Bobby Rush Plays Grand Ole Opry; My Library of Congress Award

“Professional photographer and documentarian Karen Pulfer Focht from Memphis, Tennessee, received an Owen award to continue and expand her work documenting the legendary bluesman Bobby Rush.” The Library of Congress American Folklife Center
https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2023/07/afc-fellowship-and-award-recipients-2023/?loclr=eaftb

So, with the support of the Library of Congress, I continue to document the rising star of 92-year-old, Grammy award-winning bluesman Bobby Rush as he makes his debut at the Grand Ole Opry. Thank you so much! Karen Pulfer Focht

Three-time Grammy Award-winning blues legend Bobby Rush,91, made his debut at the Grand Ole Opry on SaturdayAugust 2, 2025.

This year marks the Opry’s 100th Anniversary. He performed with guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd with whom he recently recorded.

Rush, who lives in Mississippi, is one of the last 20th-century bluesmen. But his taste in music is not exclusive. He said he has always loved country music, especially by contemporary Willie Nelson.

He said he was so honored to be invited to perform on the same stage that Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton and other greats have performed.

At one point in his life, it seemed unobtainable.

There was a time when Rush was hired to play for an all-white audience outside of Chicago. He and his band had to play behind a curtain. “They wanted to hear our music but didn’t want to see our faces.” That hurt him deeply inside.

They got paid with chitlins and cheeseburgers. Rush sold his to make the extra money.

For decades the popular entertainer reigned over the “Chitlin’ Circuit,” a network of Black nightclubs that hosted Black entertainers and audiences. That legacy earned him the nickname King of the Chitlin’ Circuit.

He has been recording 72 years and has sold many of his more than 300 records out of his car trunk at shows and festivals.

“I never thought I’d play here, this is success to me,” he says, nibbling on some popcorn and sipping some lemonade backstage at the Opry.

In the time between the sound check and showtime, Rush goes into the dressing room he shares with Shepherd and Shepherds six children. Pictures of famous country artists adorn the walls. Quotes from the stars are written above and to the side of the many photographs.

A very relaxed Rush, dressed in his slick showbiz attire, grabs a quick power nap in a chair as the kids bang on the piano, run, and play. A few minutes before he and Shepherd are called onto the stage, Rush pops up and opens his eyes. He follows the stage director backstage, waiting in the wings to go out and perform.

He dances on stage, making jokes, playing his harmonica, and having a musical conversation with Shepherd on guitar. He gets the crowd singing with him, and he brings them to their feet. They give him a standing ovation; he soaks in the moment.

“Now I feel in my heart that I am successful because I played the Opry House.”

Bobby Rush, whose real name is Emmett Ellis Jr., says his life has been filled with much grace and mercy. “I have lived long enough to see the changes in people’s hearts and minds” and for that he is very grateful.

 BY KAREN PULFER FOCHT ©2025

For previous coverage:

https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/tag/Bluesman+Bobby+Rush

For some Videos I have shot on Bobby:

https://youtu.be/nHPJOK143M4 (Southern Folklore Festival)

https://youtu.be/ppMIN4yeBGA (At the Levitt Shell in Memphis)

https://youtu.be/NGFGe5F3L9o (Bobby Rush plays at funeral for Pinetop Perkins)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to81fyxzPm8 (At the Blues Foundation in Memphis)

Bobby Rush was at the Memphis funeral procession for B.B. King in 2015. He also performed in Handy Park that day. https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/2015/5/27/bb-king-funeral-procession-beale-street

Previous article I worked on :

https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/bobbyrushchitlincircut

https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/bobbyrushwinsgrammy

Memphis Zoo Babies Featured in Choose 901

Memphis Zoo Babies Featured in Choose 901

MEMPHIS? WHY MEMPHIS???

LINK TO STORY HERE: https://choose901.com/memphis-zoo-babies/

Above is the link to the feature about Memphis Zoo Babies for Choose 901- Read all about why I chose “The 901”- Memphis, to live, work, and raise my family, and why I still call it home. I talk about what it was like to work at one of the best photojournalism papers in America and how I fell in love with the Memphis Zoo.

