COLUMBUS, MS – Courtesy of the Dispatch and Ashlynd King

The food is hot and the music is cool down at Tampico Bay! Carlos Rosales and his family have run the eatery for a good long time now, and they made a new friend not long ago, who has come by to share the sweet sound of Mississippi Blues for those who have been around long enough to remember when that was far more common. Pontotoc native and veteran blues man Terry “Harmonica” Bean is the man behind the mic: “The blues is life,” Bean said. “Even when you’re happy and don’t recognize it, you got the blues. Anything in life can come up, and it’s good for you to feel it.”

“Most bars are for young people,” Rosales said. “But nothing for seniors. Everybody says, ‘Carlos, you gotta do something for us.’ That’s how we decided to start the blues. . . Terry and other blues artists are trying to preserve the roots of this music,” Rosales said. “The tree is dying, and he is trying to bring it back. If we can do something to help, we want to do it.”

Bean, who favors the harmonica, feels that preserving the Blues music tradition is “…so powerful. Blues is the foundation of everything,” he said. “The blues don’t care about color, age or history. It tells your story. You don’t gotta blow no harmonica or play no instrument to have the blues.”

Please click here for the original article: https://cdispatch.com/lifestyles/serving-up-music-how-tampico-bay-is-bringing-the-blues-back-to-columbus/