FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

*** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ***
CD servicing & media requests:
Sebastian Cook, ComPosition Music & Communications
[email protected] / 647-346-4018 / Toronto, Canada
Band & label manager: Justin Showah (Hill Country Records
[email protected] / 662-816-4000 / Oxford, Miss.
"… what might have happened if Ali Farka Toure recorded for
Fat Possum." ~ Ian Anderson (Editor, fRoots)
AFRISSIPPI & ERIC DEATON TRIO Flowing West On First U.S. National Tour Aug 22 to Sep 26
West African roots meets North Mississippi trance blues
Afrissippi on the Web: www.myspace.com/afrissippi
Eric Deaton on the Web: www.myspace.com/ericdeaton
Artist & Tour EPK: www.hillcountryrecords.com/press
"Merging the music of West Africa with Mississippi roots music, Afrissippi creates songs that feel perfect in their
execution and temperament..." Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle (June 1, 2008)
"Sometimes an artistic project comes along that seems at once utterly unlikely, yet at the same time completely
logical. Unlikely because of the strange sequence of events that it took for it to occur; logical because the
connections it explores are ones that were present, if submerged, all along, just waiting to be brought back to
life..." Siddhartha MItter, Boston Globe (May 9, 2008)
Friday, August 1: OXFORD, MS ~ Hill Country Records is thrilled to invite music lovers across America to
experience the centuries-old journey of the blues, from its roots in the traditional music of West Africa to the
haunting cottonpatch trance sound of North Mississippi. Starting Aug 21 in their home town of Oxford at Two
Stick, its keystone artists Afrissippi & The Eric Deaton Trio embark on their first national tour. Appropriately, the first leg concludes back home on Friday, September 26 -- the night of the first presidential
debate on the campus of The University of Mississippi. Afrissippi recently stole the show on the Mississippi Juke Joint Stage of the Chicago Blues Festival, with its
second CD "Alliance" establishing it as a completely unique fusion of ancestral African traditions with the
indigenous American artform of the blues. Afrissippi guitarist Eric Deaton, the protege of North Mississippi
trance masters Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside, will also be touring with his own Trio in support of his
upcoming release "Smile at Trouble."
"Guelel Kumba lives on a tall hill in Oxford, Mississippi, and comes from the Fulani people of West Africa, the
largest nomadic group in the world. His first instrument as a child was the molo, a single gut string attached to
a small gourd. Eric Deaton accepted boogie music as his saviour at age 14 and cut his teeth playing with Junior
Kimbrough & R.L. Burnside every Sunday night at Junior's Place. Kinney Kimbrough played drums with his father,
Junior, in & around Chulahoma, Mississippi his entire life. His beats hold the secrets of the backwoods disco
groove." ~ liner notes of Afrissippi's new CD Alliance (2008, Hill Country Records)
More Acclaim for Afrissippi: "Not since Paul Simon's combination of African rhythms and pop concepts on
Graceland has such a forceful vision combined the two continents." Bill Whiting, HonestTune.com
"Alliance feels both ancient and progressive at the same time. This album is an incredible accomplishment that
should attract the attention of many award nomination committees in the months to come." R.Gachet, Living Blues
"Kumba's vocals mix seamlessly with the deep-fried guitar of Mathus and the gritty beats of Kimbrough and
Burnside, recalling all at once Miles Davis' Live Evil psychedelia, old and new country blues, ancient African
history, and downhome rock n' roll ... represents a high-water mark in the exploration of the relationships
between American blues and its African relations. " Corey Harris, Living Blues review of "Fulani Journey" (2006)
***
AFRISSIPPI: a magnificent cross-cultural river of sound...
www.myspace.com/afrissippi
From desert trance marches to fisherman chanteys, Afrissippi channels ancestral African boogies & today's
Mississippi hill country groove through the Delta Recording style to give birth to a brand new sound. Super Chikan
Johnson said it best when he declared, "It's like the blues trying to be born!"
The nucleus of the band was born when Eric Deaton, apprentice of the late Junior Kimbrough, invited West African
griot Guelel Kumba to explore the hill country sound of North Mississippi. Eric brought Guelel to the home of
legendary bluesman R.L. Burnside where they quickly realized and naturally explored the eerie similarities
between many of Guelel's Fulani folk melodies and these two patriarchs of north Mississippi hill country boogie
and cottonpatch trance blues.
With R.L.'s blessing, Guelel & Eric recruited his son and grandson, Garry & Cedric Burnside, as Afrissippi's rhythm
section. When they left to launch Burnside Exploration, Kumba brought aboard Junior's son and drummer, Kinney
Kimbrough of Chulahoma and bassist Justin Showah (Cary Hudson Trio, Taylor Grocery Band) of Oxford. Afrissippi
features a revolving cast of guest artists including Memphis horn legend Herman Green (B.B. King, Lionel Hampton,
Miles Davis), and wordsmith and American rebel soul hero John Sinclair .
"It works out real perfect," says Kimbrough of playing with Afrissippi. "When Guelel came over he hadn't even
heard of my father. When he heard it he said it sounds just like the type of music I would play … it kind of keeps
my old man alive … So when Guelel came about and I got to playing with him, it was like starting all over again,
but a younger version … The way Guelel plays is straight from the heart, that's the way Daddy played it." Kinney
Kimbrough, Afrissippi drummer and son of north Mississippi blues legend Junior Kimbrough (from Living Blues
interview by Scott Barretta, April 2007)
****
THE ERIC DEATON TRIO: Summoning the spirits of Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside
www.myspace.com/ericdeaton
(Modified from a 2007 profile by American rebel soul icon John Sinclair)
The full-throttle Eric Deaton sound is the product of a long and intense apprenticeship with the blues masters of
the North Mississippi Hill Country. Raised in North Carolina, Eric left home at 18 for in Chulahoma, Mississippi to
study with his musical mentor Junior Kimbrough, playing bass and guitar behind the Mississippi trance master and
learning the music from the ground up. When Junior passed, Eric began to step out on his own and to make his mark as
a guitarist, composer and singer. He moved into the bass chair with the Burnside Exploration, a blues power trio
with Cedric and Garry Burnside. After moving to Oxford, he began a fruitful musical partnership with the
Senegalese guitar player Guelel Kumba, investigating the possibilities of fusing the hill country blues with its
living roots in the music of western Africa. For the past two years, Eric has barnstormed across the country as the
bassist for Jimbo Mathus' Knock Down South.
