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The Grammy U chapter of Delta State and the Delta Music Institute will host a student songwriter's night on Thursday, March 4 at 7:00 pm at Hey, Joe's in downtown Cleveland, MS. Writers performing on the showcase include Content Despair, Phillip Carter, Jordan Smith, Kristen Brassel, Stephen Chew, Aaron Taylor, Jeremiah Matthews, Joanna Sabine, Eric Tamboli, and Joobs. There is no charge for the show, but donations are welcomed. Proceeds benefit the DMI Grammy U chapter.

Award winning singer-songwriters George Jackson, Troy Jones and Patti Ryan will be the featured songwriters during the live broadcast of Thacker Mountain Radio as part of the Delta Music Institute (DMI) Anniversary Celebration on Saturday, March 6 at 3 p.m. in Studio A of the DMI in the historic Whitfield Building on the Delta State University campus.

In addition to the radio show, Jones and Ryan will perform a Songwriter’s Show the evening of March 6, at 7:30 p.m. in Studio A. Jones and Ryan will be joined by DMI Director Tricia Walker, who spent over 25 years in Nashville as a performer and songwriter before returning to Delta State University in 2006 to lead the DMI program.

Born in Port St. Joe, Florida, Jones worked in the cotton mills of Alabama for over 20 years before trying his hand as a songwriter in Nashville. He commutes weekly to Music City to write as a staff songwriter for Carnival Music Publishing, while maintaining his home in Alabama with his wife, three children, and a dog named Buster. Jones’ songs have been recorded by Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Joe Nichols, Billy Currington, and many more.

Jones’ most recent hits include “Shiftwork” by Kenny Chesney and the smash hit, “People Are Crazy,” by Billy Currington, which was #1 on the Billboard charts for two weeks. He also performs in the comedy stage play, “Toe Roasters,” with fellow songwriters Bryan Kennedy and Wynn Varble.

Mississippi native Patti Ryan grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, graduated from the Mississippi University for Women, then began a career in teaching while performing on the weekends in a musical group with her brothers. Ryan’s, colleague Wanda Mallette, and musician Bob Morrison co-wrote one of the most successful country hits of all time, “Lookin’ For Love,” which held the #1 chart position for three weeks and launched country singer Johnny Lee’s career in the movie Urban Cowboy. “Lookin’ For Love” was also featured in the Broadway show “Menopause, The Musical.” In addition to that standard, she wrote additional hits “Americana” for Moe Bandy, “Just Another Woman In Love” for Anne Murray, and “Out Of Your Shoes” for Lorrie Morgan. Ryan has two ASCAP Pop Awards, 15 ASCAP Country Awards, a Tony nomination, and two Grammy nominations. She moved to Nashville in 1984, where she continues to work as a songwriter. She is looking forward to the release of her upcoming book,” An Intimate Look At Songwriting.”

Born in Greenville, George Jackson started recording for Ike Turner’s record label in 1963. He journeyed to Muscle Shoals, Ala., to work at Fame Recording Studio, where he became a staff songwriter and wrote such hits as "One Bad Apple," which was #1 for five weeks on the pop charts for the Osmond Brothers in early 1971. During the mid-'80s, Jackson joined Malaco Records as a staff songwriter where he penned the classic blues song, “Down Home Blues” for Z.Z. Hill. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2000. Jackson’s most recognizable hit is “Old Time Rock And Roll,” which has been recorded countless times, most notably by rocker Bob Seger.

The Songwriter’s Show is free and open to the public.

For more information on the DMI Anniversary Celebration, please call (662) 846-4579 or visit dmi.deltastate.edu.

The Mississippi Arts Commission (MAC), Mississippi Humanities Council, SonEdna Foundation, Inc., Delta Music Institute, and Delta State University, in celebration of the “Year of the Arts” at Delta State University, will partner to host the Mississippi Writers Roundtable for literary artists on Saturday, March 6, 2010. The convening of writers will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Delta Music Institute(Whitfield Building), Delta State University, 109 Leflore Circle, Cleveland, MS.

The Mississippi Writers Roundtable will convene writers to discuss challenges and opportunities related to the discipline. Highlights include a keynote address by mystery writer Carolyn Haines, a session dedicated to planning an annual writer’s summit, and a taping of the Thacker Mountain Radio Show, Oxford, Mississippi’s original music and literature radio show.

“The Mississippi Arts Commission and our partners are pleased to have this opportunity to bring writers together to discuss new trends in the field,” said MAC Arts Industry Director, Diane Williams. “This event will be different from other writer’s workshops and conferences, because input and ideas will come from the attendees - the writers themselves. Our goal is to develop this event into an annual summit of creativity and new ideas.”

