okra Issue 24 2023 (Preview)

T WINTER

ISSUET

2023

Style

by southern hands MADE IN MISSISSIPPI Custom hats inspired by the West but made in the South ROUND TOP STYLE Twice a year trip to TX in search of treasures

MICROLEDON FARM Conway, SC farmer searching for the balance of family, farm and business BECAUSE OF DANIEL Enduring loss to come through with the hope of a brighter future for others

In Mississippi, our rock stars wear aprons and wield sharp knives.

It takes a creative spirit, an artful eye, and a deep passion for food to become a great chef. Maybe that’s why, in Mississippi, we have a healthy reverence for all those who’ve dedicated their lives to transforming simple ingredients into unforgettable experiences. From classic Southern comfort food to locally sourced and internationally-inspired cuisine, Mississippi is the perfect destination for all those who like their travels flavorful and fulfilling. Learn more at VisitMississippi.org/Flavors. #WanderMS

Chaz Lindsay, Pulito Osteria | Jackson, Mississippi

38: ENDURING LEGACY

For more than 100 years, LC King has been making overalls, dungarees, work shirts, and more in Bristol, TN

46: MADE IN THE SOUTH

In Crystal Springs, MS, Mary Landrum Pyron makes custom hats inspired by the West, but made in the South.

STORIES

54: ROUND TOP STYLE

Twice a year, this small Texas town is inundated with shoppers in search of the perfect treasure.

62: LIFE LESSONS

A family’s lessons from leather working and life in North Carolina’s rural Appalachia.

This Madison, MS artist and designer creates a world filled with beautiful colorful objects.

Photograph by Hunter Norris

68: A COLORFUL WORLD

CHAPTERS EDITORIAL

TO DINE SOUTHERN PG 24: MICROLEDON FARM

PG 6: STAFF

A local SC farmer works closely with local restaurants to provide what they want.

The people who keep us going.

PG 7: OUR CONTRIBUTORS

PG 30: NOTEWORTHY

The people who make our stories come to life.

Sweet Potato Bread from Husk Nashville, TN.

PG 32: NOTEWORTHY

A Peruvian treat turns Southern at Common Thread in Savannah, GA.

FRONT COVER

ML Provisions Crystal Springs, MS Photograph by Hunter Norris

PG 34: ON OUR PLATE

Thai Seafood Risotto, the beloved comfort food from Cru Café in Charleston, SC.

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18 SOUTHERN COMFORTS

A ROAD LESS TRAVELED

PG 10: ASSEMBLING THE ARTIST

84

VA artist Sanford Kogan transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.

PG 14: BY SOUTHERN HANDS

You’ll want these finds made by locals.

PG 18: CHANGES

Singer-songwriter Charlie Mars releases a new album, buys some land, and falls in love.

PG 20: SECOND AC T

Roger Stevens played guitar for Blind Melon, but the death of a close friend left him in shock for decades –until now.

PG 92: LIGHTS, CAMERA, AC TION

Natchitoches, LA offers history, culture, great food and loads of entertainment.

PG 98: WHERE WE WENT

Finding peace and beauty at Pretty Place Chapel in Cleveland, SC.

SOUTHERN SNAPSHOTS PG 76: BECAUSE OF DANIEL

For this Alabama mother, the loss of a son has brought hope for the future of many others.

PG 84: LAY OF THE LAND

Our readers submit photos of their special Southern places and people. Photo of a cotton field above submitted by Monty Bain.

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STAFF Scott Speakes Publisher Genie Gaither Jones Editor-in-Chief Rebecca Cashwell Design Director J. M. McSpadden Liesel J. Schmidt Contributing Editors Richard L. Jones Copy Editor

Advertising Sales Specialists Brittany Sanders brmcdonald45@gmail.com Scott Speakes scott@okramagazine.com

CONNECT WITH US facebook.com/okramagazine @okramag contact@okramagazine.com

Published by Southbound Publishing, Inc.

okramagazine.com SCAN HERE

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6 okramagazine.com WINTER 2023

CONTRIBUTORS

MELISSA CORBIN, is a Tennessee based freelance journalist telling stories of the folks and places that make their corner of the world unique. Her main beats are travel, food, beverage, music, outdoors, festivals, and even a bit of luxury (this one came as a complete surprise to her. Hey! She’s a sucker for nice sheets.) In addition to her work here at Okra, you can read her stories in publications such as Wine Enthusiast, Garden and Gun, and Food and Wine Magazine. Corbin also enjoys making regular television appearances on regional midday shows where she cooks quintessential dishes from her travels while introducing viewers to the region in approachable ways.

