In Celebration of its Twenty-Fifth Year
Delta Blues Museum presents:
Portraits of the Blues: the Fine Art Posters of Danny Garrett

Clarksdale, Mississippi, January 21, 2004:

Portraits of the Blues: the Fine Art Posters of Danny Garrett will open at the Delta Blues Museum on Friday, January 30, 2004. At 4:00 pm, the artist will give a presentation on his work, along with a one-time showing of the original drawing boards, many autographed by the portraits' subjects including Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Albert Collins, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. A reception will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., honoring the Delta Blues Museum on it's 25th Anniversary, with a proclamation by The Honorable Henry Espy, Mayor of Clarksdale and music by Pat Thomas and Jimbo Mathus.

The Blues cannot be traced to any one source, but a road taken by many of its legends makes its way through Clarksdale, Mississippi, where Highway 49 meets Highway 61: the Crossroads. Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, Clarksdale's Delta Blues Museum is proud to present a sampling of one of America's pre-eminent music visual artists, Danny Garrett, of Austin, Texas. His fine art posters reflect the rich diversity and raw power of our country's most original music, matched by the beauty and vitality of Danny's illustrative style.

The blues masters portrayed in this exhibit are now household names throughout America, but this was not the case when Danny first began chronicling their performances. Many might have passed on with little profit or glory had it not been for a few bastions of blues that emerged in the 1970s. One such club was Antone's, Austin's Home of the Blues, opened by Clifford Antone in the summer of 1975. It was primarily at Antone's where Danny created most of his blues portraits. The potency of Danny's pen and ink contributed significantly to the promotion and success of Antone's, where the Blue Monday Band is part of that tradition carried on to this day.

Danny Garrett was born in Dodge City, Kansas in 1945. Raised on the Texas Gulf Coast, he began his education studying finance at the University of Houston, graduating from Stephen F. Austin University in 1968 with a B.A. in History. Drafted a month later, he served his country in Viet Nam during 1969 -1970. Upon his return to a world that had changed as profoundly as he, Danny found his way to Austin, where he has lived since 1971.

Portraits of the Blues: the Fine Art Posters of Danny Garrett is made possible by generous grants from T.O. Murphy and A.J. Montrose of Austin, Texas. The reception is sponsored by the Coahoma County Division of Tourism

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Portraits of the Blues: the Fine Art Posters of Danny Garrett
Presented by the Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale, Mississippi in
Celebration of its Twenty-Fifth Year
Opening January 30, 2004

To be exhibited:

1. James Cotton Band, Aug 31 - Sep 4, 1976, Antone's 11" X 17"

2. John Lee Hooker, Sep 28 - Oct 2, 1976, Antone's 11" X 17"

3. B.B. King, Mar 31-Apr2, 1977, Antone's 11" X 17"

4. Buddy Guy - Junior Wells, June 21-25, 1977, Antone's 17 1/5" X 11 1/2"

5. Albert King, Sep 15-17, 1977, Antone's 11 1/5" X 17 1/5"

6. Bonnie Raitt - Muddy Waters, Nov 26, 1977, Austin Opry 11 1/5" X 17 1/5"

7. Bobby Blue Bland, Jan 26, 1978, Antone's 11" X 17 1/2"

8. B. B. King - Bobby Blue Bland, May 31, 1978, Antone's 17 3/8" X 23 1/8"

9. Charlie Musselwhite, Apr 11, 1980, Antone's 11" X 17"

10.Buddy Guy, Feb 9. 1980, Antone's 10 7/8" X 19 7/8"

11. Albert Collins - Albert King, Nov 4-5, 1983, Antone's 10 7/8" X 17"

12. Tradition/Blue Monday: Howlin Wolf - Muddy Waters, 1984, Antone's 10 7/8" X 17 1/ 4"

13. Antone's NINTH Anniversary, 1984: Little Walter 11 1/8" X 14 1/4"

14. Antone's TENTH Anniversary, 1985: Magic Sam 20 1/8" X 25 5/8"

15. John Lee Hooker, Jan 25-26, 1985, Antone's 8 1/5" X 11"

16. Antone's TWELFTH Anniversary, 1987: Eddie Taylor 11 1/8" X 16 3/8"

17. Antone's FOURTEENTH Anniversary, 1989: Big Walter Horton 12" X 15 1/2"

18. Into the Nineties: Snooks Eaglin, Dec 1989, Antone's 17" X 22"

19. Antone's FIFTEENTH Anniversary, 1990: Robert Johnson 17" X 22"

20. Antone's SEVENTEENTH Anniversary, 1992: Willie Dixon 11" X 17"

21. Albert Collins Tribute, Jan 16, 1994, Antone's 17" X 11"

22. Antone's TWENTY-FIRST Anniversary, 1996: Stevie Ray Vaughan 17" X 22"

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For more information contact:

Kelley Smoot
Paris, Texas Productions
Austin, Texas
Tel: 1 (512) 462 9670
kelley@dannygarrett.com
http://www.dannygarrett.com/
http://www.paristexasproductions.com/

Shelley Ritter
Delta Blues Museum
Clarksdale, Mississippi
Ph: (662) 627 6820
shelley@deltabluesmuseum.org
http://www.deltabluesmuseum.org/