The "Cat Head Story"? Well, here's the original press release that kind of gives you the idea...

Former St. Louis Couple Leaves Corporate Life To Open Blues and Folk Art Store in Mississippi

CLARKSDALE, MS. - July 29, 2002 -- "When we tell people what we're doing, we usually got one of two reactions," said former St. Louis resident Roger Stolle. "'Wow, I'm jealous.' Or, 'Are you crazy?' I guess we've chosen a path less traveled."

After 7 years of Delta journeys and a year of intense planning, Roger and his wife Jennifer left St. Louis to start Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art, Inc. in small-town Mississippi. Both left comfortable marketing careers of 10-plus years, with Roger in a lucrative management position. "A year ago, I was meeting with the CEO of May Company and traveling to Hong Kong on business," explained Roger. "Last week, I booked a blues musician named T-Model Ford for our grand opening and set up a store display that included a chair made out of painted cow bones. You tell me which sounds more fun."

Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art, Inc. is a 6-day-a-week store that features a full selection of blues CDs, videos, DVDs, books and collectibles as well as an affordable mix of Southern self-taught, folk and outsider art. "It's kind of like shopping in a juke joint," Roger said, describing the building's rustic interior, colorful artwork and down home music. "It's the kind of store we always dreamed of finding in our Delta travels but never did."

Roger is quick to acknowledge that it's not all fun and games. Starting a new, untested business out of state is a challenge enough, but add to it the unique culture that is "the South," and it becomes too much of a risk for most people to consider. "We didn't do this to get rich. It's definitely a labor of love," offered Jennifer. "We were at a crossroads in our lives," Roger continued, "We could either keep working those crazy corporate hours in the big city, trying to buy happiness, or we could do what we wanted to do and try to make a difference. We chose the latter."

As former tourists themselves, the two Delta transplants believe they can make a positive difference by marketing the Delta to the rest of the world, bringing more recognition to the region and its people. "Hopefully, this will translate into more visitors coming here which benefits everyone," said Roger, "Believe it or not, Clarksdale, Mississippi has a lot to offer. Great blues music. Wonderful art. Even Tennessee Williams spent time here. It's also in a great location, within an hour or less of Memphis and Tunica."

According to Roger, tourists from all over the U.S., Europe and Asia already come to the region in search of the "land where blues began" and honest artwork from living folk artists.

The first big test for the new store will come during its grand opening celebration, August 8 through 11. "We'll be featuring 4 days of great art, 'live' music and door prizes in store," said Roger. "We want this to be a special introduction to a one-of-a-kind store." The store's grand opening will also play host to a couple of St. Louis reinforcements: North St. Louis blues legend Big George Brock and Soulard blues painter Tim Mancinas. In addition to the store's free events, Clarksdale will hold its 15th annual free Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival two blocks away on August 9 and 10, featuring Bobby "Blue" Bland, Big Jack Johnson, Alvin "Youngblood" Hart, Charlie Musselwhite and others.

The store's location at 252 Delta Avenue in downtown Clarksdale places it within walking distance of the blues festival grounds and Delta Blues Museum, plus actor Morgan Freeman's Ground Zero blues club and Madidi fine restaurant.

Freeman lives in nearby Charleston, Mississippi and dropped by the store recently to wish the new store owners luck in their endeavor. The St. Louisans' relocation has been the big news around town lately, so "luck" is something a lot of people are wishing and something Roger is happy to accept. "We're here for the long haul. No matter how this ends up, there will be no regrets."

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An update on Cat Head... nearly 5 years into the mission...

Thousands of customers, 11 "mini blues fests," a record label and 4 1/2 years of low-level lawlessness in the Land Where Blues Began.

A BLOG (I guess that's what you call it?):

Well, the long and short of it is that we are still here. So why is that, do you think?

Folks say to us all the time, "You must REALLY love the blues to have moved here [the Mississippi Delta]." I tell them, "Sure, I love the blues, but that's not the only thing that made us move here. It's also the people and the place."