SUSAN MARQUEZ is a lifelong learner who finds joy in the unexpected discoveries often found on the path less traveled. She began writing professionally in 2001 and 2,800 articles later, she is still telling the stories of the South. With one foot in suburban Mississippi and the other in New Orleans, she can pack a suitcase in record time.

“Writing gives me an excuse to ask questions, and to learn more than what can be seen on the surface.”

HENRY GONZALEZ is an advertising photographer who has lived and worked out of Atlanta, Georgia, and the Southeast for over 20 years. Photography started as a hobby and became a career. After graduating from photography school, he moved to Atlanta and has been in demand ever since. He specializes in all types of photography: food, fashion, interiors and editorial.

He’s always up for a challenge. henrygonzalezphotography.com

JIM BEAUGUEZ, a Mississippi based writer, his work has been published

by Rolling Stone, Smithsonian, Oxford American, Garden & Gun, Guitar World and other publications. He also created and produced “My Life in Five Riffs,” a documentary series for Guitar Player that traces contemporary musicians back to their sources of inspiration. jimbeaugez@gmail.com

JOSEPH MCSPADDEN is a freelance writer and music enthusiast whose work has appeared online at theflamestillburns.com, and at mbird.com, a journal that examines faith in the real world. His love for roots music led to a gig at nodepression.com, where he reported on live music from The Birchmere, the famed music hall in Washington, DC. He is fascinated with the way words and music impact our lives and can be used as a vehicle for healing. Host of The Village Night Owl podcast, an interview show featuring musical artists. He lives in Virginia with his wife Suzanne.

LISA TOYE KAUFMAN is a freelance writer living in between The Woodlands, Texas and Biloxi, Mississippi.

She’s penned articles from breast cancer awareness to Small Business Saturday among others. She loves writing Southern small town travel stories about culture, food and accommodations and has crafted articles featuring a bed-and-breakfast, a family owned and managed hotel and the new addition to a major hotel chain. Lisa was illuminated in a tribute to the color-blind photographer she’d teamed up with to bring a piece to fruition as her project was highlighted by a local news anchor at WLOX.

SARAH DURST is a writer, artist, and professor. She was a teacher and instructional coach for 16 years before finishing her Ph.D in Education and Writing Studies. At what could only be a God-calling, Sarah and her family moved from the midwest to the mountains of eastern Alabama. Sarah is a regular contributor to Okra. You can find her at sarahdurst@gmail.com and on Instagram @potters.daughter

MARIANNE LEEK is a retired high school educator who continues to teach part-time at Tri-County Community College. She lives with her husband in western North Carolina, where she spends much of her free time enjoying the outdoors. Her work can also be found in The Bitter Southerner.

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How sweet it is to be in Season 12!

Vera Stewart is host of the VeryVera Show, syndicated across the Nation in 42 markets.

The show combines Vera’s natural teaching ability and etiquette insight with modern twists to your grandmother’s favorite recipes. Vera Stewart is also a nationally recognized cookbook author whose career in the food and hospitality industry spans nearly four decades.

