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Lew Jetton (born 1959 in Humboldt, Tennessee, United States) is an American blues guitarist and singer, who also spent many years as a meteorologist and local television personality. He was born in Humboldt and raised near Trenton, Tennessee.
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Lew Jetton (born 1959 in Humboldt, Tennessee, United States) is an American blues guitarist and singer, who also spent many years as a meteorologist and local television personality. He was born in Humboldt and raised near Trenton, Tennessee.
After graduation from college at Middle Tennessee State University in 1981, he worked in radio at WIRJ (AM)/WZDQ-FM in Humboldt, Tennessee from 1982 to 1983, moving to television as a weathercaster/news reporter at WBBJ-TV in Jackson, Tennessee. He also spent a short stint as a sports anchor at WBBJ, before moving to WPSD-TV in Paducah, Kentucky in 1989 as weekend news anchor/meteorologist. [1] Jetton is a second cousin of the late Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Nat Caldwell of the Nashville Tennessean. Jetton left local television in 2007 to concentrate on music.
In 1994, while still working in local TV, he began playing guitar with the blues band, 61 South, based in Paducah, Kentucky, which featured, among others, Col. J.D. Wilkes, of Th' Legendary Shack Shakers and The Dirt Daubers. Upon the departure of "Fast" Layne Hendrickson, the lead singer of the band, Jetton was recruited to become the frontman of the band, while mentored by his friend Snooky Pryor in nearby Ullin, Illinois.
Working and touring as a regional band in the Midwest and Mid-South, Lew Jetton & 61 South shared billings with blues musicians including Luther Allison, Mike Zito, Koko Taylor, Little Milton, Chuck Berry, and Lil' Ed and The Blues Imperials. Lew Jetton & 61 South has released four albums: State Line Blues (2000), Tales From A 2 Lane (2006), Rain (2016) and Palestine Blues (2017). State Line Blues was the fourth best Independent Blues Release in the United States by Real Blues Magazine.[ citation needed ]Tales From A 2 Lane was selected as the Blues Album of the Year by the Kentucky Blues Society, a "Pick to Click" by XM Satellite Radio Bluesville (Channel 74), which kept Jetton originals "Waffle House Woman" and "I Been Cheated" on their hot playlist throughout most of 2006. Tales From A 2 Lane was also selected one of the top Independent Blues Releases by Real Blues Magazine.
In 2007, the band re-released 2000's State Line Blues, which was also picked up as a "Pick to Click" on XM's Bluesville, with "Gettin' Colder," "State Line Blues" and "Homegrown Tomato" receiving the most airplay. [2]
In 2016, Jetton signed with Coffee Street Records, a small label based in Kentucky and began work on his third album. The result of which was Rain, the first new music from Jetton in 10 years. Rain debuted on Roots Music Report's Contemporary Blues Album chart at number 15 in the world only two weeks after its release.
Lew Jetton & 61 South continue playing festivals and clubs and touring extensively in the Midwest, Mid-South and occasionally venturing to other regions.
Interstate 24 (I-24) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. It runs diagonally from I-57, 10 miles (16 km) south of Marion, Illinois, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, at I-75. It travels through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia. As an even-numbered Interstate, it is signed as an east–west route, though the route follows a more southeast–northwest routing, passing through Nashville, Tennessee. The numbering deviates from the standard Interstate Highway System grid, lying further north than its number would indicate west of Nashville. The short segment within Georgia bears the unsigned designation State Route 409 (SR 409).
Paducah is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located in the Southeastern United States at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Missouri, to the northwest and Nashville, Tennessee, to the southeast. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,137, up from 25,024 in 2010. Twenty blocks of the city's downtown have been designated as a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Trenton is the county seat and fourth largest city of Gibson County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 4,240.
Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located 70 miles (110 km) east of Memphis, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population was 68,205 as of the 2020 United States census. Jackson is the primary city of the Jackson, Tennessee metropolitan area, which is included in the Jackson-Humboldt, Tennessee combined statistical area. Jackson is Madison County's largest city, and the second-largest city in West Tennessee after Memphis. It is home to the Tennessee Supreme Court's courthouse for West Tennessee, as Jackson was the major city in the west when the court was established in 1834.
The Music of Kentucky is heavily centered on Appalachian folk music and its descendants, especially in eastern Kentucky. Bluegrass music is of particular regional importance; Bill Monroe, "the father of bluegrass music", was born in the Ohio County community of Rosine, and he named his band, the Blue Grass Boys, after the bluegrass state, i.e., Kentucky. Travis picking, the influential guitar style, is named after Merle Travis, born and raised in Muhlenberg County. Kentucky is home to the Country Music Highway, which extends from Portsmouth, Ohio, to the Virginia border in Pike County.
U.S. Route 45 is a major north-south United States highway and a border-to-border route, from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. A sign at the highway's northern terminus notes the total distance as 1,297 miles (2,087 km).
The Jackson Purchase, also known as the Purchase Region or simply the Purchase, is a region in the U.S. state of Kentucky bounded by the Mississippi River to the west, the Ohio River to the north, and the Tennessee River to the east.
U.S. Route 79 is a United States highway in the Southern United States. The route is officially considered and labeled as a north–south highway, but its path is actually more of a diagonal northeast–southwest highway. The highway's northern/eastern terminus is in Russellville, Kentucky, at an intersection with U.S. Route 68 and KY 80. Its southern/western terminus is in Round Rock, Texas, at an interchange with Interstate 35, ten miles (16 km) north of Austin. US 79, US 68, and Interstate 24/US 62 are the primary east–west access points for the Land Between the Lakes recreation area straddling the Kentucky/Tennessee border.
