Welcome to the Grits & Soul Blog!
I love good company and you are welcome to stay as long as you like!
"FrequentlyAxedQuerschuns "
1. Where did you get the name Grits & Soul?
One afternoon I was digging through record bins at Little Big Store in Raymond, Mississippi, I naturally gravitated toward the soul music section in the back room of the old train depot building.
I stumbled across the James Brown "Bodyheat" album. I never listened to it but had a good giggle over the cover's artistic direction and JB's mighty sweet 'stache...
After putting that one back, I began flipping through the rest and ran into another one that immediately caught my attention (and I snatched up in two seconds flat):
Grits & Soul is an instrumental album that he recorded early in his career. The album and it's fan-freakin-tastic. James Brown was under contract and technically not allowed to make another album but he defied the studio brass and made one anyway - he just didn't sing on it.
Grits & Soul signifies everything that I love: Southern culture, music and food (in no particular order) and it also represents the work that I live and breathe on a daily basis: food, writing, travel, photography, film projects, reading and historical research in Mississippi and the South.
It is my blog, it's my website, and it's also a band!
It is my blog, it's my website, and it's also a band!
2. So who are you?
The truth has to come out sometime! My name is Anna Kline. I call myself a Girl Friday because I am a bit of a creative catch-all. I am a freelance writer, photographer, singer-songwriter and guitarist, filmmaker and sometimes painter.
I work for the Mississippi Development Authority, the Division of Tourism and coordinate of special projects in the Office of Film, Heritage and Music. These projects can run the gamut of Mississippi literary, African-American and culinary history, music showcases, scouting film locations and whatever else they ask me to do. ;)
I wrote the website content for the Mississippi Culinary Trail which entailed researching, exploring, writing, filming, interviewing, road trippin', photographing restaurants in the state that are a part of Mississippi's uniquely identifiable food culture. (That's how this blog began to take shape. Then it just stuck.)
Technically, my background is in music business and mass media. You can read about my music here and my film work here.
If you are interested, I can go even further into my personal archives...Keep reading.
I'm from North Mississippi, a small town called Hernando. My experience was the best of both cultural and musical worlds, being that it is located between Soulsville USA (Memphis) and the Mississippi Delta. I attended the University of Memphis, studying Music Business, Mass Media and Film.
After working a string of boring, stuffy and depressing office jobs (which, believe me, are better off forgotten) I landed a job at the Last Soul Company in Jackson, Mississippi in 2004. While there, I worked in music licensing in television, film, print, etc. helping administer some of the most famous classic Soul, Gospel and R&B song catalogs of all time. Now that was a great run. I have some fond memories from that experience.
At the end of 2008, I decided it was time for a change to pursue more creative outlets in earnest. So, here we are.
3. "I'd like to use a picture on your blog" OR "I'd like to give you a restaurant suggestion" OR "Have you ever been to [fill in the blank]" OR "It'd be great to say hello." How do I get in touch with you?
Oh, that's easy. You are more than welcome to email me at anna (at) gritsandsoul {dot} com.
If you want to use a photograph, I certainly don't mind but please remember to give credit where it's due and let me know where it is going to be posted (sometimes I slip up, too, but by all means please let me know).
