Mississippi music heritage, the Delta blues and dedication to preserving that history converged on Monday at the Grammy Museum in Cleveland when the late Greenwood blues historian Steve LaVere’s Grammy award was added to the museum’s exhibits.
LaVere’s family and friends met with museum officials to unveil his Grammy, on display in the museum’s first exhibit hall off the entranceway.
Five lighted pedestals stand in a row dedicated to the history and evolution of America’s premier music award and the changes in design of Grammy statues. LaVere’s award represents the fourth edition of the Grammy and sits atop the fourth pedestal.
“What an honor to be here today to share something my husband worked so hard for,” said LaVere’s wife, Regina. They were married for 32 years before LaVere’s passing last December. “This Grammy award represents how much the blues meant to him.”
Grammy Museum director Emily Havens said the museum, which opened in March this year, had been working on securing LaVere’s fourth edition Grammy for a while.
“I promise we’ll take very good care of it,” she said.
LaVere, who moved to Greenwood in 2000 and owned and operated the Greenwood Heritage Blues Museum and Gallery on Howard Street, was awarded the Grammy for Best Historical Recording in 1991 for the game-changing boxed set “Robert Johnson: The Collected Recordings.”
That collection is widely seen as a catalyst for public recognition of bluesman Robert Johnson, who died in Greenwood in 1938. Johnson fell into obscurity for a time despite the fact that many contemporary blues and rock acts, including Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones, recorded popular versions of his songs.
LaVere came to Memphis from his native California in pursuit of the music he loved back in 1970. He owned a record store there and began recording and producing traditional country blues acts that eventually became the Memphis Blues Caravan, a traveling show.
In 1974, LaVere obtained the rights to Johnson’s estate from the musician’s half sister, Carrie Spencer, now deceased. In that deal, which saw many legal disputes down the line from others who emerged as Johnson’s legal descendants, Spencer signed a contract to split proceeds from Johnson’s work and name and gave LaVere the only two known existing photos of her half brother.
In exchange, LaVere collected and catalogued volumes of Johnson memorabilia, including the 29 recordings that Johnson, who died at 27, made in his short career.
Those recordings eventually made up the gold-selling boxed set, for which LaVere was awarded a Grammy as reissue producer alongside producer Larry Cohn.
LaVere’s Grammy is on loan from the family to the Grammy Museum Mississippi for an unspecified period of time.
• Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