For a list of markets that air the show, go to veryvera.com/show

veryvera.com

@veryverastewart

CHAPTER 1

Photograph by Joe Mc Spadden

SOUTHERN COMFORTS

9

A R T

ASSEMBLING THE ARTIST SANFORD KOGAN TR ANSFORMS THE ORDINARY INTO SOMETHING EXTR AORDINARY Written by Joseph McSpadden / Photography Courtesy of Sanford Kogan Sanford Kogan lives on a tree-lined street in the heart of Richmond, Virginia.

theme. The powerful, whimsical, and persuasive, the comedic, shocking, and

In a town with a vibrant art scene Kogan’s work is always on display. You could

bizarre are all on display in any given work of assemblage art. Religion and

live in Richmond and not know that, because, on this quiet street, Kogan’s

politics dance with philosophy and science. Beauty and horror debate each

house looks like the rest of the neighborhood. But walk through the front door

other, light and color engage in flirtation. Each piece is a conversation in the

and you enter the artist’s own gallery, where his work is curated and constantly

mind of the artist. And like all art, it takes on new and different meaning in

in view.

the eyes of the beholder.

Kogan is an assemblage artist. Wikipedia defines

Sanford Kogan is eager to talk, and to tell his sto-

assemblage this way: “Assemblage is an artistic

ry, if he does not have to give out too many details.

form or medium usually created on a defined sub-

Even the basic biographical stuff, his age, his fam-

strate that consists of three-dimensional elements

ily demographics; Kogan does not want to discuss.

projecting out of or from the substrate.” This is usu-

While he is happy to talk about his journey, he

ally done by combining disparate found items in

seems less inclined to share about where it started.

unique ways that highlight the aesthetic aspects of

Art? His ideas about it? Kogan is primed to talk.

these items. By arranging them in such a way that

A Richmond native, Kogan attended Cornell, and

they create a conversation between the elements in

received a degree in philosophy. This was followed

the piece, the finished work challenges us to discov-

by a degree in computer science from University of

er new meaning in forms that might seem ordinary

California, Santa Cruz. He showed an early interest

or mundane.

in art, but his parents steered him away from that and towards college. Kogan spent 25 years working

Assemblage requires a particular mindset, an ability to see aesthetic value in forms that are normally connected to their utility. In the hands of an artist

Sanford Kogan

in the tech space, setting himself up to pursue art

Photograph by Joe Mc Spadden

full time.

Richmond in the 80s and 90s was a city on the

a pocket watch, a saxophone, a light bulb, and a rolling pin become the basic ingredients of social commentary. A pair of binoc-

downslide. In the last decade it has experienced a renaissance of sorts; music,

ulars, a phonograph and a set of gears become a magical steampunk collage.

art and culture forging a new image for a city that was once the capital of the

There are no boundaries for an assemblage artist, only the limits of his or her

Old South. Kogan knows this all too well. “Richmond was a much different

imagination.

place decades ago,” he says. “When I left, I decided this is it. But Richmond

The inspiration can come from the desire to simply show an object in a different light, or to use that item to combine with other pieces to create a

has grown and changed, and evolved. It is so much more progressive now. It is more open minded.”

After college Kogan worked for several tech companies until he landed a

Opposite: Notice this harmonica hanging from the ducks neck, contributing to

the whimsical title “JJ Bach’s Duck Plays the Harmonica”. My guess for the painting, early 19th Century French. Painter is unknown.

gig with Hewlett Packard. “HP took me to France, where I lived for eighteen years,” Kogan says. He moved to France in 1997, and made Grenoble his

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SOUTHERN COMFORTS

home. “I worked for HP for ten of those years, and then, they offered me a

way we think of paint as a medium. The reason for that is, up until recently,

very interesting package to leave the company. This left me in the position to

light was created using light bulbs. You could not do many interesting things

be able to take an early retirement and do my art full time.”

with bulbs. Now we have LEDs, and there are amazing things you can do with

Kogan traces his interest in art to a high school class in photography. He

them, in terms of reflecting light, refracting light, mirroring and coloring light.

discovered he was good at it, and had an eye for lighting and composition. He

I am convinced that two early twentieth century French artists, Robert and

pursued his new found craft for ten years after graduation, “until I transitioned

Sonia Delaunay, were trying to paint light.” The Delaunays were notable for

into making lamps. I started making lamps out of old {musical} instruments.

pioneering the Orphism art movement, using light and color to represent form.