Also, NOVEL Memphis bookstore is now carrying Memphis Zoo Babies as well as the Memphis Zoo Gift Shop or you can still purchase it online here on my website. You are also welcome to just email me to purchase the book directly.

Memphis Zoo Babies Debut Children's Book

Saturday May 10, 2025 Karen is signing her debut children’s book at the Memphis Zoo 11-4pm!

Just in time for Mother’s Day!

When Karen came to Memphis to work for The Commercial Appeal in 1988, one of her favorite photo beats was the Memphis Zoo. She has a love for animals, and she and her three children spent many hours visiting. Working closely with the zoo, Karen photographed the stories of many animals, zookeepers, and the zoo vets. Her ongoing favorite, though, was photographing the zoo’s babies. Her photo of a nuzzling mother and baby giraffe have been going viral for over a decade and have become one of her most popular photos. Karen’s photos have showcased the Memphis Zoo in publications worldwide. She has put together a collection of her photos that highlight the zoo’s mothers and babies in a new children’s book, Memphis Zoo Babies, available in the Memphis Zoo Gift Shop. Proceeds will benefit the zoo. The gift shop also sells her cards and photographs.

For an online purchase you can buy direct on Karen’s website @ https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/store/memphis-zoo-babies

Historic Clayborn Temple Burns

We had a tragedy this week in Memphis when Clayborn Temple burned down. I covered the fire for Associated Press.

The historic Clayborn Temple, a landmark from the civil rights movement with ties to Martin Luther King, caught fire Monday, April 28, 2025, in Memphis, Tennessee.

As a photojournalist in Memphis, I have had to cover many painful things over the years. There is nothing like hearing the wailing and mournful cries of people in pain at a news scene. It stays with you forever. It can be hard to pick up my camera and document it. But I do. As I explained to someone this week, just as important as showing the burning building, as a storyteller, I need to show that this isn’t just a building; this building meant something to people. Sharing and showing the grief and pain of the people who came to the scene helps people see how important and sacred this place is.

Sadyya Rockett-Miller and her husband Andre LeMoyne Miller prayed their way through their grief and anger outside of the historic Clayborn Temple on Monday. Andre is asking God to help him and give him some peace. Miller’s grandfather had a connection to the Civil Rights Movement and Clayborn Temple. His anger was raging.

The neighborhood folks worshiping at Clayborn Temple over the years.

Carolyn Michael-Banks, founder of A Tour of Possibilities in Memphis, Tn. gives black history-focused tours. I did a story about her and her tours in Memphis Magazine last fall. Clayborn Temple and its history is a highlight of the tour. She reached out to me after the fire and said “ This incident has made me more committed to what I do. If you know the history, fire can’t destroy it. “

https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/2024/11/1/a-tour-of-possibilities

The Clayborn Temple has been under renovation for a few years. For more information https://clayborn.org/

CBS NEWS did a nice job covering the story. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tennessee-church-fire-mlk-civil-rights/

Gayle Rose wrote a beautiful column for The Institute For Public Service Reporting about it also. https://www.psrmemphis.org/fire-consumed-clayborn-temple-but-it-cant-destroy-the-dream/

CHASING BUTTERFLIES

CHASING BUTTERFLIES

CHASING BUTTERFLIES

Every year Memphis attracts thousands of visitors looking for good hosts. They need a safe place to rest and a little sweet treat to fuel their journey.

Memphis is known for its hospitality and why should this be any different?

Monarch butterflies, the beautiful, perhaps taken for granted orange-and- black winged insects, are looking for places to stay.

Monarchs are facing extinction.  The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed listing monarchs as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act in December of 2024. A year earlier the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified the migratory monarchs as vulnerable.

We can help!

By offering up a little space with just a milkweed plant or two, or creating an entire garden targeted at pollinators, we can become excellent hosts. As they pass through, monarchs search for milkweed to lay their eggs and sweet nectar plants to eat.

Milkweed is the only plant the monarch will lay eggs on.  You can watch for the eggs on the leaves of your plant.  The tiny, hungry caterpillars that hatch will munch an entire milkweed leaf in five minutes.

