All results / Stories / Micah Smith

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Highway 80 Fest Stops In Jackson

Richelle Putnam works to promote the power of words in her home state, whether it's as the founder of the Mississippi Writers Guild or as the arts project director for The Montgomery Institute, a Meridian-based nonprofit that works to enhance education and development from western Alabama to eastern Mississippi.

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‘Avenue Q’: Puppets with Purpose

A puzzled puppet bounces down a New York City street—one that isn't quite up to the "Sesame" code. His name is Princeton, and he's looking for his purpose, though a job would be a good start.

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K. Gautier: Passion Prevails

While singer-songwriter Kody Gautier is somewhat new to the metro-area music scene as a solo artist, he'll undoubtedly be a familiar face for fans of Jackson-based Christian act Seeker & Servant.

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Candlebox

The Jackson Free Press recently spoke with lead vocalist Kevin Martin about Candlebox's sixth studio album, "Disappearing in Airports," which hit stores April 22, and what's kept the group from pulling its own disappearing act.

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Education and Lessons from the Game of ‘Life’

Ask just about anyone, and they'll agree: Education is in a bizarre place. In most cases, though, the person you ask will follow up their answer with something about the federal or state government, or they'll say something about Jackson Public Schools, even if they truthfully don't know much or don't have much skin in the game.

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SOUL Searching

New Orleans' rich musical history has long been one of the signature facets of the Crescent City and a big draw for tourists. But for saxophonist Calvin Johnson, bandleader of funk and soul outfit Chapter:SOUL, that legacy is also an important part of his family heritage.

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Oren Renick

Author Oren Renick, a professor at Texas State University in San Marcos, is an exhibitor at this year's Mississippi Book Festival, which takes place Saturday, Aug. 20, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Mississippi State Capitol.

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Jackson R&B Fest: Bringing It to You

While working as a music program development manager for the Mississippi Development Authority, helping to create the Mississippi Blues Trail, Jackson native Alex Thomas noticed an unfortunate trend in his home state's music tourism.

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Brandon Announces 8,000-Plus Capacity Amphitheater

A major addition to the Jackson metro’s music offerings is coming in spring 2018, but this time, it won’t be in Jackson. The City of Brandon held a press conference Tuesday, Aug. 16, at the Brandon Municipal Complex, announcing details about the Brandon Amphitheater at The Quarry, which will be located across the street from a new sports facility and seat between 8,000 and 8,500 people.

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Indigo Girls: Lost Days, Found

For nearly three decades, folk musicians Emily Saliers and Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls have been near-household names for their work in the music industry and in activism.

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Mike Tramp

From the flag-clad troubadour on its posters, to its rock-heavy lineup, to the title of the event itself, Freedompalooza is clearly going all in on its all-American theme. However, that doesn't mean that everyone performing for the event will actually be American.

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A Two-Soul ‘Soliloquy’

As objects, clouds and crayons aren't exactly an obvious combination—a few miles do separate the two, after all. For Jackson music duo Clouds & Crayons, on the other hand, collaborating just made sense.

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Grace Askew: A New Warpath

The Americana realm will be well represented in this year's Stray At Home Art & Music Festival on May 13. The music lineup features nationally known singer-songwriters Marc Scibilia, Joe Pug and Zach Williams of the Lone Bellow, as well as local bluegrass band the Delta Mountain Boys.

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Flywalker’s Next Steps

The track, "ctrlaltdelete.", is just the latest of many that Jackson producer Darrin Givens, known to fans as Flywalker, has put out on online music communities such as SoundCloud. It is primed for an up-and-coming rapper to record over it, and that's kind of the idea.

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Lizz Winstead

When writer, producer and comedian Lizz Winstead visited Jackson in 2015, she wasn't in town for a stand-up show or filming a segment for "The Daily Show," which she co-created, or working on any of the other media projects that she's been involved with over the years.

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Health and Tech Go Hand in Hand

There aren't a lot of life lessons to gain from the 1998 teen horror flick "The Faculty." But when Elijah Wood's character says, "I don't think a person should run unless he's being chased," well, that's a message that just makes sense to me.

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Ribs, Rubs & Rock ‘N’ Roll

As the members of Jackson alternative-country band Young Valley put the final touches on their upcoming sophomore album about three months ago, they began brainstorming how to raise funds to distribute and promote the release.

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The Bacon Brothers

When someone discovers that a film star also plays music, it can instantly become little more than trivia. For longtime fans all over the world, though, the Bacon Brothers are a different story.

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A Jumping Point for Jazz

Jackson musician Raphael Semmes and the management at Hal & Mal's launched their weekly jazz offering, "Dinner, Drinks & Jazz with Raphael Semmes," in May and planned to keep it running each Tuesday of last month.

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Sounds from the Empty House

For many years, musicians Judson Wright and Nigel Cole were friends and ran in the same circles, but they didn't make music together—at least, not outside of the school band.