The idea was to take old broken-down instruments, which have an aesthetic

“And I am convinced,” Kogan adds, “that if you had some of the impressionist

beauty of their own... they are gorgeous, right? And the idea was to give them

artists, and if you had LED technology available, back in the day, a lot of them

a second life.” Kogan discovered a purpose in this work, shaping and revealing

would have gravitated toward it for expression.” Kogan’s art differs from other

a new vision for the instruments. Something once used to express music was

contemporary artists in the way he uses light. “Most light artists today using

now having a second life bearing light. Kogan does not say it, but it seems he

LEDs are using light in the context of space. I do some of that but, my work

found a metaphor for his career.

uses light in the context of form…it is not done as often.”

The next logical transition in Kogan’s work was to begin making light sculp-

One subject that does not come up in conversation, but emerges as we tour

tures. Kogan explains, “Light is the medium I work in, some people use paint

Kogan’s house is the word logistics. Kogan’s workshop is on the second floor,

or pigment. Light is my medium for expression, and the relationship between

in a room that looks like a small warehouse. In addition to a worktable, there

light and form.” The correlation to photography made sense to Kogan. “In

are two walls of plastic bins. These bins contain the elements of his art. He

photography you are using light to photograph shapes and forms. And I call

pulls open one bin to reveal a collection of pocket watches, another full of

it seeing with intention. You are photographing shapes and forms that are

tiny gears. The opposing walls contains bins full of glass objects. Every sort of

interesting.”

imaginable thing can be found in these bins.

Kogan practices seeing with intention in everyday mundane moments. Scav-

After ten years at HP, Kogan started his early retirement in France, where he

enging a flea market might turn up an old pocket watch or a clock, or some

continued to live another eight years. But he kept one eye on his hometown

colorful antique apothecary bottles. A second glance might turn up some old

of Richmond, all the while collecting and creating. When the house came

gears, a broken doll, a turntable. Seeing with intention reveals possibilities

on the market Kogan decided the time was right to return to the place of his

in the ordinary. “At a flea market, or an estate sale I will look for things I can

birth. The place was large enough that he knew he would be able to work and

incorporate in my creations.”

display his creations. The move was a challenge logistically; Kogan reveals it

On his website Kogan describes his work; “My artistic focus is to find and

cost $40,000 just to ship everything back to the States.

collect (glean) aesthetically interesting functional or industrial objects from

Today, Kogan is returning yet again, this time to his first love, photography.

the past, to reimagine them in new contexts, and to combine, repurpose, and

He is in currently immersed in a 365-day project he describes as abstract

transform them into assemblage light sculptures that are compelling in the

expressionist photography. Where it takes a month or more to create one of

present.”

his light sculptures, he can create one of these digital collages in a matter of

Kogan continues, “Most of the objects I use in my work were not originally

hours. He is currently posting one per day to his Instagram page.

intended…their primary purpose was not aesthetic. Their primary purpose was

Kogan will be showing his photography and some of his sculptures at the

functional. There may have been an aesthetic that was secondary to the object

Boyd Realty Group corporate center. The opening is January 26th. For more

that was created, and my intention is to make it primary.” In that process,

information, Sdkogan.com or on IG: Sanfordkoganlightart

Kogan points out that they may lose the aspect of their function but gain aesthetic value.

Kogan’s house is large, with high ceilings and oversize windows that filter today’s brilliant sunshine. Everywhere you look his creations are on display.

His home is essentially the Kogan Museum of Found Art and he is the artist in residence. Here he can not only create a new work, but he can control how it is seen. He is the creator and curator of this space.

Kogan’s philosophy of light and color is the bedrock on which his body of work rests. “We do not think about light as a medium for expression in the

12 okramagazine.com WINTER 2023

Clockwise L to R: This old radio box plays–Peggy Lee singing “I’ve Got the

World on a String”. It gives new meaning to the song when one considers the “little man” hanging down from the outstretched hand. • An abstract rooster made from found objects in France. • Glass washboards were a new “find” for Kogan when he moved back from France. The “wavy” patterns in the glass create magnificent visual patterns when light from behind is refracted. • Inspired by Monet’s art in Rouen Cathedral, painted in changing and contrasting light, Kogan created two still lifes identical except for the way they are illuminated. • The artist in his workshop with bins of pieces and parts, used to create his assemblage sculptures.• When the crank is turned, an LED strip behind each acrylic rectangular piece is illuminated. • Converted radio from the 40s, updated with LED’s, acrylic, and Alexa, plays music out of the horn at the top. • Fascinated by industrial objects created for their function but with aesthetic elements, Kogan only added paper and lights to this fishtrap.

