Duck Hill has always been intertwined with music culture in Mississippi. From Lucie Campbell to the Duck Hill Billies to the newest faces of the Duck Hill Mural, if you’re talking about blues in Mississippi – you have to mention Duck Hill. Duck Hill’s Little Willie Farmer and the late Danny Lancaster are the two newest faces on the mural.
The mural highlights the most famous parts of Duck Hill. On the mural are Chief Duck, the namesake of Duck Hill, those mentioned above and the Grassroots Festival, which commemorates its 20th year of celebrating grassroots blues artist.
Thursday, Farmer and Danny Lancaster’s brother, Devo Lancaster posed for a picture in front of the newly painted mural.
Lancaster was born on Halloween in 1962. At the age of 2, he was singing solos in church. According to a biography, his early influences were Shed, Curly, Leo and “Duck” Sally and it’s where he learned the blues.
“He became a part of different local bands. When he heard, Otis Redding, he knew he was supposed to do this,” Lancaster bio reads. It said that when he was 12, he would play in juke joints in Tallahatchie County, unbeknownst to his parents.
Lancaster recorded at Stax with a band in Memphis and at 15 was a part of the “Sugar Pure Blues Band.” He played with Jessie Robinson, Cadillac George, BB King and Albert King. Lancaster has even played in Sweden at a Blues Festival with Alvin Youngblood Hart and Kenny Brown.
Little Willie Farmer was born on June 2, 1956. According to his biography, at 12 he took an interested in music. His first guitar was made from a Cuban Cigar box, bailing wire and a piece of wood. His biography said that he learned that fishing wire worked better.
“Little Willie has also used his talent to help others in the community learn how to play guitar, including a local neighbor who is seeing impaired. He would like to see his music grow by teaching others how to play and
preserving his cultural heritage,” his biography states.
“The Grassroots Blues Mural project of Danny Lancaster and Little Willie Farmer is now complete. Artists Tony Davenport and George "Sky" Miles produced the artwork. The project was sponsored by the Lancaster Family and Friends of Danny Lancaster and Action Communication and Education Reform (ACER),” says Mayor Al White.
