Senate Concurrent Resolution 614

(As Adopted by Senate)

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING AND SALUTING CANTON, MISSISSIPPI'S GRADY CHAMPION FOR WINNING THE 26TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BLUES CHALLENGE IN MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE.

WHEREAS, the 26th Annual International Blues Challenge finals were held at the Orpheum Theater in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 25, 2010, and Grady Champion, a native of Canton, Mississippi, and one of 28 children, walked off with all the honors winning First Place; and

WHEREAS, this year's International Blues Challenge had 224 bands participating to win in this year's most coveted blues event, which was a four-day event including numerous venues; and

WHEREAS, Mississippi was well represented in all categories, winning First Place in the band competition and Second in the solo/duo competition. Mississippi's Grady Champion put on the show of a lifetime singing all original songs; and

WHEREAS, he also performed at the 26th Annual Chicago Blues Festival which is billed as the largest free blues festival in the world and considered a right of passage for any blues singer worth the salt in his bread, and Grady demonstrated that he has a lot of that main ingredient as he set the Mississippi Juke Joint Stage on fire; and

WHEREAS, Grady Champion is a young blues singer and harmonica player that has been compared to Sonny Boy Williamson, and people can hear exactly why on his Shanachie debut "Payin' for My Sins" released August 24, 1999. The album includes a version of "Don't Start Me to Talkin'" that really shows Grady's high-energy singing and harmonica playing and an update of the traditional blues lament "Goin' Down Slow", a hard-bitten vignette of modern life. The charm and insight he brings to his songwriting in numbers like "My Rooster Is King" and the classic-sounding tale of infidelity "You Got Some Explaining to Do" mark Grady as an important new talent. Grady's voice not only sounds like Robert Johnson, but the way he works the crowd seemed as though Johnson's fire and raw sense of what the audience needs was born inside him; and

WHEREAS, "The IBC was huge for Mississippi, huge for Jackson and it's huge for the blues world," said Peggy Brown, Director of the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame and a member of the Central Mississippi Blues Society. "It's just like our version of Star Search." Grady Champion had the crowd in his hand, performing "Wine and Women Don't Mix"; and

WHEREAS, the band was sponsored by the Mississippi Delta Blues Society from Indianola, Mississippi. The band also includes bassist (and Grady's son) Marquis Champion, drummer Xavres Good and guitarist Caleb Armstrong; and

WHEREAS, also in the competition, Alphonso Sanders and Bill "Howl-n-Madd" Perry from Mississippi's Crossroads Blues Society finished second in the solo/duo category, and Sherman Lee Dillon of Jackson, Mississippi, was one of the eight finalists; and

WHEREAS, it is with great pride that we commend the accomplishments of this talented blues musician who has brought honor to his community and become an unofficial ambassador for the State of Mississippi:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That we do hereby recognize and salute Canton, Mississippi's Grady Champion for winning the top award among 224 bands competing at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 25, 2010, and extend our best wishes to Grady and his band in their future successes.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to Grady Champion and forwarded to the Mississippi Arts Commission, and be made available to the Capitol Press Corps.