The National Blues Museum has announced the first scholarships to be issued from Honeyboy Edwards Fund for the Blues within the National Blues Museum.
These scholarships have been awarded to the Pinetop Perkins Foundation, based in Clarksdale, MS and will be formally presented by the fund founders on April 15th during the Delta Music Experience Gospel Brunch at Ground Zero Blues Club at Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale 2012.
David Honeyboy Edwards, the “Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen” passed away on Monday, August 29, 2011.
The fund has been created by founders Michael Frank, Mr. Edward’s manager and music partner and CEO of Earwig Music Company, Inc., and long time friends of Mr. Edwards, Barbara Hammerman, CEO Hammerman Philanthropic Partners, Amanda Gresham, CEO of Delta Music Experience, and Lynn Orman Weiss, CEO of Orman Music and Media Group.
The purpose of the fund is to acknowledge the contributions of Mr. Edwards and other elders of the blues such as Robert Lockwood, Homesick James, Henry Townsend, Pinetop Perkins, Willie Big Eyes Smith and Hubert Sumlin. This will be done through providing scholarships to blues workshops, internships, camps and other events teaching blues history, musicianship, and the business of sustaining a career in the blues business.
Ms. Hammerman explains that the National Blues Museum was selected to house the Honeyboy Edwards for the Blues due to the museum’s dedication to being education driven and providing educational opportunities through field trips, workshops and museum exhibits and activities.
The Pinetop Perkins Foundation was selected to be the recipient of the 2012 scholarships to be used to underwrite the participation of two young people attending the Master Class Workshop June 12-15, in Clarksdale, MS. The primary mission of The Pinetop Perkins Foundation is to provide encouragement and support for youth and young people at the beginning of their musical career; and help provide care and safety for elderly musicians at the twilight of their career.
