King Edward, Rick Lewis with Morgan Freeman-Blessissippi

King Edward and Rick Lewis were honored and delighted to be photographed with the Legendary Morgan Freeman at Ground Zero for the Blessissippi benefit on April 28, 2012.  Morgan was the host for Blessissippi, created by the Annenberg Foundation.

Abdul Rasheed, King Edward, Rick Lewis with the Gibson Bus at Blessissippi

Hit the Road artists King Edward, Rick Lewis and Abdul Rasheed were honored to be featured on the Blessissippi benefit at Ground Zero in Clarksdale, MS.  Blessissippi, hosted by Morgan Freeman and created by the Annenberg Foundation, was designed to celebrate the cultural significance of the Blues and to benefit the America’s Delta Blues Scholarship Fund set up at Delta State University by Annenberg.  Gibson was a sponsor and King, Rick and Abdul are pictured by the Gibson bus.

Timothy Allen

Hit The Road Entertainment and Abeba have joined forces to bring live music to this premiere Ethiopian Eatery.  Abeba is a creation of Chef Molley and his staff. Genuine Ethiopian cuisine and a warm and inviting atmosphere will pair well with the music of Mississippi.  Hit the Road  artists will be performing on Friday Nights from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. This week, we open  with Timothy Allen. Tim comes to us from the United Kingdom and is a favorite at Blue Monday, the Central Mississippi Blues Society jam on Monday nights at Hal and Mal’s on Commerce Street in Jackson. Tim sings and plays traditional Mississippi Blues , as well as his own original songs. Come and join us at Abeba this Friday night and enjoy traditional Ethiopian dishes and listen to the great music provided by Timothy Allen.

Timothy Allen

Timothy Allen joins Hit The Road Entertainment. In Tim’s own words, read how he got his start as a musician.

My first musical memory was being in school in London England, listening to Hank
Marvin play his red Stratocaster in The Shadows. I knew I wanted to be a musician
and I knew I wanted to play the blues when I heard Muddy Waters sing Catfish
Blues. I started playing piano when I was 12 and guitar when I was 14. My good friend Mike Thomson (later to play with Donovan in his Open Road Band) taught me how to play the basic chords and I took it from there.
I began writing my own songs as soon as I knew how and that led to a career as
a singer/songwriter in London. I played session guitar on a couple of TV shows
and sung harmony vocals on “Morning has Broken’ by Cat Stevens (a good friend
of mine at the time) I hung out and jammed with Marc Bolan of TRex and then
formed a group called Flying Arrow with Mick Cox, a brilliant guitarist who had
toured the US with Eire Apparent opening for the Jimi Hendrix Experience (Jimi also
produced an album for them) George Martin, the Beatles producer heard my songs
and auditioned me when he was considering starting his own label, Air Records.
Eventually I released an album and a single of my own while continuing to write
songs for other people. These included Cliff Richard (the British Elvis), Rogue, The
Jack Bruce Band, who I met through another musical friend Tony Hymas (who went
on to become Jeff Beck’s pianist) and many others.
Eventually I moved to the USA and began a career in music and book publishing,
while still pursuing my music. While living in Connecticut I was a member of two
bands; Jackamo: (music from New Orleans) and Rhythm Priests: a contemporary
blues band
In 2009 I moved to Mississippi to follow my first love, the blues. Since then I’ve
played around the south from Ground Zero in Clarksdale, to Teddies’ Juke Joint
in Zachary LA and Underground 119 in Jackson, MS. I’m currently in the Jackson
area, writing songs for my publisher in London, playing as a solo guitarist and with
Melvin “House Cat” Hendrex as The Pepper Twins and Rhythm Priests II with Dr.
London Branch and Rick Lewis. We connect with all through music.

Tim currently resides in Jackson and plays in local clubs and restaurants. Tim is also a member of The Central Mississippi Blues Society.

Contact Hit The Road Entertainment for booking information.

Mark jamming at Jaco's Tacos in Jackson MS

Hit The Road Entertainment is proud to announce our management and booking affiliation with Mark Whittington.

This year, 2012, marks the 37th year that Mark Whittington has been playing music professionally. By the time he turned 18, he had already played all over his home state of Mississippi in a dance band.
During the Urban Cowboy craze, Mark toured extensively with country bands throughout the Southwest. In 1993 he met Casey Phillips, leader of the smokin’ Hattiesburg blues band, “The Hounds.” Mark then became a “Hound” for 2 years. The friendship and musical partnership with Casey continues to this day. Mark will be traveling to Hattiesburg in March to play with Casey.
After a two year stint touring the Southwest with The Allmost Brothers Band, an Allman Brothers tribute band, Mark was invited to join The Houserockers, the legendary blues band at the world famous Subway Lounge in Jackson, MS. The Houserockers and the Subway Lounge were featured in the blues documentary, “The Last of the Mississippi Jukes.”
In 2005 Mark co-wrote “Land of 1000 Dreams with good friend and Canadian guitar slinger, Shawn Kellerman for Shawn’s CD of the same name. Another Whittington composition “Counterfeit Man” showed up on Shawn’s next CD also.
Nowadays, Mark still plays gigs with The Houserockers after 14 years in the band, as well as doing solo gigs and duo gigs with old friend and playing partner, Greg “Fingers” Taylor who spent 30 years as a member of Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band. Mark and Fingers still play regularly and still draw good crowds.

Mark is a member of The Central Mississippi Blues Society. Contact Us for booking information.

Jarekus Singleton

Hit the Road Entertainment is pleased to announce the new management partnership with blues guitarist Jarekus Singleton. Jarekus, at 28 years old, is the new, young face of Mississippi Blues.  He readily impresses fans and new fans with his strong voice and up-tempo style of Blues but he can play soulful slow blues as well.  He writes a lot of the songs he performs some of which can be heard on his new CD Heartfelt.   He and his band recently performed for 3 nights at the Lowcountry Blues Bash in Charleston, South Carolina.

Dexter Allen and his band will be representing the Central Mississippi Blues Society in the band category.  Dexter has performed at the Chicago Blues Fest for 2 years and has toured internationally with Bobby Rush and Denise LaSalle to name a few.

Lonn'e George's, Pat Brown, Abdul Rasheed, London Moffett, Anthony Thomas, Rick Lewis, Josh Brown, James Evans

King Edward, Mickey Rogers, Bill Howl-N-Madd Perry, Alphonso Sanders in Bluffs & Bayous