News

Fans of blues rejoice as US and UK artists Watermelon Slim, Heavy Drunk, and Leonardo Guiliani team up for ‘The Mississippi Delta Blues Experience 2024’ tour this October. The tour will see the three artists play 10 intimate shows across the UK between Oct 2nd to 12th, starting and ending with unforgettable London performances.

Multi-award-winning Watermelon Slim was perhaps best summed up by the late Jerry Wexler (co-owner Atlantic Records, producer for Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin) who described him as “a one-of-a-kind, pickin’ n singing Okie dynamo”. He is a 2x winner of the Blues Music Award for Band of the Year and Album of the Year, as well as a 2x winner of MOJO Magazine’s no. 1 Blues Album of the Year.

Sons of the South soul outfit HeavyDrunk has made waves with their signature raspy vocals and Americana infused sound. Their Mississippi delta blues, powerful gospel, and hard-hitting rock ‘n’ roll energy charged their 2023 album You Don’t Know Me which was released to raise awareness and funds for the crumbling grave of music legend Robert Johnson.

UK based independent musician, guitar player, and singer-songwriter Leonardo Guiliani joins The Mississippi Delta Blues Experience 2024 fresh off the release of his 2023 album Rogue. Produced by four-time Grammy award winner producer Tom Hambridge, Rogue showcases Guiliani’s talents inspired by the acoustic singer-songwriters and electric jam bands of the late ‘60s and the ‘70s.

The Mississippi Delta Blues Experience is set to be an unforgettable night for blues fans across the country and will not be one to miss.

SHOWS:

UK

Oct 2nd – Leytonstone Social Club, London (Tickets)

Oct 3rd - Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield (Tickets)

Oct 4th – Mcchuills, Glasgow (Tickets)

Oct 5th – Anarchy Brewery, Newcastle (Tickets)

Oct 6th – The Kings, Portsmouth (Tickets)

Oct 8th – The Waterfront Studio, Norwich (Tickets)

Oct 9th – The Portland Arms, Cambridge (Tickets)

Oct 10th – Long Street Blues Club, Devizes (Tickets)

Oct 11th – The Golden Lion, Bristol (Tickets)

Oct 12th – Off The Cuff Bar, London (Tickets)

SPAIN:

Oct 17th - WIC, Segovia (Tickets)

Oct 18th – Cafe Teatro Monkey Man, Guadalajara (Tickets)

Oct 19th - Rock and Blues, Saragoza (Tickets)

Oct 20th - 16 Toneladas, Valencia (Tickets)

Dynamic Soul Musician, HeavyDrunk, Spearheads Effort to Raise Funds to Maintain Little Zion Church and Gravesite of Legendary “Father of the Blues” Robert Johnson

Nashville, Tenn. (October 23, 2023) – Dynamic soul musician, Rob Robinson, aka HeavyDrunk, is spearheading a fundraising effort set up by him to restore the grave of the “Father of the Blues”musical legend Robert Johnson at the Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Greenwood, Mississippi. All funds will be used to fix the signs of disrepair at the burial site and the church.

“I heard the legend before I heard the sound” recalls Robinson. “As a child I was beguiled by the story. A man who ‘sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads in the Mississippi Delta,’ not far from where I grew up. It ran through me with a chill, like a ghost story. Then I heard the sound, and I knew it to be true. Those songs, that sound resonated in a place deeper than it should. A spiritual vibration that tore me up by the roots and tossed me in the Muddy Mississippi, lost forever.

This past spring, I found myself in Cleveland, Mississippi at the Music Cities Conference. A friend had invited me while we were picking up trash together on an old Tennessee country road. After the conference I had a day off before HeavyDrunk was to play the Juke Joint Festival at Bluesberry in Clarksdale, Mississippi, so, I drove to Rosedale and stuffed myself with Delta tamales at the White Front Cafe and I pointed the Cadillac towards Greenwood. I turned on Money Road and soon found The Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church, an old white wooden church, circa 1872, with a green roof standing between the Tallahatchie River and miles of cotton fields. There is a Blues Trail marker out front that notes this location as the final resting place of Robert Johnson.

