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NESCOPECK— Before Richard Briggs began facilitating people’s concert experiences, he recorded them. The Briggs Farm Blues Festival founder worked as a producer at local television station WVIA before leaving to focus on his festival full-time; among other duties, Briggs oversaw artist recordings in WVIA’s own concert space/studio. Briggs has used his experience to capture video at Briggs Farm, but in 2015 he took it a step further by professionally recording the sound from veteran Mississippi blues player Jimmy “Duck” Holmes’ set. On April 15, that recording will see release on CD, vinyl and digital outlets as the first offering from Briggs Farm Blues Records.
“A record label is not something I ever wanted to do,” Briggs said. “If you think about it, it’s becoming a lost technology. People have digital sound everywhere and it actually comes to the point it’s less important. It’s not that I wanted to do this for nostalgia; the live show is very much a part of that too, recording what’s happening at Briggs Farm. It’s sort of connected to that history than anything else… putting a story together.”
Briggs is aiming to connect with both audience and artist by recording for the dual-purpose of entertaining and archiving. On one hand, the July 2015 live recording of Jimmy “Duck” Holmes at Briggs Farm Blues Festival is a way to connect with festival attendees and other fans of the genre through a physical product that recreates the Briggs Farm experience. On the other, Briggs Farm Blues Records’ first release serves as a aural portrait of someone who may be the last surviving practitioner of the Bentonia guitar playing style.
“I first met him on a pilgrimage to Clarksdale, Mississippi maybe ten years ago or so,” said Briggs about his first encounter with Holmes. “I saw him play in a funky old club downtown and I never heard that sound before. He was playing by himself acoustic and it sounded like multiple players. The tuning of his guitar was bizarre; he just played on and on and on for hours and hours.”
After playing Briggs Farm in 2015, Holmes invited Briggs to Mississippi last fall to scout musicians for the 2016 festival; while there, Briggs also scouted veteran blues players for his next live release. He made plans to feature and record Mississippi’s L.C. Ulmer at the 2016 festival until Ulmer’s unexpected passing in February 2016. His only scheduled recording at this year’s festival is gospel act Alexis P. Suter and the Ministers of Sound, but as the festival draws closer he hopes to add more artists to the Live at Briggs Farm family.
When Jimmy “Duck” Holmes’ “Live at Briggs Farm” releases April 15, the first run of 500 LPs will be pressed on blue marble vinyl. According to Briggs, pressing a vinyl record was the most exciting part of the process.
“If you start collecting vinyl the sound is quite a bit different,” Briggs said. “It’s analog sound. It’s richer, it’s fuller. It’s having the art in-hand, having the item in-hand and being connected to it in some way. And the live show is very much a part of that too… I guess recording what’s happening at Briggs Farm. It’s connected to that history more than anything else and it’s putting the story together.”
The limited edition vinyl and compact disc will be available separately at briggsfarm.com or at Gallery of Sound locations. Digital copies of the release will be available from all major digital outlets. Patrons will also find copies at the 2016 Briggs Farm Blues Festival, along with live recordings for future Briggs Farm Blues Records releases and live music from a returning Jimmy “Duck” Holmes. For more information about this year’s festival and to purchase tickets, visit briggsfarm.com.