Roger Stolle

Marketing the Delta and the Blues

A native from Dayton, Ohio he learned the blues listening to the beginning songs from the King of Rock himself, Elvis. Graduating from the University of Cincinnati in 1989 he knew he wanted to do something that did not involve math.

His first job was copy writing and worked his way up before taking a job as a manager in Saint Louis. Once he was close enough to be near the start of it all, the Blues, he was driving through Holly Springs, Miss. when he saw his first juke joint.

He is now a promoter in Clarksdale, Miss. where he promotes the Blues, making sure people who it’s still alive and its impact. Ground Zero, located in Clarksdale, is where he books his blues bands. Stolle says you can learn the most about the Blues by the natives. They’ll tell you everything you want to know, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Writing up a 40 page business plan, Stolle decided he didn’t want to lean on loan money and debt to start up his business. He started Cat Head, Delta Blues & Folk Art, Inc. with the mission to ‘promote from within.’ He exports his product while drawing people into the store! Paste Magazine recently said that Cat Head is in the 17 coolest record stores in America. Cat Head was named one of the ‘1000 places to see before you die.’

In the Spring of 2008, Stolle did a documentary of some of the living Blues players in the Delta . “M for Mississippi – a movie by the numbers,” took two years in the planning and pre-production before being filmed over seven days this past spring. Including eight towns and 12 musicians, it took a mere six months of editing to produce this 94 minute movie. The movie includes artists such as Pat Thomas and U.C Ulmer. Thomas, a bi-polar clay worker who loved to draw cat heads, which is where Stolle got the name for his store. Ulmer is a native of Taylor, Miss. right outside of Oxford.

Stolle was a great speaker and really expressed his passion for the Delta Blues! I plan on making a trip to Clarksdale to see the store before graduating in May!