Photograph by Joe Mc Spadden

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F O O D

B L A N C C R E AT I V E Hair pulled back into a ponytail, Corry Blanc looks every bit the way you’d hand-forged architectural ironwork, from railings and gates to custom forged imagine a blacksmith, complete with the beard and doubtless more than a hardware. When the real estate crisis threw the economy into a tailspin latfew scars that tell the tale of some of his projects. As skilled as he is, no one er that year, the demand for his work also suffered, and so Blanc started reaches his level of expertise unscathed. And he’s been working in the restaurant industry to pay the bills. It was doing this for a long time. there that he found a new direction for his passion, as he Born and raised in North Georgia, Blanc’s family was a watched the chefs in the restaurant using carbon steel blend of locals and New Orleanians, making him, as he pans and realized that he could create something that puts it, “Southern, through and through.” Growing up, would be both useful and beautiful. he spent time in his grandfather’s welding shop, hearing And so, Blanc Creatives was born—or forged in fire, to the sound of the grinder and watching sparks fly as his be more accurate—in 2012. “I married my two ‘careers’ grandfather went about his craft. It left an impression into one and formed Blanc Creatives to specialize in on him, as did the countless hours he spent helping his hand-crafted culinary tools,” Blanc explains. “Our curgrandmother in the kitchen or sewing clothes and quilts. rent products are a culmination of all the memories and “I’ve always been a ‘maker’ of things,” Blanc says. “As far skills learned over the years.” back as I can remember, I was crafting something from And those products are indeed a reflection of their makCorry Blanc raw materials. As I got older, it was painting and ceramer’s inspiration and passion, as the Blanc Creatives line ics, then eventually I got into metalwork.” includes finely crafted pans and cookware, barware, woodenware and cutBlanc moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2007, and started his first busilery. “Having parents who are from north Georgia and New Orleans, those ness, Silver City Iron, in 2008 with the exclusive focus of creating high-end, are two pretty different styles of Southern, but they both have deep culinary

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Written by Liesel J Schmidt / Photography courtesy of Blanc Creatives

A WELL-FORGED PASSION and cultural roots,” Blanc notes. “I’m sure that must show up somewhere in there as inspiration; but, overall, life is my greatest inspiration. Inspiration can really be found anywhere, if you look hard enough. And I find inspiration to keep moving forward from hearing stories of other self-made creators and artists who persevered and ‘made it.’ A lot of inspiration for our products also comes from conversations with others in the industry as well as scouring old cookbooks and kitchen design books.”

Blanc’s process for creating Blanc Creatives products involves “relentless prototyping and trial and error,” he says. “Once I have it figured out well enough, I pass it on to the crew in the shop, and they handle production.

After several batches of production, the products start to slowly skew from ‘my’ design and become owned by the crew at Blanc that handles the daily production.”

Much like their front man, this band of creatives is an impassioned one— comprising a dozen or so artists, chefs, and designers—and it shows in the quality of what leaves their hands. “Handmade and mass-produced both have their place,” Blanc allows. “Even mass-produced can be beautiful and affective if done properly. But disposable consumerism of mass-produced products must be one of my biggest loathes in life. A truly hand-crafted

piece, no matter which medium, will almost always have a soul. The wabi-sabi or ‘perfectly imperfect’ quality that can only be achieved by the hands of a craftsman will always set those pieces apart from the mass-produced.”

That said, Blanc Creatives pieces are made for the more discriminating, passionate cooks who want to invest in quality heirloom products that they can use for life and hopefully pass down through the generations of their family—like a legacy.