The Legendary Shack Shakers are an American rock band from Murray, Kentucky that was formed in 1995 by J.D. Wilkes. The original line-up formed the band out of a shared interest in rockabilly, blues and Western swing. Subsequently, the band gained prominence in the alternative country scene with a sound that encompassed rockabilly, blues, country and punk rock and a lyrical focus on Southern Gothic themes. Over time, the band's sound shifted to emphasize country music.
Free-form, or free-form radio, is a radio station programming format in which the disc jockey is given wide or total control over what music to play, regardless of music genre or commercial interests. Freeform radio stands in contrast to most commercial radio stations, in which DJs have little or no influence over programming structure or playlists. In the United States, freeform DJs are still bound by Federal Communications Commission regulations.
WBBJ-TV is a television station in Jackson, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with ABC and CBS. Owned by Bahakel Communications, the station maintains studios on Muse Street in Jackson, and its transmitter is located on Potts Chapel Road in unincorporated eastern Madison County.
KFVS-TV is a television station licensed to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, United States, serving Southeastern Missouri, the Purchase area of Western Kentucky, Southern Illinois, and Northwest Tennessee as an affiliate of CBS and The CW. The station is owned by Gray Television alongside Paducah, Kentucky–licensed Telemundo affiliate WQWQ-LD. The two stations share studios in the Hirsch Tower on Broadway Avenue in Downtown Cape Girardeau; KFVS-TV's transmitter is located northwest of Egypt Mills, in unincorporated Cape Girardeau County.
WPSD-TV is a television station licensed to Paducah, Kentucky, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for Western Kentucky's Jackson Purchase region, Southern Illinois, the Missouri Bootheel, and northwest Tennessee. Owned by locally based Paxton Media Group, the station maintains studios on Television Lane in Paducah, and its transmitter is located at Monkey's Eyebrow, Kentucky.
"Careless Love" is a traditional song, with several popular blues versions. It has been called a "nineteenth-century ballad and Dixieland standard".
Paxton Media Group of Paducah, Kentucky, is a privately held media company with holdings that include newspapers and a TV station, WPSD-TV in Paducah. David M. Paxton is president and CEO.
Eggner Ferry Bridge, also known as Eggner's Ferry Bridge, is a four-lane bridge in Trigg and Marshall counties in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The current through-arch bridge opened to traffic on April 7, 2016, replacing a two-lane bowstring truss bridge constructed in 1932. The bridge carries US 68 and Kentucky Route 80 across Kentucky Lake. The main span of the original 1932 bridge collapsed on January 26, 2012, after it was hit by a ship. There were no injuries. The bridge was repaired and reopened to traffic on May 25 of that year. On the morning of July 25, 2016, the middle four spans of the old Eggner's Ferry Bridge were brought down using controlled explosives.
U.S. Route 45 enters Kentucky at Fulton in Fulton County and travels northeast through Hickman County, Graves County, and McCracken County. After passing through Mayfield in Graves County it heads directly north into Paducah as a four-lane highway. In Paducah, US 45 serves as a major artery, intersecting with Interstate 24 at Exit 7, and intersecting US 60 and 62. U.S. 45 leaves Kentucky from Paducah's northern border across the two-lane, metal-grate Brookport Bridge to Brookport, Illinois across the Ohio River.
Carroll Hubbard Jr. was an American politician and attorney from Kentucky. He began his political career in the Kentucky Senate, and was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1974. He served until he was defeated in 1992, after becoming embroiled in the House banking scandal, and ultimately spent two years in prison. After being released, Hubbard ran unsuccessfully for the Kentucky General Assembly on four occasions.
Jarekus Singleton is an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Refuse To Lose was his first nationally and internationally distributed album. It was released on the Chicago-based independent blues record label Alligator Records on May 6, 2014. England's Blues & Rhythm called Singleton "a great, new blues talent…young, original, soulful and intense…superb, blistering guitar." According to Living Blues magazine, "Jarekus Singleton is making some serious blues noise...blending modern-day blues and emotionally intense soul with melodic, hot-toned lead guitar, funk-seasoned rhythms and hip-hop flavored lyrics." The Washington Post said, "Jarekus Singleton is an exciting new young blues guitarist with melody, hooks, swagger and a strong, original voice. His lyrics are modern, personal, acutely poetic and deeply mature." USA Today said of Singleton, "Stinging blues guitar and potent, original songs herald the emergence of a major new talent."
During the late evening of Friday, December 10, 2021, a violent, long-tracked EF4 tornado moved across Western Kentucky, producing severe to catastrophic damage in numerous towns, including Mayfield, Princeton, Dawson Springs, and Bremen. Crossing through eleven counties of the Jackson Purchase and Western Coal Field regions during its almost three-hour lifespan, the tornado was exceptionally long-tracked, traveling 165.6 miles (266.5 km) while at times becoming wrapped in rain. It was the deadliest and longest-tracked tornado in an outbreak that produced numerous strong tornadoes in several states; 57 fatalities were confirmed in the tornado. The second significant tornado in an exceedingly long-tracked tornado family, this tornado began just inside northern Obion County, Tennessee, a few miles after another long-tracked tornado – which traveled through northeast Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel, and northwest Tennessee – dissipated in western Obion County.