Enterprise blues artist to be honored as ‘Living Legend’

An Enterprise blues artist will be honored at the Wiregrass Blues Fest in Troy and Dothan this week.

Leon Atkins, known in music circles as Lil Jimmy Reed, will be honored as a “Living Legend Honoree” at the fest, which begins with a free program Thursday, April 28, at 7 p.m. at the studio across the street from the art museum in downtown Troy. Atkins will speak and perform at the event and the public is invited.

Friday the public is invited to congratulate Atkins and the other artists at a Meet and Greet which begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Wiregrass Museum of Art, located next to near the Dothan Civic Center.

On Saturday, April 28, the fundraiser for the Wiregrass Blues Society and the ALS Association will also feature Brandon Santini, the Betty Fox Band, Debbie Bond and Blues Women, Sol Tree and Oddly Enough.

Gates to the event at the Wiregrass Museum of Art open at 3:00 p.m. and music starts at 4 p.m. Also Saturday is a Blues and Bikes Poker Run, which begins at the Dothan Civic Center. Organizers say that “kick stands up” at 10 a.m. and all proceeds from the poker run will benefit ALS research.

“The Wiregrass Blues Fest champions the Wiregrass’ unique Blues heritage,” explained Troy University’s Dr. Jeneve Brooks, who is a co-founder of the annual event. “Since 2011, we have honored Wiregrass Blues musicians who have passed away, but in 2015 we began a tradition of also honoring musicians who are alive and thriving.

“For the 2016 event, we continue the tradition by honoring the late Buddy Buie and living legend Lil Jimmy Reed,” Brooks said.

Atkins will be the first to tell you he can’t read music but that music is in his soul. The military and Fort Rucker are what brought the Hardwood, La., native to Enterprise. “I loved it here, so I just stayed,” he said.

Atkins is the eldest of five siblings who grew up across the street from a nightclub in a small town outside of Baton Rouge, La. “It just fascinated me, listening to the music coming out of that nightclub,” he remembered with a smile.

So it was just without much thought that he answered “a guitar” when his father came home one day and asked his one daughter and four sons what one thing they each would wish for if they thought they could have it.

“I don’t know where he got the money,” Atkins said. “But I asked for an electric guitar and that’s what he got me.”

The self-taught musician learned to play that guitar— and a harmonica—imitating a musician named Jimmy Reed.

When he turned 18, Atkins enrolled in a barber college in Little Rock, Ark., but played in the local juke joints at night whenever he could. Then the day came that Atkins calls his lucky break. His idol, Jimmy Reed, was scheduled to perform at a local nightclub. “But he got too drunk to perform,” Atkins recalled. “So they snuck him out the back door and came and got me to play because they knew I sounded so much like him.”

Atkins said the crowd couldn’t tell the difference. The show was a success, he said. “And that’s how I came to be Lil Jimmy Reed.” The rest is musical history.

Atkins has done opening acts for, and performed with, artists to include Bobby Blue Bland, Ike Turner, Little Milton, Marvin Sease, Shirley Murdock, Clarence Carter, Rafel Neal and Family, Lyn White, Tabby Thomas, The Love Doctor, Billy Soul Bonds and Willie Clayton.

Atkins has also played at festivals around the South including the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festivals and The Tampa Florida Blues Ship.

This year Atkins has performed in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Hamburg, Germany.

After a 20 year Army career, Atkins retired to Enterprise with his wife Imogene. The couple have eight children, 37 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren,” he said, shaking his head. “So I’ve got to keep singing them blues,” he added with a smile.