Awards

 

 

2005 Keeping the Blues Alive Award

Keeping the Blues Alive Award

In 2005, the Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation was honored to receive the Keeping the Blues Alive Award for Education from the Blues Foundation in Memphis, Tennessee.  Following is the Blues Foundation’s statement announcing the award.

"What began in 1959 as a meeting place for local musicians, the Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation has, since 1998, been teaching Blues history in schools, hospitals, festivals, and libraries. After the death of Piedmont Blues guitarist Archie Edwards, his barbershop became the center of his wish--to keep the stories and guitar licks alive. A foundation was created; the barbershop was given a facelift; and his longtime friends, Michel Baytop, Richard “Bones” Thomas, Napoleon Brundage, NJ Warner, Eleanor Ellis, and Miles Spicer took up Edwards’ mandate."

Senate Resolution S. 376. On November 20, 2002 the U.S. Senate passed a resolution recognizing the community services of the Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation and the importance of the blues in American culture. The resolution also designated November 29, 2002 as Blues Friday and the start of Heritage Appreciation Fortnigjht.
The resolution describes Archie Edwards as “a self-taught musician whose music was acclaimed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, who, for 40 years, provided a haven in the District of Columbia for all those who loved the blues to play, listen, and socialize.”  The Foundation was recognized for its dedication to “preserving Mr. Edwards’ memory and extending the positive influence of his music in the Washington, DC community,” and its commitment to “carrying on Mr. Edwards' legacy by maintaining an open forum for people in the community to meet, learn, and share the music he loved;” its support and expansion of “community outreach programs that provide entertainment and promote the blues to citizens in nursing homes, schools, hospitals, and other venues;” and its recognition of the “importance that the blues has played in our country’s heritage.”

African-American Heritage Trail. An important site to Washington’s rich cultural history, Archie’s Barbershop is a stop on the African-American Heritage Trail of Cultural Tourism DC.

PRESS

Saturday Jam Sessions at Northeast Barbershop Finds a New Tune, February 3, 2008, WTOPnews.com. Reporter James White describes the end of the barbershop in North East Washington and the move to HR57.

Movin' on, February 1, 2008, Washington Times.  Robyn-Denise Yourse describes the rollicking yet somehow spiritual music and interviews several of the participants at the last jam at Archie's Barbershop before the move to HR-57;  several photographs accompany the story.

Final Bow for a Musical Mecca, January 31, 2008, Washington Post.   As the Saturday jams at Archie's Barbershop were set to move to their new location at HR-57, Richard Harrington provides an affectionate look at the atmosphere, people, and music that made Archie's Barbershop the place to be on Saturday afternoons; story includes several photographs of the last jam at the Barbershop. 

Last Jam at Archie Edwards Barbershop, Friday, January 11, 2008, WAMU Metro Connection.  Stephanie Kaye spent time in the legendary home of the blues , with interviews and sounds from one of the last  one of the last Saturday afternoon jams.

Washington Post writer Marc Fisher's blog on the closing
January 2008.

Saving Archie's Barbershop, January 2007, BluesRag, Baltimore Blues Society. Larry Benicewicz provides a detailed history of the Barbershop and memories of Archie Edwards, illustrated with rare pictures of Archie as well as many in the Barbershop family.

A Barbershop of Chords but No Cuts Is Hanging On by a String, July 30, 2007, Washington Post.   Writer Marc Fisher describes his visit with his son to a Saturday jam at Archie’s Barbershop, the people he met, and the history of the shop and its uncertain future.  (Click on the pages for a PDF version of the story as it appeared in print. Page 1 and Page 2)

Singing the Blues at Archie Edwards’ Old Barbershop, July 25, 2006, Washington Post.com.  In this video by Lucas Perkins, Miles Spicer plays and reflects as he listens to N.J. Warren--a regular at the barbershop for decades and an old friend of Archie--motivating the group with his "slow-down, low-down Delta-style guitar work."