Before moving to the Delta, I was fortunate enough to do some pretty decent traveling around the U.S. and abroad, enough to sample what's what out there, anyway. That's not to say that I've seen it all and therefore know it all, of course. As anyone who's met me can tell you, there are plenty of reasons why I'm not designing rockets or performing brain surgeries, but most of the same folks will also tell you that I'm not an idiot either. Here's what I know for certain: The Delta -- especially Clarksdale -- is unlike anywhere else in the universe. (Especially since Pluto ceased to be a planet.) The population is low but the 'character' to 'normal folk' ratio is high. Where else can you walk down the street and run into people who are honest-to-god-nicknamed Puttin,' Chikan, Tater, Big Something (T, Jack, Red, etc.) or Razorblade? This is a land of cotton fields and catfish, juke joints and bookie parlors. It's a time and place that, quite frankly, ain't of this time and place. It attracts movie stars and rockers, bluesologists and the criminally curious. Many 'one-time visitors' turn into repeat customers. Some even buy property here or move here. You can buy a nice house for under a hundred grand and walk the same dusty roads as Muddy Waters and some guy named Robert Johnson. It's crazy. The unique atmosphere here also bolsters a low-level lawlessness that allows good times to become great times and scares away most of the chains that corporate America occasionally tosses this way.

But I digress.

When my business partner, and now ex-wife, (it's cool; we're still friends and co-biz owners) Jennifer and I opened Cat Head in 2002, we established something that we labeled the 'Cat Head Mission.' It's the guiding principle that our 'Small Business for Dummies' book said we needed if we really wanted to accomplish anything. Out of the 40-page business plan that sprang from those couple sentences, this line from the 'mission' itself remains paramount: "...to promote from within." The idea is simple. We could have stayed in our comfortable corporate marketing jobs and resulting comfortable neighborhood, etc. We could have tried to promote the Delta and Clarksdale from up north in St. Louis, and in fact, I guess we did try that to a point. But... if we really wanted to dig in, understand and work with this one-of-a-kind place, we just figured that we had to be there. Be here. Be committed (so to speak). Prove that we believe in this place. In this time and space.

Did we get rich? No. But we gained a richness that was lacking in our previous bloated salaries and 401K plans.

Consider this: The population of Metropolitan St. Louis is larger than the entire state of Mississippi. To feel like you make a difference in a big city, you have to either be rich and powerful already or, perhaps, a bit delusional. To feel like you make a difference in a small town like this, you just need to show up. Being a little delusional might help here, too, though it's not necessarily a negative. In fact, they town's motto was once 'Home of the Big Frog.' That means that you, too, can be the big frog in a small pond if you reside in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Here in Clarksdale, I wake up every day feeling like I can make a difference. Whether it's helping to put on a festival or trying to educate a blues newbie... Whether it's helping a blues musician get some work (so he can get his phone turned back on) or working with others to get a new roof put on a local juke joint... you truly feel like you're contributing something to this sometimes forgotten part of the world. We all want to 'save the blues' and 'keep the blues alive,' but what does that mean exactly? For me, it means keeping the culture and environment alive, so that blues can continue to thrive on its own. There are plenty of authentic, honest-to-Muddy bluesmen down here in the Delta. There are plenty of real-deal, rough-and-tumble juke joint venues, too. What there is not is money. What there is not is consistent organization and promotion of an artform that spawned much of what we call popular music today.

This all leads back to the 'mission.'

And so, for nearly 5 years, we've spent our time and resources trying to contribute to something we love. Many others here and abroad are also doing the same in their own way. There is a beautiful community of locals and transplants alike who appreciate the deep blues culture of this place, and most work together (or sometimes apart but in a parallel way) to keep things moving forward in a positive way. Many who visit here or invest in the community contribute as well.

Half a decade into it, what were the points of interest along the way?

