RETURN AUG. 11 FOR CONCERT AT THE SUNFLOWER RIVER GOSPEL FESTIVAL   

MEMPHIS – The Stax Music Academy’s June 2013 Music Summer Experience focused on “Soul Rockin’ Blues,’ and now the SMA Summer Soul Tour is taking 25 students on a trip through the Mississippi Delta performing at some of the region’s top venues, including Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale and the 26th annual Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival.

They will present a 4 – 5 p.m. concert in Clarksdale Friday, August 2, at Ground Zero Blues Club and return on Friday, Aug. 11, for a 8:30 p.m. performance on the downtown Melville Tillis Stage at the Sunflower River Gospel Festival.

With a send-off concert Thursday, August 1, at BB King’s Blues Club on Beale Street, they will depart for Clarksdale Friday, Aug. 2 and also visit the Delta Blues Museum.

The tour moves on to Indianola where students will perform at Club Ebony, once owned by BB King and now owned by the BB King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center.

On Sunday, DMA will perform during a special music festival at Tipitina’s in New Orleans hosted by the Tipitina Foundation, a Berklee College of Music City Music Network site.

Previous SMA Summer Soul Tours have taken place in Italy, Australia, New York’s Lincoln Center, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center and other locations.