The eastern population of monarchs are long distance migrators, the tiny insects traveling thousands of miles each year.  They spend their winter in central Mexico, they head back to the United States in February or early March when they will reach the Gulf Coast. This multi-generational migration will take them all the way north where they may go as far as the border of Canada before turning around and heading all the way back to Mexico again for the winter.

Migrating monarchs can live up to nine months, but non-migrating monarchs just live a few weeks.

Jill Maybry with the Memphis Botanic Garden, has been chasing butterflies while growing milkweeds and providing food for wild monarch butterflies for over twenty years. She raises wild monarchs in protective butterfly nets and releases them once they emerge.

Jill has experience with which milkweed to plant for the best success. She likes common milkweed, (Asclepias syriaca ) and showy milkweed, (Asclepias speciosa) saying these are the most-preferred perennial milkweeds by the monarchs and that they grow well in Memphis.  But she warns “be aware that these may be a little untidy looking for formal gardens. These plants are earlier to emerge in spring from winter dormancy than many other milkweeds, so they are often the only milkweed that migrating monarchs can find when they pass through the Memphis area in spring. The monarch butterflies eagerly lay their eggs on the emerging foliage of these plants. These milkweeds can be planted in either fall or spring.”

Sydney Calderon from Lichterman Nature Center agrees that native milkweed species will always be the best. “Monarch caterpillars eat exclusively milkweed, so having those plants is vital.” Lichterman has a native plant sale April 11 and 12 where they will have several native milkweeds and butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa).  Sydney says “"Tropical" or non-native milkweed varieties you'll find at major retailers are not recommended because they do not go dormant like the natives do, which could interrupt the butterflies' life cycle. To support monarchs further, planting flowering native plants that bloom later in the summer is important to provide food for the emerging butterflies. They're not picky in their adult form, so any (preferably native) showy flowers will do!”

Bart Jones who helps count locally for North American Butterfly Association says monarchs tend to fly quite high in the sky for large parts of the day and only come to the ground to feed when abundant wildflowers are spotted or they've run out of energy or roost overnight.

In the spring, as they first migrate north, they might enjoy Phlox and Blue Star and on their southern fall migration something like Blazing Stars and Goldenrod will attract them.

The primary threats to our fragile monarch friends are habitat loss as we pave over farmland to make room for more suburban and urban growth, millions of acres of milkweed have disappeared from our landscape. There has also been an increase in pesticide exposure, storms and extreme weather. 

For decades, their populations have been declining.

The Xerces Society reports that the eastern population has declined by more than 80% since the 1980s.

There are still many unanswered questions and so much to learn about the butterflies.  Here are a few of the many resources to learn about how to help the mighty little monarchs and learn how to become citizen scientists or at least, to be good hosts as they pass through Memphis and the Mid-South.

To get more involved or if you prefer to purchase plants online, try the Milkweed Market at Monarch Watch at https://www.monarchwatch.org/ or go to Xerces Society @ https://www.xerces.org/ for Monarch Conservation News, or the North American Butterfly Association https://naba.org/ to become part of the community science effort to track and conserve monarch butterflies.

By Karen Pulfer Focht ©2025

This article recently ran in Memphis Magazine

https://memphismagazine.com/features/chasing-butterflies/

FOLK ALLIANCE INTERNATIONAL 2025 MONTREAL, CANADA

HERE IS THE LINK: Sampler video : YouTube Folk Alliance

By Michael Sangiacomo

MONTREAL, QUEBEC—Anyone who believes folk music is a male-dominated profession has never attended the Folk Alliance International Conference where women dominated the five-day festival that ended Sunday, as they have for years. 

When singers like Marcella Simien of Memphis pulled out her antique squeeze box and started to sing, there was no question that she was in charge.

The 37th conference, that was held for several years in Memphis, was held at Le Centre Sheraton Montreal in a city still digging out from a blizzard five days earlier that dumped more than two feet of snow. The more than 2,400 music fans from around the world didn’t mind so much, it just meant that they stayed inside and hit intimate concerts by more than 1,000 performers playing almost 13 hours a day in more than 100 spaces as large as a theater or as small as a hotel room. How intimate? Some 2 a.m. shows were performed for two or three people.