At Cat Head, we've been lucky enough to have many of my personal blues heroes play the store either at one of our 11 Cat Head Mini Blues Fests or during other in-store events. A partial list includes: Honeyboy Edwards, Willie King, Paul "Wine" Jones, Big George Brock, CeDell Davis, Floyd Lee, Michael Powers, Jimbo Mathus, T-Model Ford, Robert Belfour, Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, Sam Carr, Arthur Williams, etc. Book, CD and DVD signings have brought in wonderful folks like Dick Waterman, Robert Mugge, Honeyboy Edwards, Pinetop Perkins, Robert Gordon, Dr. David Evans and many others. Famous visitors to the store have included everyone from actor Morgan Freeman to musician Alex Chilton. Our store-based record label, Cat Head Presents, introduced me to such divergent figures as actor-turned-bluesman Steven Seagal and legendary Howlin' Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin. But... above all, the best fortune I've yet encountered personally, is my personal and business relationship with blues veteran Big George Brock. He's an amazing human being who's lived 174 years in his 74 years. If nothing else had been gained from all this, my time with Mr. Brock would make it all worthwhile by itself.

Yeah, at the risk of sounding less than hip. It's been real neat.

Of course, the everyday folks who walk in and out of the store and our lives make it all worth it, too. I learn something every day, and I try to pass something along every day as well. It's very rewarding to send someone to an obscure blues site or unadvertised juke joint happening. For them, it can make the difference between having a nice vacation and having a life-changing 'blues experience.'

One of the ways that we try to deliver on the 'blues experience,' is to organize and promote special events like the Juke Joint Festival & Related Events that we now enjoy every April in Clarksdale. Local businessman (and unofficial Clarksdale greeter) Bubba O'Keefe and I started the festival along with a small crew of dedicated volunteers in 2003. Clarksdalian Nan Hughes and our small board of directors at Clarksdale Downtown Development carry it on today. I had the idea for a blues fest based around the juke joints; Bubba had the idea of a spring fair to kick off the planting season. The result was... is... a festival that appeals to both locals and tourists. The side benefit -- or 'secret mission,' as I often call it -- is that such an event mixes folks from all around the world with the best the Delta has to offer. It is a true cultural exchange as well as a helluva lot of fun -- all of it good, most of it clean.

Other more promotional avenues that Cat Head has pursued in its quest to deliver the 'blues experience' involve the media. First with the now defunct King Biscuit Time magazine and currently with the well-distributed Blues Revue magazine, I've written a regular column. Rather than concentrating on the big, household blues names, Cat Head's mission is to interview the lesser knowns who simply must be better knowns. Guys like Gearshifter and L.C. Ulmer, Terry "Harmonica" Bean and Jimmy "Duck" Holmes. They are out in the trenches every day trying to make a living and keep the blues they grew up with -- and their parents and grandparents grew up with -- alive.

Beyond magazine writing opportunities, the other most rewarding promotional tool I've run across since my career change is radio. Actually, that's not entirely true since I did co-host a regular blues show for a community radio station in St. Louis before moving down here. But... locally (if sporadically) through WROX and nationally through XM Satellite Radio's Bluesville, I've enjoyed a wonderful opportunity to talk up Mississippi and the Delta on a weekly basis. Bill Wax at XM has brought to the voiceless a means to speak. Where or when else in history has it been possible for juke joints and street musicians to be promoted from coast to coast? Where or when else in history has such a financially impoverished but culturally rich region of the country been pumped into a stereo near you, regardless of what state you reside in? Again, it's real neat.

O.k. So enough bragging about what a long, strange but awesome trip its been being down here in the Delta. As local blues singer Wesley "Junebug" Jefferson said last night around 2am at Red's Lounge, "We ain't no movie stars..." The Cat Heads know that they aren't what makes this place special. It's not about us. It's about the people who aren't just in the place but OF this place. Our only contribution is to "promote from within" and have a little fun in the process.

Help us celebrate the Cat Head store's 5th anniversary in August 2007. See details as they become available by clicking here and scrolling down to the dates. We'll be celebrating the same weekend that the Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary, so try not to miss it.

Hope to see y'all in the Delta! Come on by and say hello to Jennifer or me... and be sure to pet the store pug (our mascot), Sadie.

-- Roger Stolle, 10/29/06