At first look, Kelly McBride looks like any other college student just trying to get by in all his classes. What people don’t see is the rock star hiding just underneath the surface. He is the guitar player and vocalist for Pearl Divide, an Oxford band.
Water Boswell, 24, makes music with two bands. You’ll often see him playing with the band Curlers at local venues like Proud Larry’s, and sometimes he makes music at home with GarageBand, an iPhone app that enables Boswell to record music independently in the comfort of his Oxford home.
In my house, music is always playing. It is not uncommon to wake up to the sound of Journey, Tom Petty, or Van Halen. Likewise, no car ride is complete without the classics. At age 10, I could sing every word to nearly every song by Kiss. For me, music has always played a large role in my life. I am a firm believer that music makes the hard times easier and the good times better.
I can vividly remember the first time I listened to the album. I had to have been in middle school, 12 or 13 years old, and my mom was driving my siblings and me to school as she blared the CD throughout the car. We listened to Coldplay’s CDs every day in the car, and with every song, I fell in love with their music.
For years, it sat mostly quiet in our den. I ran past it on my way outside to play football, baseball, basketball or soccer. Although my mom occasionally played hymns or Dan Fogelberg songs on it, I was not interested in an old piano. However, my opinion of the old piano began to change during my senior year of high school.
When most Oxford locals hear the words “Rafters” or “The Annex,” they may only think of bars on the Square. Few know about the venues’ music influence. Each business owned by the Chadwick family has its own unique music style, and much work is involved in distinguishing them from other Square businesses.
Pascagoula native Kendall Eubanks’ grandmother, Barbara Veil, was once in a gospel band that toured the nation. Veil also taught piano lessons most of her life. Eubanks’ father was part of the U.S. Special Forces Army Choir. “The Special Forces has a really prestigious choir,” Eubanks said, “and it takes a lot to get into. But my dad had solos in it and what not. He’s always been really musically involved and plays a lot of instruments.”
Hickory Flat, Mississippi is home to one red light, one grocery story and Hickory Flat Attendance Center, a 1A K-12 school. Some people may think this small town is nothing more than a spot between Holly Springs and New Albany. However, it’s also the birthplace of the new Southern rock band, Pink House.
The Oxford band And The Echo has dropped a new single that was “Made For You.” The track by the same name has been released on Spotify, iTunes and Amazon.
Sometimes music is personal. Tupelo native Maggie Houin, 20, wrote two songs this year for both her older sisters who each had a child. Her sister, Mollie Houin, was the first sibling to have a child in the Houin family. Her little girl, Tatum, inspired Houin to pen a ballad.
It didn’t take long for Andrew “Buck” Long to realize he was not like most kids from Greenwood, Mississippi. The 22-year-old musician, photographer, and video editor didn’t care much for the “country boy” lifestyle of hunting and fishing prevalent in the Mississippi Delta.
The first instrument Chandler Ladner mastered was a guitar at age 8. The piano followed. Then the saxophone. “I love challenges,” said Ladner. “It takes me to a new level and shows me new things, new attributes of music. Music is always a lesson based on the flow or rigidness of each note played. It will tell anyone a story and put them at peace at the same time. Music is life to me, and it should be to everyone. A life without music is a life wasted.”
When he isn’t fly-fishing, you’ll find Oxford musician Matthew Isonhood writing songs and playing with his band Magnolia Grove. You can hear him playing guitar and the drums on their EP.
A local band is busting out of obscurity and onto the Oxford music scene. The Busty Petites, a band that recently played multiple shows at Proud Larry’s, will give their biggest performance to date Friday, Nov. 30 when they open for CBDB, an American progressive rock band from Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Oxford has had nothing short of an incredible musical history. From the days of bluesmen, such as R. L. Burnside or Holly Springs’ Junior Kimbrough, to the punk music community of the 1990s with bands such as The Cooters.
The increasing relevance of the Oxford Music Scene cannot be denied when a Jazz band from over four hours away looks to come here for work, and a freelance artist free to go literally anywhere choses to spend time here. Perhaps the next Michael Stipe is sitting in an Ole Miss EDHE class this very moment.
Raised in St. Louis, Peyton Dixon never imaged his music hobby would become a source of income. From making music videos with friends to performing on stage at multiple events, his love for music started at age 14.
It’s a Thursday evening in Oxford. The air is warm. There’s a light breeze flowing down Van Buren Avenue as a crowd files into the tiny doorway of Off Square Books to participate in the timeless tradition of the “Thacker Mountain Live Radio Hour.”
A University of Mississippi senior has been named editor of the local music website “Auxford Wave.” Jonas Baker will lead the Oxford-based website that covers music.
Maggie Smith co-hosts the 92.1 Rebel Radio show, The Velvet Pitch. Smith began as a DJ for multiple student-run Rebel Radio shows, then ventured into hosting her own.
Brookhaven native Sam Mooney’s love for creating music began early. Over the years, his desire to write and perform songs has become a passion. His outgoing personality, determination, and talent have made his work difficult for audiences to ignore.
Rap started out as the voice of a new generation of African Americans that addressed social and economic problems. Now, a lot of rap is about wealth and having a good time.
Chauncey Taylor Oxford stories Local rapper and Ole Miss sophomore Jordan Browder (aka Blasian Junkie) has been gaining attention in Mississippi. He is a member of the Jackson-based rap group “601 Dream […]