Some folks were working in and around the church, so, being a lover of Jesus Christ, I walked in to put some money in the plate. I met Mrs. Clora Greene there. We began talking about the church and Robert and we prayed together. I did not know that this was the church featured in the movie ‘The Help’ as well. She walked me out to the gravesite and told me how the church had been struggling to keep up the graveyard and the church building. She told me how buses full of tourists from all over were showing up, but the church, the church that was responsible for the gravesite, was not receiving any donations from that. Standing there with her beside Robert’s grave, I felt like God was walking me on a path of righteousness. I have been spreading the word to raise money and awareness for Little Zion and Robert Johnson’s gravesite ever since.”

To donate to the repair fund, send via Cash App to Little Zion Church at: $LittleZionMBChurch.

The enthralling music of HeavyDrunk takes audiences on a journey through jazz, soul, blues, and Americana. HeavyDrunk recently released the critically acclaimed album, ‘You Don’t Know Me.’ His latest radio single, "Love & Devotion" is a soulful taste of the South with classic horn lines reminiscent of Memphis and Muscle Shoals. Prince’s trombone player, Roy Agee, blows great tone on the track
which also includes bass by Alison Prestwood, guitar and drums from the The Deltaz, and Dave & Sugar’s Etta Britt on vocals. Grammy-winner Casey Wasner recorded and mixed the song.

ABOUT HEAVYDRUNK:
The smoke you hear in HeavyDrunk’s lead vocal is from thirteen years of stoking the smoker at his popular BBQ Joint, Puckett’s of Leiper’s Fork, called “the number one place to drive and eat in America” by USA Today and Rand McNally. Rob Robinson (aka HeavyDrunk) sold the Juke Joint and wrote and recorded his third full-length HeavyDrunk album, 'You Don’t Know Me.’ HeavyDrunk is getting rave reviews for his music and is definitely an artist that is here to leave his mark.

HeavyDrunk’s album “You Don’t Know Me” is a musical journey that engages the senses with its raspy vocals, witty lyricism, and fusion of soulful and funky instrumentals. With 12 tracks that vary in style and mood, this album proves to be a dynamic and captivating listening experience.

https://illustratemagazine.com/you-dont-know-me-by-heavy-drunk-album-review/

Heavy Drunk, the acclaimed son of the south soul musician, teams up with Visit Greenwood to restore the Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church and the gravesite of the iconic blues legend Robert Johnson. On July 15th, Heavy Drunk will be dropping his new record, You Don’t Know Me. Not only is this record an exceptional embodiment of soul, blues and americana.

Read The Feature

The main single from the album, You Don't Know Me, starts off with a soulful gospel choir that really hooks you in. Then HeavyDrunk deep and raspy vocals take over, blending perfectly with the jazzy-bluesy music playing underneath.

Check out the feature in FAMEmagazine!!

HeavyDrunk and The Heavy Horns return to the Franklin Theatre November 10th supporting the new album, “You Don’t Know Me."  This is HeavyDrunk's third full length recording and Rob revives the big soul band featuring plenty of brass and soulful background. If you haven’t seen HeavyDrunk, you may have met Rob by the smoker at the original Puckett’s in Leiper’s Fork. He owned the popular BBQ Joint, country store, gas station, and live music venue from 2008-2021. He’s laying off the smoker and once again collaborated with Grammy winner, Casey Wasner as producer. Small Town Fair and Special Guests join this show.

David Colòn is an American singer-songwriter who formed the band - Small Town Fair - as an outlet to express his musical endeavors.  The versatility of his expressive and poignant lyrics touches genres of folk, rock, soul and Americana, yet somehow all these labels cannot define his music. Small Town Fair will be releasing their new studio album at the Franklin Theater show on Nov 10th.

Tickets: https://tinyurl.com/HeavyDrunk23