Denise LaSalle and Senator David Jordan

We as Mississippians have long known that we cast a wide net in the world because of the music that we have produced; a strange music called the blues, that can cause grown men to cry, women to sigh and children to dance. “Therefore, it doesn’t make sense for the rest of the world to honor our artists and we let them go through life never setting foot inside their capitol,� said Senator David Jordan, District 24, (Holmes, Leflore, Tallahatchie) Counties.

Visit the Photo Gallery for more pictures The Mississippi State Senate proclaimed February 18th as Denise LaSalle Day with all of the trimmings befitting the great singer and native of Belzoni. Denise was born near Greenwood and moved to Belzoni at age seven and then to Chicago by the time she was a teenager. “What better upbringing could a little girl who wanted to sing the blues have with Mississippi mud on my feet and the big city lights of Chicago shinning bright. I was in the midst of the greatest music explosion that ever hit this Country. That Chicago sound had a burning passion that came from the fields of Mississippi and it couldn’t be duplicated or produced by anybody else….

The folks from Mississippi had it going on and it couldn’t be denied. Cats like Hook (John Lee Hooker), BB King, Bobby Rush, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf and Willie Dixon and many more brought their experiences with them from down South and put it down to music that no one could lay claim to because people from other places hadn’t gone through what we had so they couldn’t sing about what they didn’t know therefore, they couldn’t sing it with the same feeling.� “I’m elated to be honored in this way in this place. Most people don’t get to see this while they are still alive. It’s a once in a lifetime thing that my home state would recognize the hard work that goes into this music I sing. I just feel honored in a very special way. I feel right at home whenever I come back to Mississippi. I’ve been coming to the Catfish Festival for some years now and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Even though I’ve played in palaces before, nothing feels like Mississippi. Its good to have people like Sen. David Jordan guarding our history. I’m proud to see Mississippi come so far; it a breathe of fresh air,� said Denise on the steps of the capitol in a private interview with the Chittlin Circuit.

Sen. Jordan said, “ I feel it is my responsibility to place a spotlight on my people who have made the Mississippi Delta the epicenter of the blues. God brought something good out of these cotton fields that the world is proud of and I want to pay tribute to those individuals that created this music. Being a sharecropper’s son I know what has gone into this music….the blood, the sweat and tears of people that I’ve seen beaten and kicked in the Delta, who worked under shameful conditions on plantations and still they produce an art form that is cherished all over the world. I just thought it was about time that Denise LaSalle got her just desserts and what better way than for this body to honor her.�

You are cordially invited to see this blues diva perform live on May 9, 2009 at the Catfish Festival in Belzoni, Mississippi.

The Chittlin Circuit Magazine applauds the State of Mississippi for honoring Miss Denise LaSalle….Keep The Blues Alive!