(CLARKSDALE, MS) – The hotly anticipated new blues film, “We Juke Up In Here: Mississippi’s Juke Joint Culture at the Crossroads”, (www.wejukeupinhere.com) will have its world premiere on Friday, April 13 at the Delta Cinema at 11 Third Street in Clarksdale, MS. The event is free and open to the public. The inaugural screening is being sponsored by Delta Music Experience (www.amandagresham.com). The event takes place as the kick-off to Juke Joint Festival weekend in Clarksdale (www.jukejointfestival.com).
The film’s premiere kicks off at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, April 13 with a reception and meet-and-greet with the filmmakers in the lobby of the Delta Cinema. The reception will feature refreshments and live music by several artists featured in the film, including Elmo Williams, Hezekiah Early and Robert Lee “Lil’ Poochie” Watson. The film will screen at 7 p.m. following the reception.
“We Juke Up In Here” follows music producers Roger Stolle and Jeff Konkel as they explore what remains of Mississippi’s once-thriving network of juke joints – the down-home, quasi-legal blues clubs that have served as the testing ground for blues talent in Mississippi for more than a century. “We Juke Up In Here” pulls back the curtain on the state’s contemporary juke joint culture through exciting musical performances, compelling interviews and rare on-camera experiences. The film is a joint production of Broke & Hungry Records (www.brokeandhungryrecords.com) and Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art (www.cathead.biz). The project was produced in partnership with the Associazione Roots ‘n’ Blues of Parma, Italy (www.rootsandblues.org).
“Through the years, Roger and I have spent countless nights hanging out in down-home juke joints throughout the Delta, drinking cheap beer and enjoying some of the hottest blues imaginable,” said Konkel, owner of Broke & Hungry Records. “Over time, we’ve seen some subtle and some not-so-subtle changes in Mississippi’s juke joint culture. With this project, we’ve tried to address some of those changes by going straight to the source: The juke joint owners and the musicians they hire. The end result is an insider’s look at the past, present and future of Mississippi’s juke joint tradition.”
“We Juke Up In Here” reunites Konkel and Stolle with Damien Blaylock, their co-director for the award-winning 2008 film “M For Mississippi.” Also returning from the earlier film is sound engineer Bill Abel. Rounding out the production team for “We Juke Up In Here” is co-producer Lou Bopp who provided still photography and shared cinematography duties with Blaylock.
“We Juke Up In Here” will be released as a deluxe two-disc collection in April with a DVD featuring the documentary along with exciting bonus features and a CD soundtrack with music from the film plus additional recordings by the featured artists. A full-color pullout booklet includes insightful essays by the filmmakers along with extraordinary photos of the featured musicians, juke joints and proprietors. The collection is available for pre-order at www.wejukeupinhere.com for just $25 (including worldwide shipping). In late March the set’s price will increase to $29.99 plus shipping and handling. Orders are slated to ship in the second week of April.
“We made the decision early in our planning for ‘We Juke Up In Here’ to make the collection as comprehensive as possible,” said Stolle, owner of Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art. “We want our customers to really get a feel for Mississippi’s contemporary juke joint culture, so we’ve included all kinds of extras on the DVD, including optional English closed-captioning, optional French and Italian subtitles, extended and deleted scenes, artist and filmmaker biographies, a photo gallery and more. We also compiled a scorching CD soundtrack featuring 14 performances featured in the film. It’s the next best thing to a trip to the Delta.”
In addition to generous support from the Associazione Roots ‘n’ Blues of Parma, Italy and Delta Music Experience, “We Juke Up In Here” was made possible by these additional sponsors: AJStephans Company/Jeff Rose (www.ajstephans.com), Blues For A Cause (www.bluesforacause.org), Blues Matters Magazine (www.bluesmatters.com), Cathead Vodka (www.catheadvodka.com), Il Blues Magazine (www.ilbluesmagazine.it), Jerry and Marge Konkel, Lemuria Books (www.lemuriabooks.com), Grant Mills, Nayati Dreams (www.nayatidreams.fr), The New Roxy (www.newroxyclarksdale.com), Scot Randle, Roadhouse Lou, and Smokestack Blues (www.smokestackblues.com).
### PHOTOS BY LOU BOPP (COVER DESIGN BY JOEY GRISHAM):
   
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