Please give Ben Payton a warm welcome to Music Maker! Payton, of Jackson, Mississippi, is an acoustic blues artist with strong roots in the Delta. As a teenager in the 1960s his family moved to Chicago, and he took advantage of the city’s vibrant blues scene, playing with artists such as Bobby Rush. He put down his guitar in the 1970s to focus on family, but was back at it by the 1990s, and returned to his home state of Mississippi to study the greats like Robert Johnson and Charley Patton.

His great passion for blues history and teaching others about acoustic country blues makes him a perfect addition to the Music Maker Stage. Peyton was recently honored to represent his home state of Mississippi in Washington DC for the American Folklife Center’s Homegrown Concert Series presented by the Library of Congress.

Listen to this track we recorded with Ben last week!

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