Boogie Woogie Marshall 2024 takes place September 27-29 celebrating the influences of the music that got its start in the piney woods and railroad towns of East Texas.
Scheduled are live performances by Asleep at the Wheel, Daryl Davis, Wes Jeans, Sarah Hobbs, Yogoman Burning Band with Dr. John Tennison, Dona Oxford, Deke Dickerson, and The Peterson Brothers.
Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel are appearing in Marshall as part of their “Happy Trails” farewell tour after more than 50 years together.
A long list of dedicated people worked tirelessly for years to explore the history and origin of Boogie Woogie music that led to the state of Texas officially designating Marshall “The Birthplace of Boogie Woogie” in 2010. In 2018, organizers and historians accomplished getting a Texas Historical Commission plaque erected. Written by Jack Canson based on many years of research by musicologist Dr. John Tennison, it reads:
“According to oral tradition and documented evidence, the Boogie Woogie musical genre, with its driving, iconic left-hand rhythm, originated in the area of Marshall, Harrison County, in the early 1870s. During that decade, Marshall became the headquarters of the Texas & Pacific Railway Company and a hub for railroad transportation of cotton, timber, and passengers, creating employment for recently emancipated African American laborers. Many African Americans worked in logging camps cutting trees and loading logs for locomotives to haul to sawmills, and most logging camps had a piano in the barrel house to keep the workers entertained in the camps at night.
“It was in these barrel houses of East Texas logging camps where the first Boogie Woogies were played as largely untrained piano players developed techniques to entertain working-class audiences under loud, chaotic, and often dangerous conditions. The driving left-hand bass patterns that are uniquely characteristic of Boogie Woogie piano, so highly suggestive of a steam locomotive chugging over iron rails, clearly are inspired and influenced by the sounds of the logging camp and the rail yard.
“Itinerant piano players rode the rails, often performing in exchange for free rides, and the music traveled with them, first to red-light districts of Texarkana and Shreveport, followed by Houston and New Orleans, then gradually reaching African-American neighborhoods in St. Louis, Kansas City and Chicago. Brothers George and Hersal Thomas were among the first to publish sheet music for Boogie Woogie which they said they first heard in East Texas. Boogie Woogie masters Huddle ‘Lead Belly’ Ledbetter, Floyd Dixon, and Dave Alexander (Omar Sharriff) grew up in the Marshall area. An East Texas original, Boogie Woogie may still be found in many genres of music today.”
The marker is located in the Ginocchio Historic District on North Washington Avenue within viewing distance of the historic Texas and Pacific Railway Depot.
Inside the depot is the Boogie Woogie Museum, believed to be the first permanent exhibition dedicated to the music genre.
The concerts are at Coca Cola Bottling Factory, 511 North Washington Avenue near downtown Marshall. Doors open at 5 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. Sunday. Tickets range from $25 to $125 for a weekend pass. Ages 12 and under get in free. For more information, visit boogiewoogie.org or call (903) 578-2066.