With the debut of The Eric Deaton Trio, "Gonna Be Trouble Here", Eric's voice is heard front and center for the
first time; as he sings his earthy, down-home songs with confidence and emotive force. His music is deeply rooted in
the hill country aesthetic; stripped down, full of drone, rhythmically propulsive and relentlessly bent on in
inducing trance-like behavior in his listeners. Eric plays the music with precision and taste, always pushing the
boundaries but never venturing over the top and he makes it sound the way this music is supposed to sound. As the
name suggests, the forthcoming 2008 CD "Smile at Trouble" continues in a similar vein in its homage to the North
Mississippi tradition. Management: Justin Showah, Hill Country Records (Oxford, Mississippi)
662.816.4000 / [email protected]
Bookings & Publicity: Stacy DeHart, VibeSiren (Cottage Grove, Oregon USA)
541.206.4686 / [email protected]
Sebastian Cook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)
416.567.5016 / [email protected]
AFRISSIPPI 2008 WORLD BOOGIE TOUR SCHEDULE (as of SEPT 1, 2008)
* ALL DATES SUBJECT TO CHANGE
** = SUPPORTING ACT ERIC DEATON TRIO
Thu Aug 21 - Oxford, MS. @ Two Stick
Fri Aug 22 - Starkville, MS @ Dave's Darkhorse
Sat Aug 23 - Baton Rouge, LA @ Chelsea's Cafe
Wed Sep 3 - San Francisco, CA @ Elbo Room **
Thu Sep 4 - Berkeley, CA @ Ashkenaz **
Fri Sep 5 - Eugene, OR @ Sam Bonds Garage (ERIC DEATON TRIO ONLY)
Fri Sep 5 - Eugene, OR @ Papa's Soul Food Kitchen (GUELEL KUMBA SOLO)
Sat Sep 6 - Cottage Grove, OR @ the Axe & Fiddle
Sun Sep 7 - Seattle, WA @ The Triple Door Mainstage
Tue Sep 9 - Centralia, WA @ McMenamins Olympic Club (ERIC DEATON TRIO ONLY)
Wed Sep 10 - Bend, OR @ McMenamins Old St. Francis School
Thu Sep 11 -Portland, OR @ McMenamins Kennedy School
Fri Sep 12 - Eugene, OR @ Eugene Celebration (5 P.M.)
Sat Sep 13 - Olympia, WA @ Traditions Café & World Folk Art
Sun Sep 14 - Tacoma WA@ The Spar
Tue Sep 16 – Port Townsend, WA @ The Upstage Restaurant (AFRISSIPP ONLY)
Wed Sep 17 - Port Townsend, WA @ The Upstage Restaurant (ERIC DEATON TRIO ONLY)
Thu Sep 18 -Moscow, ID @ John's Alley Tavern **
Fri Sep 19 - Ketchum, ID @ Whiskey Jacques **
Sat Sep 20 - Ogden, UT @ Brewskis **
Sun Sep 21 - Colorado Springs, CO @ Jimbo's Take 2 **
Mon Sep 22 -Kansas City, MO @ Knuckleheads Saloon **
Tue Sep 23 - Des Moines, IA @ Blues on Grand **
Wed Sep 24 - Burlington, IA @ The Washington **
Fri Sep 26 - Oxford, MS @ Two Stick
Thu Oct 2 - New Orleans, LA @ D.B.A **
Fri Oct 3 - Austin, TX @ Flamingo Cantina **
Sat Oct 4 - Shreveport, LA @ Red River Revel Arts Festival
Sun Oct 5 - Shreveport, LA @ Red River Revel Arts Festival
Sat Oct 18 - Northport, AL @ Kentuck Festival of the Arts (11 A.M.)
Sat Oct 18 - Spartanburg, SC @ The Showroom (9 P.M.)
Sun Oct 19 - Upperville, VA @ Black Thorne Inn
Wed Oct 22 - New York, NY @ Terra Blues **
Thu Oct 23 - New York, NY @ Terra Blues **
Fri Oct 24 - Hartford, CT @ Blackeyed Sallys **
Mon Oct 27 - Burlington, VT @ Flynn Centre for the Arts **
Tue Oct 28 - Somerville, MA @ Johnny Ds **
Fri Nov 7 - Macon, GA @ The Hummingbird **
Thu Nov 20 - Minneapolis, MN @ The Cedar Cultural Center
Management: Justin Showah, Hill Country Records (Oxford, Mississippi)
662.816.4000 / [email protected]
Bookings & Publicity: Stacy DeHart, VibeSiren (Cottage Grove, Oregon USA)
541.206.4686 / [email protected]
Sebastian Cook (Toronto, Ontario Canada)
416.567.5016 / [email protected]
** Afrissippi’s “Alliance” has been made possible in part by a grant from the Fund for Folk Culture’s Artist
Support Program., underwritten by the Ford Foundation with additional support from The William and Flora
Hewlett Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation. **
www.folkculture.org
.