Living Blues, November/December 2002

North Mississippi Musicians Honored by Scott Barretta

“…the highlight of the evening was award recipient Jessie Mae Hemphill’s rousing acceptance speech on behalf of her grandfather Sid Hemphill, a multi-instrumentalist who was recorded by Alan Lomax in 1942 and 1959. Inspired by the playing of 10-year-old Sharde Turner (Othar Turner’s granddaughter), Hemphill recalled learning to play the guitar and drums from her grandfather when she was a little girl. After successfully calling Turner’s group (Othar Turner’s Rising Star Fife and Drum Corp) back to the stage for an encore performance, Hemphill sang two gospel songs a cappella, and said that when she recovers from the stroke that left her unable to play guitar, she’s going to return to performing, going from ‘church to church’ instead of ‘joint to joint.”