Legacy is something that Blanc is also creating in his company, in many ways. The father of a three-year-old daughter, he has built something that he can share with her, perhaps one day inspiring her to pursue dreams of her own making, in whatever form they may come. Blanc and his wife, who is also an artist, are raising their little girl in their mountain cabin located between Waynesboro and Charlottesville, with Blanc Creatives nearby in Waynesboro, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley.

Products can currently be found almost exclusively online at their website, blanccreatives.com.

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F O O D

SOUTHERN SUPREME Fruitcake has been a longstanding joke, passed around with more than its Southern Supreme was born. share of dubiousness as something that, more often than not, would make Thirty years later, what began with selling their highly prized Nutty Fruitcake a better doorstop than anything one would proudly serve their guests. But at a Christmas show in Raleigh has grown into an iconic brand offering their when it’s done right, a fruitcake is a marvelous thing to signature fruitcakes, nuts, jellies, candies, chocolates, behold, perfectly spiced and studded with fruits that and baked goods as well as relishes, pickles, and musgive it just the perfect amount of sweetness. The crumb tards. is moist, rather than crumbly, and dense in just the right “People appreciate the care and detail that we put into way – and definitely not a doorstop. our handmade products,” says Berta. “That is what This is the kind of perfection that Berta Scott achieved makes it special, and that is the reason we have grown for years with her recipe. Berta made her coveted fruitthe way we have.” cakes for her customers while she worked as a hairSouthern Supreme products can be purchased online dresser. For years, she was encouraged by customers, from their website for shipping throughout the US, Berta Scott (center) & Family family, and friends that she should sell her delicious though Berta contends that the best place to purchase cakes. And so, finally, she did. them is in their showroom in Bear Creek, North CaroliTo test the waters, Berta and her family began selling them at local craft na. “We have something for everyone,” she says. shows. At first, the cakes were baked in her daughter Belinda’s garage.

Located in rural Chatham County, Southern Supreme is dedicated to mainBut by 1984, the fruitcakes had evolved into a full-time operation when taining its Southern roots and staying the family-run, family-oriented comthe Smith family built a kitchen and showroom for Berta’s confections and pany it has always been.

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Written by Liesel J Schmidt / Photography courtesy of Southern Supreme

NOTHING TO L AUGH ABOUT The family business includes Berta Scott, Randy and Lisa Scott, Ricky and Gail Scott, Wayne and Belinda Jordan, and Sandy Brown. The company keeps 25 year-round employees and builds up to 125 seasonal employees to get ready for the Thanksgiving/Christmas season. It’s a relatively small enterprise but one that stays on top of its seasonally driven business.

In the off-season, new recipes are tested to add to their product offerings.

Southern Supreme is rooted in their community and makes sure to give back. They donate to local schools, churches, organizations, and families in need for fundraisers.

Products can be purchased online at their website, southernsupreme.com

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Changes

SOUTHERN COMFORTS

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SINGER-SONGWRITER CHARLIE MARS RELEASES A NEW ALBUM, BUYS SOME L AND, AND FALLS IN LOVE. Written by Joseph McSpadden / Photography by David McClister RAMBLING MAN Charlie Mars has lived, as he likes to say, in a lot of places for short periods of time, but he always comes home to Mississippi. Born in Laurel, the forty-nine-year-old Mars spent time in Nashville, Austin, New York City, and Sweden, to name a few of the stops on his journey. But the call of his home state keeps luring him back, this time to Yalobusha county.

While in high school Mars parents moved the family to Jackson. Around this time, he joined a band. After graduation he went to Southern Methodist University where he sought out other musicians. He formed the Charlie Mars Band and released the album Broken Arrow in 1995. Two more CMB releases followed, but by the start of the century the party life found Mars needing help. After time in rehab for alcohol, he emerged seeking a fresh start, and moved to Sweden. He returned to recording with 2004’s self-titled release.

LUCK OF THE DRAW Mars has something going with Lady Luck. That, or perhaps Divine Providence. Despite the collapse of the record industry and the rise of streaming platforms, Mars has found a way to make a living as a musician. He acknowledges, in his Mississippi drawl, that fortuitous events had a part to play. “There were times where, if something hadn’t come through, things might have turned out different.”

