Musicians Helping Each Other in Bush’s World
March 18th, 2007Editor’s Note: In Bush’s America, musicians are often some of the first members of society to fall through the corporate, capitalist cracks. Here’s a story of one of those musicians and how the Locust Fork Band and others came together to fill the cracks with a little love and music.
Fairhope musician Bert Baisden, front man for local band ‘Deep Water Blues,’ died in 2003 and unfortunately, his wife didn’t have money to bury him.
Bert and his band had been a staple of the Fairhope music scene for a couple of years, especially at the local home of the blues, the American Legion.
Deep Water Blues had a strong and loyal following. So, some of the bands supporters decided to throw a benefit concert to raise money to bury Bert. The first concert featured the cream of local blues musicians, George Eberlein, Luther Wamble, Luther Wilson (the Delta Wolf), Adam Holt, etc.
“We had a great time, raised a couple thousand dollars and Bert went to a comfortable eternal rest,” says Bill Marshall, a fellow musician and member of the Locust Fork Band. “Then we thought, ‘Hey, we had a lot of fun and raised money for a good cause. Let’s do it every year!”
So Bert’s funeral fund raiser transformed into Musicians for Music Scholarship Fund.
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