DOWN HOME BLUES

  Some call Club Ebony a juke, most call it a club, but many call it home

  by AMY EVANS

  Club Ebony is one of the best-known venues for live blues in the state of Mississippi. Opened in 1945, this unassuming building in downtown Indianola has welcomed a laundry list of musical icons to its stage. More than sixty years later, its walls still vibrate with the sounds of the Delta's music. But could those days be coming to a close? Club Ebony is up for sale. Recently, the club's owner, Mary Shepard, announced that after more than 30 years of helping to keep the blues alive, she's ready to retire. There's often talk of the state of the blues or the state of the Delta, with folks wondering and worrying what changes might be on the horizon. But with all the fanfare surrounding Delta blues in recent years-blues trails, blues monuments, blues competitions-what about the blues community? What about Mary Shepard?

  Born in 1942, Mary Shepard grew up in Kinlock, Mississippi, just 10 miles from Indianola. A self-described tomboy, she made no bones about slopping hogs, chopping cotton, and playing basketball against the boys in the neighborhood. (She beams with pride when she talks about her one-handed shot. "If I'd get to that free-throw line and cock that ball back on my right hand," she boasts, "it was going in there.") Mary was a hard worker, too. She helped tend to the large vegetable garden and fruit orchard her parents kept, attended school, and then returned home to help make supper for the family. Every day was a twelve- or fifteen-hour day. As a result, Mary grew to know the value of hard work.

  In 1960 Mary married her high school sweetheart, Willie Shepard. Over the years they would call Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina home, during Willie's service in the Army. When Willie was called to serve in Vietnam, Mary went to work. She got a job as sales manager for the Army's portrait studio. But when Willie came home from his second tour of duty, he returned with a debilitating injury. Then, when Mary's father died, she was called back to the Delta. (Mary's birth parents died when she was a young girl, so her aunt and uncle, Gary and Sudie Webb, whom she considered her parents, reared her and her siblings.) The Shepards moved back to Indianola in 1973.

  When Mary and Willie Shepard returned to their hometown, they discovered that a neighborhood nightclub was looking for new management. Mary decided to operate the place as a way to help rehabilitate her husband. Willie liked people and he loved to play pool, so it seemed a natural fit. When the owner, Johnny Jones, decided he wanted to sell, the Shepards got a loan and bought the place. The year was 1974. Mary Shepard-the tomboy, the wife, the country girl, the sales manager-got to work. People told her that she'd never make it. "The only thing I had to do was work hard and depend on the Good Lord," Mary said in a recent conversation about her years at the club. "I always thought that if anybody wanted to do anything, if you wanted to be something, you could be it. And whether it's a man involved or whether it's just a lady. So I tell ladies that if you want to be something, you want to do something, don't let no man stop you." Mary's beliefs were challenged again when she and Willie divorced in 1986. He figured she wouldn't have the place for three months without him. "I proved him wrong," she says. "I was doing it already!"

  The work ethic that Mary developed growing up on the farm and the business savvy she acquired while working for the Army's portrait studio prepared her for a thirty-three year career as the woman behind Club Ebony. What's more, though, is that Mary Shepard was a sociology major in college. Her natural curiosity and love of people led her to begin taking college classes while her husband was in Vietnam. When they returned to Indianola, she continued taking classes at Mississippi Valley State University, but eventually her business mind took over. Mary changed her major and started taking barber and hairstyling classes in Jackson. She knew that doing hair would give her the opportunity to be independent. During the day, she commuted to class; at night, she ran the club. When she graduated, she opened a styling shop in the back of the club. For seven years she styled hair, booked musicians, fed the neighbors, and listened to the Blues. Mary closed the styling shop in the early 1980s to devote herself to the club full time.

  Mary Shepard's management style is a reflection of her background. She's democratic, generous, and a hard worker who demands respect. "I didn't believe in standing back and being boss," she says. "I work with them. Everybody learns to do the same thing-cook, sweep floors. But everyone understood that I was the boss. But my thing was that we worked together." And her employees are family-literally. Over the years her children have worked for her, and now some of her grandchildren help out from time to time. And Mary treated other employees like family, too. She hired a childhood friend, George Bailey, as a cook. Bailey no longer works at the club but comes to check on Mrs. Shepard regularly. Hattie Daniel worked at Club Ebony until she passed away. Both were not only loyal employees but also loyal friends.