That might sound like humility, or exaggeration, but consider he has always been a bit of a gambler. In fact, he once won $26,000 in casinos and used that windfall to go into the studio and cut a record. And it hasn’t hurt to have his songs appear in movies and television shows. He also stumbled into good fortune playing around in cryptocurrencies a few years back.

Mars has earned critical acclaim for his honest lyrics and stripped-down performances. These days Mars performs solo, preferring the intimacy of venues tailored for acoustic shows. He refers to himself as a weekend warrior. “These days I go out for ten days at a time, then I’m back home. This year I will be traveling a little more though, with the new record coming out.”

Coming home has come to mean more to Mars in recent years. After spending time in New York Mars began to pine for a more rural existence.

He sought to move away from the bright lights big city social scene that comes with dating a famous actress. (Mars’ three-year relationship with actress Mary Louise Parker ended in 2012).

HOME AGAIN Mars has chosen to embrace country living. That choice is reflected in the ten tracks on Times Have Changed. His early influences were a mixture of country, singer-songwriter, and grunge. Neil Young, Jackson Browne, and the Band were formative, along with Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown. Mars also cites Springsteen and REM as influential in the development of his own music.

“These artists walked this fine line… I call it Appalachian Country Western music combined with classic 70s singer-songwriter. My music has always leaned toward a country sound, but what is real country?” These days Mars prefers the Americana tag to describe his sound. “Americana is more

rooted in Appalachian music. Appalachian is a bit funkier, it has more of a groove.”

The desire for a slower pace of life, and a more intentional way of living drew Mars back to Mississippi. The bright lights Mars sees these days are the stars hanging above his home and his 43 acres in Yalobusha county.

But what really brought him there was something else altogether. Mars fell in love.

FOOLED AROUND AND FELL IN LOVE During the covid shutdown Mars made a connection that changed his life.

Mars loves dogs, big dogs. In this case, an enormous Cane Corso mastiff.

Mars had been following a Brazilian breeder online when another fortuitous event occurred. Mars was playing around in crypto and got lucky. He put some money into a dog-themed crypto called Shiba Inu and scored. He took it as a sign and had a fifteen-week-old mastiff puppy shipped all the way from Brazil. It was love from the get-go.

Of course, Mars now had a new set of priorities. Love will do that to you.

Mars knew what he needed was land, room for this massive beast to roam.

Mastiffs are one of the protective breeds and tend to be fiercely loyal and territorial. Mars settled on a Quonset house on top of the highest point in Yalobusha county.

The dog, affectionately named Kudzu, after his friend Parker Posey’s family pet, is now 160 pounds of boundless energy. That has led Kudzu to mix it up with the neighbor dogs on occasion. But Mars gets on well with his neighbors. He doesn’t live in an artist’s community these days; his neighbors are dairy farmers. In fact, Mars so admires their country values that he made a short mini-documentary about their life on the farm and posted it on YouTube.

ROOTS MUSIC Times Have Changed is Mars’ tenth album, and is firmly rooted in the soil of his home state. He sees it as more than a return to the state of Mississippi, it is a return to the way he was raised. The album praises a simpler way of living, values of faith and respect and family. The lead track, Gotta Lotta Love, opens with a gorgeous fiddle intro that tells the listener where the album is headed.

The title track finds Mars asking questions. “What happened to no sir, yes ma’am/ looking folks in the eye/ to family and the good Lord/ and thanking Him every night?” It is to his credit that Mars isn’t wanting to turn back the clock to “back in the day.” But, as he says in the song, it isn’t that he didn’t want things to change, it is that we may have changed too much, and forgotten where we have come from.

That sense of multi-generational family living is losing out to modernity.

