MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2026 Regular Session
To: Rules
By: Senator(s) Brumfield, Butler, Blackmon, Hickman, Jackson, Turner-Ford, Norwood, Frazier, Mumford, Thomas, Simmons (12th), Simmons (13th)
A RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE MUSIC CONTRIBUTIONS OF MISSISSIPPI GOSPEL AND BLUES ARTIST CASTRO "MR. SIPP" COLEMAN FROM MCCOMB, MISSISSIPPI, GRAMMY-WINNING GUITARIST WITH THE WILLIAMS BROTHERS.
WHEREAS, Castro "Mr. Sipp" Coleman is a young guitarist, singer and songwriter from McComb, Mississippi, who has become a gospel and blues ambassador for our state; and
WHEREAS, Castro Coleman a.k.a. "Mr. Sipp" was born August 25, 1976, and is an American blues and gospel singer, musician, songwriter and guitarist. Mr. Sipp is the Vicksburg Blues Society's 2014 International Blues Challenge winner as well as the 2014 Gibson Best Guitarist Award Winner. The same year Castro was given the Bobby Rush Entertainer of the Year Award by the Jus' Blues Foundation. In 2015, he won several Jackson Music Awards, including International Male Blues Artist, Blues Artist of the Year, and Entertainer of the Year; and
WHEREAS, Castro was the Blues Music Award Best New Artist Debut Winner in 2016 and The Spirit of Little Walter Award Winner the same year. The same year, Castro was the first blues artist to have his handprint inducted into the Wall of Fame in Fredrikshavn, Denmark. For the 25th Annual Living Blues Awards, he won the Best Blues Album of 2017 New Recordings Award (Contemporary Blues) with Knock a Hole In It. In 2018, he won the National Blues Artist of the Year Award at the 44th Annual Jackson Music Awards. At the 2025 ceremony of the Blues Music Awards, Coleman was named as the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year; and
WHEREAS, Castro Coleman was born in McComb, Mississippi, to Jonell and the late Vera Coleman. He is a husband and the father of four daughters. He has been around music all of his life. His parents and aunt had a quartet group, and he was influenced by B.B. King at the age of six, which is when he started playing the guitar; and
WHEREAS, Coleman started out playing gospel with the legendary Williams Brothers, the Canton Spirituals, and the Pilgrim Jubilees. He later started his own group The True Believers, which launched them in the gospel industry with their album In This Place. After The True Believers, he started Castro Coleman and Highly Favored, which again proved successful in the gospel industry, with television appearances on Bobby Jones Gospel. Their album Time Out gained national attention; and
WHEREAS, in 2012, Coleman decided to venture into the blues genre. He competed in the regional competition in the fall of 2012 and won. He then went to compete in Memphis in January 2013 and made it to the finals. He went back and won the regional competition in the fall of 2013. He won again and was back in Memphis in 2014 to triumph at the International Blues Challenge; and
WHEREAS, on February 1, 2019, Castro and his group, The True Believers, released a new album and DVD, Back to the Roots. Coleman has won numerous awards, including:
· Bobby Rush 2014 Entertainer of the Year Award by the Jus' Blues Foundation;
· 2015 International Male Blues Artist, 41st Annual Jackson Music Awards;
· 2015 Blues Artist of the Year, 41st Annual Jackson Music Awards;
· 2015 Entertainer of the Year, 41st Annual Jackson Music Awards;
· Best Blues Album of 2017 New Recordings (Contemporary Blues) for Knock a Hole In It, Malaco Records, 25th Annual Living Blues Awards;
· 2018 Gospel Group of the Year with The True Believers, Mississippi Gospel Music Awards;
· 2018 National Blues Artist of the Year, 44th Annual Jackson Music Awards;
· 2020 Award for Mississippi Legend at the Underground Southern Soul Awards;
· 2025 B.B. King Entertainer of the Year category winner at the Blues Music Awards; and
· Coleman has over 125 credits listed on AllMusic; and
WHEREAS, Coleman has given workshops for Epiphone. He is endorsed by Ernie Ball, Nord, and Humes and Berg. He is on the roster of the Mississippi Arts Commission and conducts programs in the area schools teaching the young and old about the blues. His latest album, The Mississippi Blues Child, on the Malaco Records Label debuted at No. 6 on the Living Blues Chart and made the Top 50 for the 2015 year; and
WHEREAS, Coleman was cast in Get on Up as the first guitar player for James Brown, playing the role of Les Buie. In 2016, he was cast as the young B.B. King on three episodes of the CMT series Sun Records and, in 2021, he was cast as a blues singer and musician in the movie Texas Red, performing one of his original songs from his new album Sippnotized with special arrangements for the movie; and
WHEREAS, in 2018, Coleman opened his own blues club known as Sipp's Place in Magnolia, Mississippi. In 2019, along with his blues tours and blues club in Magnolia, Castro Coleman came back to gospel with The True Believers. After a few years, Castro Coleman and The True Believers released Back to the Roots, recorded live in April 2018 at Prince of Peace Church in Blytheville, Arkansas. It was released on February 1, 2019; and
WHEREAS, his discography includes the following:
Mr. Sipp - The Mississippi Blues Child
· 2013: It's My Guitar, Baby Boy Records;
· 2015: The Mississippi Blues Child, Malaco Records;
· 2017: Knock a Hole In It, Malaco Records;
· 2021: Sippnotized, Malaco Records;
· 2024: The Soul Side of Sipp, Malaco Records;
The True Believers
· Steppin' Out on Faith, Blackberry Records;
· Don't Count Me Out, Blackberry Records;
· Live at Home with Family and Friends, Blackberry Records;
· 2007: In This Place, Malaco Records;
· 2008: Break Through, Malaco Records;
· 2018: Back to the Roots, Winds/Malaco; and
· 2021: The Sound We Grew Up On, Winds/Malaco; and
WHEREAS, it is with great pride that we commend a Mississippi blues and gospel ambassador who has brought the attention of a music generation to his home town and to the State of Mississippi:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we do hereby recognize the music contributions of Mississippi gospel and blues artist Castro "Mr. Sipp" Coleman from McComb, Mississippi, Grammy-winning guitarist with the Williams Brothers, and extend our congratulations to a Mississippi gospel and blues ambassador and best wishes for future success.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to Castro Coleman, forwarded to the Mississippi Arts Commission and be made available to the Capitol Press Corps.