On a larger stage, Simien performed a show that defied convention and labeling, though she called it “Psychedelic swamp soul.” She is a well-known music and arts figure in Memphis and daughter of two-time Grammy award winning zydeco artist Terrance Simien. She sometimes performs with her dad in the Zydeco Experience. 

She believes the spirit of her great-grandmother influences her life and decisions.

“She came to me in a dream,” she said. “I never met her, but was told all the stories of how she married at age 15 and had 15 children. They lived off the land in rural Louisiana. We are a part of a generation of survivors.” 

     She said Memphis has been very good to her. 

Her new CD, with the too-long title of “To Bend To The Will Of A Dream That’s Being Fulfilled,” was just released.

Performing with Simien at Folk Alliance was the enigmatic singer-dancer-actress-violinist Anne Harris of Yellow Springs, Ohio,  a product of a Creole background. She spent nine years touring with Otis Taylor. Her exotic performances, which include dance, are captivating. Her new cd release “I Feel It Once Again,” comes out on May 9.

Those were only two of the hundreds of performers hoping to impress the many club promoters, festival organizers, disc jockeys, agents and music critics that this event is designed for.

The pace is exhausting. There are practical classes in the morning, teaching artists how to find their own voice, hire lawyers and track their taxes as well as interviews with performers and newsmakers.

Attendees count on word of mouth to choose which shows to attend. Walking down a crowded hallway, they hear snippets of songs coming from the hotel rooms turned mini-studios which draw them inside. Artists and promoters often offer snacks and drinks to lure people in for a song or two.

Hands-down one of the superheroes of the week was Crys Matthews, a powerful singer-songwriter from Nashville, whose three songs at a late night showcase stunned a standing room only crowd into silence — followed by massive applause.

She was on a late night bill with Dar Williams and The Nields, who also killed. Matthews held her own with those two powerhouse performers, which is no simple feat.

Seek out her quiet protest song, “My Kind of Christianity.” That’s how it’s done. 

And lest people think there were no quality male performers there, there were many. Festival veteran Steve Poltz of Nashville performed before a packed house in one of the larger theaters and was a huge hit. He read lyrics scrawled on paper that he wrote the night before about a conversation with Jesus. Many other artists like Dan Navarro, John Muirhead and David Myles brought up the testosterone level.

The next Folk Alliance Conference will be in a much warmer city, New Orleans, Jan. 21-25, 2026. Many people in Montreal fondly remembered when it was held in Memphis. For information on how to attend, go to folk.org.

Link to the story in Memphis Flyer below-

https://www.memphisflyer.com/the-folk-alliance-international-conference-from-memphis-to-montreal

Links to prior years-

https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/2020-folk-alliance-conference?rq=folk%20alliance

https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/-31st-folk-alliance-international?rq=folk%20alliance

https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/2023/2/4/folk-alliance-international-conference-2023-highlights?rq=folk%20alliance

https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/folkallianceinternational2018?rq=folk%20alliance

https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/folkalliance?rq=folk%20alliance

https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/folkallianceinternational2017?rq=folk%20alliance

https://www.karenpulferfocht.com/blog/2022/5/22/folk-alliance-international-conference-2022?rq=folk%20alliance

The Magic of Christmas Then and Now

For more than two decades, people have been enjoying a picture, a fleeting moment

that I captured one day, by chance, at Wolfchase Galleria on December 23 rd , 2002 in

Memphis, Tennessee.

I worked the early morning shift for the newspaper, and it was a typical morning chasing

the news. I heard on the police scanner that an armored truck had been robbed. It was

a couple of days before Christmas.

The world was slowing down, the holiday was approaching.

At a time like this in the news business, the team works like squirrels, gathering what we

call “evergreen” stories, stories that can run in the paper any time, with no news peg, no

deadline, or urgency. That way people could work ahead, and we could staff the

newsroom, which was staffed 365 days a year, with a minimal crew.

I got my photo of the robbery scene before many of the staff even came into

work at the paper for the day. I was waiting for the press conference to start to get the

details of what had happened. While waiting for that, I went over to see what was

happening with Santa at the mall.

I was always eager to photograph Santa and the children. I have always loved to

photograph kids, dogs, and the elderly.