As he sings on Country Home Like my Papaw on the tractor me a bouncing on his knee Making my way to the country store to find a little something sweet Mamaw she rocking on that front porch the dog is tripping on a bone I finally got out and I found myself Found myself a country home

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Roger Stevens’

SECOND ACT H E P L AY E D T H E S I G N AT U R E E A R W O R M G U I TA R R I F F O N B L I N D M E L O N ’ S H I T ‘ N O R A I N . ’ B U T T H E D E AT H O F S I N G E R S H A N N O N H O O N L E F T R O G E R S T E V E N S I N S H O C K F O R D E C A D E S — U N T I L N O W. Written by Jim Beauguez / Photography by Keith Isola Aside from the visage and unmistakable voice of the late, icon-

piano part or guitar, and [then] I would just get him to do it because

ic singer Shannon Hoon, who passed away on a tour bus in New

he’s the best musician I’ve ever been around, on multiple instru-

Orleans on an October morning in 1995, guitarist Rogers Stevens

ments. He’s an unbelievable guitar player, fingerstyle classical to

remains the most recognizable member of nineties alt-rock band

jazz to Jimmy Page, so he and I sort of dueled the guitars throughout

Blind Melon.

each song. But the piano was a big part of it, and he just does beau-

You probably couldn’t pick him out from a crowd—it’s been

tiful stuff on the piano.”

years since he cut the long blonde locks he wore in the video for

Stevens, who also now works as an attorney, would record music

the band’s 1993 smash No Rain. But his carefree doo-dee-doo-doo

late into the night, grab a few hours of sleep and then log on for his

guitar lick, which opened that hippie-jangly top-20 hit, a feat aided

day job, repeating the process for months on end. But his obsession

by its attendant “bee girl” MTV video, keeps Blind Melon on instant

was driven by more than simply the excitement of a new creative

recall 30 years later.

endeavor—it reawakened his long-dormant muse. When Blind Mel-

These days, though, the West Point, Mississippi native is chasing an older sound with his latest band, Towne & Stevens, whose

on’s initial run ended that autumn morning, Stevens entered a paralyzing emotional and creative limbo.

mellow, psych-folk vibe and early-FM radio harmonies point to a

“I was just driven, from the age of 14 when I started playing,” he

bygone musical era. “I’m trying to make it sound like the radio in my

says. “And then when Shannon died, I didn’t even really realize this,

dreams, basically, which is somewhere around 1978,” he says. “I’m

but I was in shock for, like, 20 years. I played music during that time,

obsessed with this right now.”

but I didn’t hear it the same way and I didn’t write in the same way.”

The duo pairs Stevens with Nate Towne, a sort of musical savant

Despite his successes in Blind Melon, rising from just another

who played bass in Blind Melon’s most recent incarnation. When

hopeful stalking L.A.’s Sunset Strip to the top of the alternative rock

their main band went on hiatus during the pandemic years, Stevens

scene, cementing their reputation with a triumphant performance

took what he learned recording at world-class studios like London

at Woodstock ‘94, Stevens realized he had more to express through

Bridge in Seattle, where Blind Melon cut its quadruple-Platinum,

music. It brought him back to the frame of mind that compelled him

self-titled debut, and Daniel Lanois’s Kingsway in New Orleans,

to leave Mississippi after high school with his future Blind Melon

where they made its 1995 follow-up Soup, and spent three years

bandmate, bassist and songwriter Brad Smith.

building a studio in his home near Philadelphia.

Adopting what Stevens calls “the Steely Dan model,” he and Towne, who lives in Michigan and is currently the artist in residence

“People thought we were crazy, but we were just blissfully naive, and we just assumed that it would work,” he says. “We were basically homeless for six months.”

at the Cheboygan Opera House, created music both separately

Soon, though, they landed work in a Compton meatpacking plant,

and together. Stevens taught himself to sing and practiced until he

crashing at weekly rate motels, and began piecing together Blind

had the confidence of a true front man. And in 2023, they released

Melon in late 1989. They added guitarist Christopher Thorn, a

Towne & Stevens, an homage to easy-grooving harmonies with or-

transplant from Pennsylvania, and recruited drummer Glen Graham

chestrations that blossom in unexpected directions.

from back home, where he had been playing with future Squirrel

“I had a bunch of songs going, and then Nate came in and we really started going with it,” he says. “I would make a demo with my

20 okramagazine.com WINTER 2023

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