Mr. Sipp - The Mississippi Blues Child
Malaco Music Group MCD 7547
14 songs – 66 minutes
by MARTY GUNTHER. Don’t be fooled by his boyish appearance or the Erkel glasses he and his bandmates wear on stage or the astronomical ascendance he achieved after winning the International Blues Challenge two years ago – Mr. Sipp isn’t a blues child, as the title of this album implies. He’s definitely a man among men as soon as he steps foot on stage. Born in McComb, Miss., the home of Bo Diddley, King Solomon Hill, Omar Kent Dykes and Britney Spears, Sipp was a child prodigy. He’s a powerful vocalist and songwriter who enjoyed a 20-year career in gospel before leaping into the blues, working on several Grammy-nominated projects with groups that included The Williams Brothers, the Jackson Southernaires, Rhonda Chambers, the True Believers and the Pilgrim Jubilee Singers, among others, and traveling the globe. When the Vicksburg Blues Society needed a representative for the IBCs in 2004, however, he jumped at the chance to represent them, arriving in Memphis knowing only six blues tunes upon arrival, but walking away with the title. Other honors have followed quickly as he’s established himself as one of the rising stars in soul-blues. READ MORE