An exciting music program will be held in the lobby of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame on
February 28 at 6:30 p.m. featuring the legendary Harvey Thompson who will also be joined by
Music Achiever Edsel Holden, an educator and one of the original organizers of the W.C. Handy
Music Festival.
These performers will honor music of Alabama’s many African American music achievers
including songs by W.C. Handy, Nat King Cole, Martha Reeves, Percy Sledge, The Temptations,
Wilson Pickett, Big Mama Thornton, and others. “You will hear the music and the stories of
these legends that changed the world of music forever,” said Dixie Griffin.
Harvey Thompson is a Hall of Fame inductee, with an impressive career spanning five decades,
and is a former board member for the Hall of Fame. He has played with many greats including
Clarence Carter, George Michael, The Commodores, Wilson Pickett and more. Thompson has
been a member of many groups, but is most closely identified with the Muscle Shoals Horns, a
session group comprised of Thompson, Charles Rose, Harrison Calloway, and Ronnie Eades.
With this group, in addition to play on countless hits, Thompson went on tour with Elton John in
the 1970s. The group was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2016 for their
decades of accomplishments in music.
Edsel Holden is a bronze star Alabama Music Achiever who has been an educator and program
coordinator for decades. One of the original organizers of the long running W.C. Handy Festival,
Edsel has conducted many special concerts including one series on Black History that was
invited to perform in Washington D.C., for the National Geographic Society.
Other talented musicians that will be play with the band include singer Marc “Dap” Miller,
drummer Jeremy Freemen, and Harvey Thompson, Jr. on the keyboard.
Tickets are $15.00 and can be purchased at the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and on Ticket Leap
at amhof.ticketleap.com/blackhistory
For more information, contact the Alabama Music Hall of Fame at 256-381- 4417.