  Musicians are part of the Club Ebony family, too. Mary endeared herself to the musicians early in her career at the club. Legendary Bluesman Albert King talked her into updating the interior. In fact, he practically scared her into it, saying that he wouldn't play there again unless she changed some things. So '40s era tin ceilings, mirrors, and neon lights were covered up with '70s-style wood paneling and a dropped ceiling. Last year these coverings came down, and the club is now partially restored to its original condition. Albert King continued to perform regularly at the club until his death in 1992. DJ Bob Kay knew that Mary didn't have money to hire him, so he promised he would pack the club if she would give him gas money to get home. Bob Kay was a regular DJ at Club Ebony for 20 years. Another way that Mary Shepard endeared herself to performers was through food. Food has always been served at Club Ebony. But when Mary got the place, she knew that good food would be a draw for customers, as well as performers. Little Milton was the very first well-known blues artist that Mary booked, and she knew that he had a thing for bologna sandwiches. "That's the first thing we knew he wanted," Mary remembers. "So when he was on his way [to the club], we would always buy a whole stick of bologna to make sure we had enough to serve him and his band and whoever else wanted some." Mary also committed herself to cooking soul food dinners: fried chicken, salad, vegetables, cornbread, and her favorite chocolate cake. After a while, though, she came to find that serving full dinners was too hard to manage, so she decided to just do short orders: fried fish, ribs, hamburgers, and pork chops. Still, everyone knew that there was good food to be had at Club Ebony. Blues diva Denise LaSalle loves Mary's fried catfish and will head to Club Ebony for a plate whenever she's in town, even if she's not performing. Chitlin' Circuit showman Bobby Rush loves her fried catfish, too, although Mary adds that he's not a very big eater. Local Bluesman David Lee Durham loves the burger and has one every Sunday during his evening gig with his True Blues Band, a date he's kept for the last five years. Indianola native and Soul Blues icon Willie Clayton loves a plate of smothered pork chops, rice, lima beans, candied yams, and cornbread.

  A soul food dinner actually led to the creation of the Willie Clayton Homecoming. Inspired by her long relationship with B.B. King and the importance of his annual homecoming concert, Mary began thinking about the future. She says, "I cooked for [Willie Clayton] and then I said, 'Willie, I need to talk to you. You are the next blues artist that will be in line, coming behind B. B. because the older ones is dying out. I would start a homecoming for you.' " The Willie Clayton Homecoming has been an annual event for almost 15 years.

  Along with feeding musicians, Mary Shepard also feeds her community. Neighbors stop in to grab lunch during the week or linger for Sunday dinner. She's quick to give a plate to a friend in need. Locals bring her the raccoons they've killed, knowing she's the best coon cook in town. Sometimes, when Easter rolls around, Mary hides prizes in plastic eggs, and local children scour the dark nooks and crannies of the club to find them. Friends rent Club Ebony for birthday parties and reunions. Musicians flock to the club to play events in her honor. And strangers descend on the place to experience the Delta's music. Mary treats them all the same, like family. And she works hard to make sure they'll come back.

  "I always treat my business as a home," Mary says. Club Ebony is a home, indeed. And Mary Shepard has always been there to tend to her flock. Everyone around her calls her Mama. But when she goes, part of the magic goes. There will still be friends to meet and hips to shake and music to hear, but the new owner has some very large shoes to fill. "But," she says, "Club Ebony will still be my home." Because, while she is ready to hang up her club-owning hat, Mary Shepard still loves to hear those down home blues.

  Mary Shepard is currently collaborating on a book about her life with Dr. Jennie Gunn of Delta State University, with feature writers John Gunn and Carroll Gunn. The tentative title is The Life of Mary Shepard: Queen of the Ebony Club. Look for an early edition to be available at this year's B.B. King Homecoming on June 9th. For more information on Club Ebony, call (662) 887-9915. DM