Tour Guide
The Center for Southern Folklore plays an important role in telling the rich muscial history of north Mississippi. However, there is nothing like emersing yourself in that history on location with someone who lived and created much of it.
Earlier that year, Santiago Monsalve and Santiago "Lier Slim" Gacía López, from South Amercia, visited Memphis as the Colombian Blues Society's entrants for the 2017 International Blues Challenge solo/duo category. I dubbed them "Dos Santiagos." Monsalve organized the Medellín Blues Festival, and both Santiagos peformed with R.L. at the Hard Rock Medellín during the closing jam session for the 2015 Medellín Blues Festival. [2] They called upon arrival and wanted to visit R.L. They also wanted moonshine.
On February 5, 2017, I drove them down to Como, Mississippi, where R.L. took over as tour guide and scout. Dos Santiagos had shared their city and country with R.L. Now, he wanted to share his with them. I may have been driving, but R.L. was in charge. I turned when he said turn. I stopped when he said stop. Our tour included the front porch of Otha's old homestead in Gravel Springs and visits to Otha's grave in Como, Jessie Mae's grave in Senatobia, and Mississippi Fred McDowell's grave in Hammond Hill Cemetery in Tate County.
The tour also included a stop at Hunters Chapel Missionary Baptist Church outside Como, where Rev. John Wilkins still preached on Sunday mornings. During the rest of the week, Wilkins was a hill country gospel/bluesman in his own right. R.L.'s parents, as well as a son and daughter, are buried at Hunters Chapel. On November 18, 2023, we laid R.L. down beside them.
And Back Again
Life has an uncanny way of coming full circle. In January 2018, Dawn and I travelled with R.L. to New York for the Grammy Awards. Now a guitarist, his album Roll & Tumble was nominated for Best Traditional Blues Album. Before the trip, someone gifted him a personalized red jacket. R.L. wore it during several interviews and performances in New York during Grammy week. His last name was (mis)spelled "Boyd" on the front! [3]
Sadly, R.L. is no longer with us and the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival has been on hiatus for a number of years. Fortunately, the Center for Southern Folklore remains open in downtown Memphis. So, while you won't see R.L. "Boyce" at a future festival, you can still purchase early fife and drum recordings featuring R.L. "Boyd" at the Center's Folklore store.
Thanks for stopping by,
~ Steve
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Notes:
[1] You can read about these shows in "The World Needs R.L."
[2] You can read about R.L.'s first trip to South America and participation in the 2015 Medellín Blues Festival in R.L.'s Epic Adventures in North and South America with Carlos Elliot & The Cornlickers.
[3] See R.L. Got Gramminated - Extended Play Edition for that story.
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