KENYA HUDSON
Arnold Lindsay talks about his love for blues music from his home in Jackson, Miss.
News reporter, blues singer belts out tunes about real life BY ARNOLD LINDSAY learned the blues early in life, tagging along with my uncles and great uncles as a child. My uncle, David Conston, would let me play his Old Kraftsman guitar back then, telling me to talk to it, like I was talking to my girlfriend. Sometimes I’d ask her, “What’s wrong, baby? Why you actin’ mad at me? Come on and give me a happy sound. Help put your daddy’s poor mind at ease.” Sometimes Uncle David would blow his harmonica along with me, picking that old, raggedy, blue guitar. And I would create stuff off the top of my head, singing about my imaginary girlfriends who had done me wrong – and the ones who had done me right. I will never forget the memories of Uncle David, sipping his “smiley,” that Old Forrester whiskey, telling this young kid how to sing the
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blues. When I wasn’t hanging around Uncle David, I was on Jackson’s Farish Street, the historic black community where everyday, all day, there was blues blaring from the juke boxes of the many cafes. Folks sat and drank Schlitz beer, Champale and now and then, a little nip from the eighth of whiskey in their hip pockets. Years later, those fond memories and my passion for singing the blues led me to form the Arnold Lindsay Blues Band. My CD, “My Name Is The Blues,” was released in July 2005, and it has had excellent airplay for a new artist. My song, “Bad Night,” placed as one of five finalists in blues in the 2006 Independent Music Awards. The IMA contest draws the best of unsigned professional artists from around the world. My debut CD is a collaboration of original music I wrote; my friend
wrote one song, “Raining In The Delta.” I am forever grateful to Uncle David and my great-uncle, Calton “Moonie” Conston, for teaching me the true meaning of the blues. I also am grateful to Jackson State University for giving me a solid musical foundation. I played string bass in the JSU orchestra on a music scholarship. When I was a young college kid who didn’t know what I was looking for, former instructor and orchestra leader J.J. Sampson trained me in the classical aspects of music. In one semester, Mr. Sampson schooled me to the point where he thought I should try for a scholarship. I went before the panel, passed, and the rest is history. I owe so much thanks to Mr. Sampson for the countless hours he spent with me, training me to become a bassist. And I owe thanks to my school and the leaders of the music department, Dr. Jimmie James and Dr. Dollye Robinson, for having the faith in me to allow me to be an orchestral bassist back then. I graduated in 1987 with a major in print journalism and a minor in music. I work through the day as a journalist for The Clarion-Ledger, but the weekends and nights belong to the blues. My band has played in numerous venues since mid-2006, including the Jubilee!JAM, 930 Blues Café, Hal & Mal’s, the Crawdad Hole, Blue Room Lounge, the Countdown to 2006 New Year’s Eve Party at Handy Park in Memphis on Beale Street and the local Bach to Blues series. Contact Arnold Lindsay at 601-209-7707 or 601-981-5580, or buy his CD at www.cdbaby. com/arnoldlindsay.
Arnold Lindsay’s CD, “My Name Is The Blues,” was released in July 2005 and has had excellent airplay for a new artist. His song, “Bad Night,” placed as one of five finalists in blues in the 2006 Independent Music Awards.