The photo editors made it clear that they had had enough of Santa for this season—no

more Santa photos. But I couldn’t resist. Even if it would not get published, I wanted to

make photographs of kids with Santa.

As a professional photographer, you spend a lot of time photographing what other

people want. It is important to never lose your own voice. It is important to always

continue to shoot that which brings you joy too!

I patiently hung back with a long telephoto lens, watched, waited and shot sweet

children eager to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas.

I felt sure I had some cute photos. I tried to make a hard sell to the photo desk, but they

were not having it. We really don’t need any more Santa photos this season Karen, they

said.

When I came into the paper to turn out my day’s work, I had what I considered a

magical frame. The frame appeared to have a little girl and Santa sharing a very special

Christmas moment. I had to make a case to get it into the paper. I remember Otis

Sanford, one of the top editors, pushed to run it. He loved it. It ran on page one!

The next day, Christmas Eve, I got such an amazing response from our

readers! People just loved the photo. They wrote in and called. So many people were

touched by the photograph. One man wrote a letter to the editor saying it brought tears

to his eyes.

There was just something magical and heartwarming about this photograph.

As a photojournalist, I have always said, that touching the reader in a way that influences

them, and makes them write or call, laugh or cry, or even better rise into action, has

always meant more to me than any award ever could.

At the time, people cut the photo out of the paper, and many bring it out year after year

at Christmas. When I am long gone, this photo will be one of the photos that I am

going to be remembered by.

I wanted to let the family know how much this photo meant to the community. I wrote to

them more than once but never heard back. People asked if I could do a follow up with

the young girl, but I was never able to make contact.

Now more than 20 years later, with the help of social media, I found Affiong Enyenihi.

She was only a couple of miles from where I took the photograph and living in an

apartment with friends.

So, what ever happened to Affiong?

Affiong Enyenihi was born to Nigerian parents. She was brought up in Collierville. Her

father is a doctor, and her mother worked with children. They are very private people.

Affiong has her master’s degree, she loves history and is teaching in an inner-city

school here in Memphis. She left the area for a while but came back. She loves working

with the students but it is challenging.

“I want to try and make their lives better. Try to give the children opportunities and show

them what there is out there for them. There is a huge gap to close,” she says. She is

thinking now about getting her doctorate.

For her entire life, Affiong has lived in two worlds. Her American world and her Nigerian

world.

“It is hard being looked at differently “she explained. While a child, she did not want to

stand out by bringing unique food to school and she wanted an American name,

perhaps Rachel. Like most teenagers going to school at Houston High, she wanted to

be like everyone else. She was shy. She always enjoyed children; she was a camp

counselor at St. Columba, a popular summer camp in Memphis.

She was also born into a wonderful Nigerian community here. Her parents have a

church community, and they share birthdays, anniversaries and other social events with

the Nigerians in the area. They love the American South.

“Nigerians like to share their culture” she said. But she still felt awkward when, as a kid,

she brought her friends along and they didn’t want to eat any of the food, and they

wanted to go home.

When you are young, you know that people are not living the same culture as you. She

remembers not wanting to be different, but she also appreciated her culture, and she’d

never want to leave it behind. “Not everyone gets to have two cultures” she said.

“I think I’ve always just wanted to be my parents’ daughter more than anything else.”

She will continue to enjoy dual cultures and stay close to her parents.

“The way my mom raised me was to find similarities with other people, even if people do

things differently, you can always find something in common.”

What a beautiful thought for this holiday season.

As for how they spend Christmas, “In Nigeria, the way we celebrate Christmas is

different, we go to church on Christmas Day, we celebrate with friends, we eat different

things, decorate and throw a party. We do celebrate Christmas; we have Father

Christmas. I think Christmas can be magical even without a celebration of Santa. “

When she was a kid, her neighbor had kept a newspaper clipping of my photo of her

with Santa. She knew the photo existed. But she really had no idea what it meant to

anyone else. Her mother has photos of her all over the house, but none with Santa.

That day at the mall, she was just a kid who wanted to see Santa. And she was

delighted, that her mom said yes, and I was lucky enough to capture that magical,

fleeting moment in time that reminded so many of the magic of Christmas.

By Karen Pulfer Focht ©2024