Author Amy Greene counts Cormac McCarthy as her major influence and in her powerful debut novel, Bloodroot (Knopf), she takes McCarthy’s dark southern milieu and carves her own world of magic and mayhem. Set in Appalachia, (Greene and McCarthy share an east Tennessee background) Bloodroot Mountain is named for the plant that grows abundantly and has properties both deadly and healing. Narrated by six characters, the novel seamlessly weaves stories of multiple generations of one family from the Great Depression to present day. Greene’s novel has created quite a buzz in the literary world. She was a stay-at-home mom who wrote in her spare time. A 2007 trip with her manuscript to the Sewanee Writer’s Conference and a recommendation by author Jill McCorkle, resulted in Bloodroot selling one month after being accepted by an agent. “I was at Dollywood with my kids when Knopf called,” Greene recalls. “I wasn’t going to tell them where I was but the train came through and I had to.”

You can add Rhonda Richmond to the list of Mississippi jazz artists who blend blues, country and African rhythms to create a rootsy jazz sound (Olu Dara and Cassandra Wilson being two others). Hailing from Jackson, Mississippi, Richmond displays her powerful contralto voice and stellar piano work on her CD Oshogbo Town (Ojah). The tunes range from her original compositions to well-chosen covers of Muddy Waters, Duke Ellington and Nina Simone. Richmond’s latest CD is Rhythm and Strings (Ojah) which features Cassandra Wilson, Reginald Veal and Alvin “Youngblood” Hart.

Andy Cohen is a virtuoso finger-style guitarist who has been described as "a walking, talking folk-blues-roots music encyclopedia." He has adapted the gospel/blues technique of the late Reverend Gary Davis to an eclectic range of music. Based out of Memphis, Cohen’s CDs, all on his own Riverlark label, include, Preachin’ in the Wilderness, Grinnin in Your Face (with David Rice), Mississippi Heavy Water Blues (with Larkin Bryant) and Ridiculous Instrumentals.