The Roundtable registration is $10 (payable at the door) and includes lunch. It is open to all artists, especially writers and songwriters. Reservations are required and the deadline is March 2, 2010. For more information or to make reservations, contact Diane Williams, Arts Industry Director at (601) 359-6529 or (601) 359-6030, dwilliams@arts.state.ms.us.

The SonEdna Foundation is a 501(c)3 organization established in 2006 by Myrna Colley-Lee to bring together writers to interact with each other, the public, and students in a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship. The Foundation builds on Mississippi’s strong literary traditions to celebrate and promote the literary arts by engaging the greater Mississippi Delta community with writers of all genres and backgrounds.

The Mississippi Humanities Council is a private nonprofit corporation funded by Congress through the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide public programs in traditional liberal arts disciplines to serve nonprofit groups in Mississippi. MHC sponsors, supports, and conducts a wide range of programs designed to promote understanding of our cultural heritage, interpret our own experience, foster critical thinking, encourage reasonable public discourse, strengthen our sense of community, and thus empower Mississippi's people with a vision for the future.

The Delta Music Institute offers a concentration of music and entertainment industry courses leading to a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies degree or a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree with an emphasis in Music Production. Whether producing their own art or the art of others, our alumni will be well prepared for the technical, business, and legal issues that confront the practicing artist today and in the future.

The Mississippi Arts Commission is a state agency, funded by the Mississippi Legislature, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Phil Hardin Foundation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi Foundation, the Mississippi Endowment for the Arts at the Community Foundation of Greater Jackson and other private sources. MAC is the official grants-making and service agency for the arts in Mississippi. The agency serves as an active supporter and promoter of arts in community life and in arts education.

Friends and students are mourning the loss of a beloved music instructor in Winona.

Patti Finley, 50, died Thursday at a Memphis hospital.

Finley, an elementary school music teacher, was with the Winona Show Choir on Feb. 2, when the group recorded "Rise Above" at the Delta Music Institute at Delta State University. The choir is comprised of students from kindergarten through 12th grade in the Winona School District. It is preparing a demo to be considered in a Kennedy Center Honors program, which will including a trip to Washington, D.C., and a visit with President Obama.

During an interview that day, Finley said she had been told to, "get my things in order." She wasn't expected to live long enough to see the completion of the project.

Friends say she denied chemotherapy in recent weeks so she could continue working with the choir.

Before Finley's death, the choir returned to DSU to record the video portion of the package that will be submitted to the Kennedy Center.

On Wednesday, she was taken to a Memphis hospital for treatment. She died there on Thursday.

Funeral arrangements were pending Friday at Oliver Funeral Home, Winona.




Patti Finley, seated in DMI Studio A, directs the Winona Show Choir during the recording of her original song, "Rise Above."

The Winona Show Choir from Winona, Mississippi, performs "Rise Above" during a recording session in Studio A at Delta Music Institute, Delta State University. The children are from the Winona Public School District. The song was written by the program director Patti Corley (DSU '82). The choir is competing for a spot as a Kennedy Center School of Distinction. If chosen, the students will visit the nation's capitol and have an opportunity to meet the President of the United States.

The Delta State University's Delta Music Institute will present Dr. Mark Snyder in a faculty recital on Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 8 p.m. in the Recital Hall of the Bologna Performing Arts Center.

Snyder will perform his own works on tuba, clarinet and accordion. All of the compositions have video, electronics and live processing and are part of his second solo album, “Messy,”which was released on January 19, 2010 by Royal Livermush Music.

Using sound and light, Snyder spins stories about his world and the people that populate it. “Malmö” is a caricature of a Swedish dock worker turned astronaut, “Copenhagen” chronicles a weekend chaperoning Baby Elvis and his fellow students for the production of the Michael Frayn play and “Harvey” details the struggle to trust and return to a normal life after the tragic loss of a young family.

Snyder joined the faculty of the Delta State’s Delta Music Institute in 2007, where he teaches courses in music software and technology, multimedia, electronic music history, film scoring and music production.

He also founded and directs the Electroacoustic Juke Joint, an annual festival of electronic art and music that attracts composers and artists from around the world to Delta State University and thegreater Cleveland community for three days each November since 2007. For more information about Snyder and his music, visithttp://www.marksnyder.org.

The Delta Music Institute is an independent center of study under the College of Arts and Sciences at Delta State University. It began with a generous donation by Fred Carl of the Viking Range Corporation in 2003. The focus of the DMI is to provide students with a broad and thorough education in the technological, creative, and business areas of the music and entertainment industry.

The recital is free and open to the public. For information, call (662) 846-4579 or visit http://dmi.deltastate.edu.

DMI's Grammy U chapter traveled to Memphis Sunday night for a viewing party to watch the 2010 Grammy Awards with other members of the Memphis Chapter of the Recording Academy. Great music, great food, a great time was had by all! The party was hosted by the Hard Rock Cafe on Beale St. Rock on!