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April 26-28, 2024

Word of South

Open Mike Eagle

Novelist Tom Robbins once said, “Humor is both a form of wisdom and a means of survival.” These words are the artistic ethos of Robbins fan and acclaimed Los Angeles-based rapper Michael Eagle II, better known as Open Mike Eagle. Like a good comedian, he couches uncomfortable truths in hilarious punchlines. Like the greatest comedians, […]

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Tom Piazza

Tom Piazza is celebrated both as a novelist and as a writer on American music. His twelve books include the novels A Free State and City Of Refuge, the short-story collection Blues and Trouble, the post-Katrina manifesto Why New Orleans Matters, and Devil Sent The Rain: Music and Writing in Desperate America, a collection of […]

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Abe Partridge

Abe Partridge’s raspy vocals, combined with his acoustic guitar, brings to mind the sound of a modern troubadour. An Alabama native, his music references both the area and the style, mixing a southern drawl with the blues. Music performance was not Partridge’s first profession, but soon became his passion when he realized how much he […]

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Legendary Longineu Parsons

Legendary Longineu Parsons is a classically trained trumpeter who plays in a wide variety of styles including jazz, blues, jazz fusion and classical. He is currently an Associate Professor of Music at Florida A&M University (FAMU) and heads small independent label Tribal Records. Parsons played for Nat Adderley, Cab Calloway, Doc Severinsen, Herbie Mann, Archie […]

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Iheoma Nwachukwu

Iheoma Nwachukwu is a Nigerian writer. Nwachukwu played professional chess for ten years. He has won fellowships from the Michener Center for Writers, and the Chinua Achebe Center for Writers. His fiction, nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in numerous journals, including The Iowa Review, The Southern Review, Electric Literature, and Prism International. He’s at work […]

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North Mississippi Allstars

North Mississippi Allstars is an American southern rock blues band founded in 1996. The band is composed of two brothers, Luther Dickinson and Cody Dickinson. The Allstars’ first release, Shake Hands with Shorty, was nominated for a Grammy Award for “Best Contemporary Blues Album”. Since then, 51 Phantom and Electric Blue Watermelon have received nominations […]

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Kristina Neihouse

Kristina Neihouse moved from Portland Maine to Key West in 1995. She won The Studios of Key West 2014 Writes of Spring competition and placed 2nd in the 2018 Tennessee Williams Short Story Contest. In 2017 she was awarded an Anne McKee Artist Fund Grant to publish her first novel Knowing When to Leave. In […]

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Colleen Nixon

Colleen Nixon is Tallahassee, Florida’s home grown wild flower who was told she was singing before she was speaking. With a deep love of music and years of voice lessons, Colleen moved to Nashville, TN and received her Bachelor’s Degree from Belmont University in Commercial Voice with a Music Business emphasis. It was there Colleen’s […]

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