# Ruthie Foster called it an “honor, a blessing and privilege” to be at The King Biscuit Blues Festival 2023: Video, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2023/10/16/ruthie-foster-called-it-an-honor-a-blessing-and-privilege-to-be-at-the-king-biscuit-blues-festival-2023-video-photos/
- Published: 2023-10-16T00:02:32+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Ruthie Foster called it an “honor, a blessing and privilege” to be at The King
Biscuit Blues Festival. “You guys are in the spirit tonight and we feel it.” She
beamed early in a set highlighted by “Healing Time,” the title cut of her latest
album. Her Thursday night headlining set was the highlight of the 36^(th) annual
King Biscuit in Helena, Arkansas. “At my Call and Response Seminar (John Primer)
eloquently revealed what it was like losing his father at age three and picking 
cotton from sunup to sundown while living in a shack with no electricity, no running
water and no bathroom.“**

“Thank you for this evening. We had a beautiful time,” she declared leaving the 
crowd with the kind of uplifted spiritual awakening rarely felt outside of tent 
revivals, sending her followers into complete revelry. From the reggae of “Real 
Love” and gospel to Delta blues and rock and roll, Ruthie brought the audience to
the gates of heaven as she and ecstatic fans became one.

Obliterating any imagined lines between blues, gospel and R&B, she effortlessly 
crisscrossed between powerful numbers like a cappella standouts that channeled Mahalia
Jackson to songs that called on the spirit of Sister Rosetta Tharpe with the line“
up above my head I hear music in the air.” And from the sacred to the profane she
flew high above any genre limitations as in Mississippi John Hurt’s “Richland Woman
Blues:”

The red rooster said, “Cockle doodle do do”
 The Richards woman said, “Any dude 
will do” Hurry down, sweet daddy, come blowin’ you horn If you come too late, sweet
mama will be gone

A Texas tornado on guitar, Anson Funderburgh called The Biscuit “the only totally
authentic blues festival in the world.” He’s played every Biscuit but one in 36 
years.

Days short of his 66^(th) birthday, Kenny Neal played his last show of the year.
He began his career at 18 playing bass for Buddy Guy, best friend to Raful, Kenny’s
dad. Kenny covered the crowd like a warm blanket and was given the only encore I
saw on the main stage with “Same Old Blues.”

Kenny performed Biscuit patriarch Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Don’t Start Me to Talking”(
with Billy Branch on harp), “Help Me,” and “Goin’ Down Slow.” L’il Ed of The Blues
Imperials joined him on “Snap Peas.” His originals included “Crank It Up,” “Blues
Just Leave Me Alone,” and “Let Life Flow.” He even covered the Willie Nelson hit
with the lyrics “My, it’s been a long time. Ain’t it funny how time just slips away.”

![Ruthie Foster - The Sofia Home of B Street!](https://i0.wp.com/bstreettheatre.
org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/12-15-2022-Ruthie-Foster_1200x630_FB_newsfeed.jpg?
w=640&ssl=1)

His set was a homecoming that proved “I was raised up on Jimmy Reed. I swam in Muddy
Waters. I’m a blues man.”

Paul Thorn dedicated his entire set to Biscuit patriarch: the late Bubba Sullivan.
Paul has played the vaunted event since 2010 when he had the unenviable chore of
preceding B.B. King on the main stage and all but stole the show from the King of
The Blues. Paul performed “Pimps and Preachers,” the title track of his first record.

“I feel like testifying tonight if that’s alright,” he told us as he too mixed the
sacred and profane including an anecdote about taking his toy train tracks to a 
friend’s house. The “friend” ends up lying on the tracks in his “tighty whities”
flagellating himself. The “friend” then takes Paul and his buddies out for ice cream
and cookies. Paul told the story deadpan, never cracking a smile.

At the end of his set, he told us, “I’m coming out for the last song. I’m so glad
to be here tonight. Until we meet again, take me with you.” Singing “Take My Love
With You,” he hugged at least 30 people in the first 10 rows.

I introduced Little Village Records’ rising star 24-year-old D. K. Harrell (read
[part one](https://www.americanbluesscene.com/2023/09/blues-phenom-d-k-harrell-to-play-king-biscuit-part-one/)
and [part two](https://www.americanbluesscene.com/2023/09/blues-phenom-d-k-harrell-to-play-king-biscuit-part-two/)
of our recent interview) in the opening slot on the main stage Friday as an act 
that would become a major player in blues. Incredibly, his bass player and others
in his band had “other commitments” and couldn’t do the gig. To D.K.’s credit he
did a credible set, but without some of the cuts from his debut album _The Right
Man_ because the artists on stage didn’t know the numbers. Most artists would move
heaven and earth to play the gig barring the funeral of their mother.

Some of the best music occurred on the various secondary stages. I think I may have
lost whatever nuances of hearing I still have at the Front Porch, a claustrophobic
hall on Cherry St. a few blocks from the mainstage.

Jimbo Mathus, perhaps the edgiest delta blues artist ever to emerge from Clarksdale,
called Helena a sacred place while his music was anything but. He and his five-piece
band The Dirty Crooks did a smoking version of “Baby Please Don’t Leave Me” from
Buddy Guy’s _Sweet Tea_ album, Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign,” and the aptly
titled originals “Call It Dangerous” and “Bad Taste in Your Mouth.”

West Helena native Lonnie Shields played the first ever Biscuit in 1986. Last year
he had a deserved main stage performance, but he was back on The Front Porch this
year. His 15-minute version of “The Thrill Is Gone” rivals the King’s. Dressed all
in white, he pranced up and down the aisle doing pirouettes with his guitar in the
air on “Start All Over Again,” “Let’s Straighten It Out,” and “Take Me to the River.”

John Primer, whose credits include The Rolling Stones and two years as Muddy Waters’
last band leader from 1981 to ’83, was relegated to The Lockwood Stackhouse stage
on a backlot several blocks from the main stage for its final presentation at 7 
p.m. Saturday night. Primer’s playing is so close the Muddy’s that you would swear
Muddy was there with him on “Long Distance Call.” Other numbers included “Why Are
You So Mean to Me,” “Party Girl,” “I Call My Baby,” and “Hard Times,” the title 
of his latest studio album.

![](https://i0.wp.com/www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/3E8AEBAE-
EE6C-44D6-AFF8-736A7198190B.webp?resize=640%2C802&ssl=1)

John Primer / Credit: Eric Kriesant

Primer’s four-piece Real Deal Blues Band included Steve Bell playing a set of harps
from his cartridge belt. He has style all his own with enough James Cotton in it
to fit perfectly into Primer’s repertoire.

At my Call and Response Seminar he eloquently revealed what it was like losing his
father at age three and picking cotton from sunup to sundown while living in a shack
with no electricity, no running water and no bathroom.

Chicago blues guitarist Nick Moss and harp player Dennis Gruenling proved two plus
two equals more than four in their headlining set Friday night. At my seminar they
talked about that chemistry that has taken their album _Get Your Back Into It_ to
the top of the charts.

Festival Director Munnie Jordan described how her role as what Forbes magazine described
as a “fundraising phenom” has kept the festival solvent. She admitted to me after
the seminar that that was the only time in her role as executive director that she’d
sat down for an hour during the event.

![](https://i0.wp.com/www.americanbluesscene.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/1112026D-
6BB4-4F08-99D7-C3B00077935A-1024x691.jpeg?resize=640%2C432&ssl=1)

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