Mr. Sipp returns to the Lake City
Aug. 10—PLATTSBURGH — The Mississippi Blues Child, Mr. Sipp, returns to the Lake City Aug. 16 for a Plattsburgh Blues and Jazz show at Retro Live downtown.
Winning "2023 National Blues Artist of the Year" and "National Male Lead Singer of a Group" at the Jackson Music Awards, Mr. Sipp, the blues alto ego of Castro Coleman, just dropped the "The Soul Side of Sipp" last month digitally on the Nautical label.
"We've been busy cutting records and touring," he said.
"Things started opening back up a little bit in 2021, 2022 was good, and 2023, is just about 100 percent back to normal."
BUSINESS WISE
On the road, Mr. Sipp is a celebrated musician, blues and gospel.
Off the road, he's a businessman. He runs a trucking company, and he's renovating a 23-acre property in Mississippi.
"This is a full-time job out here," he said.
"I call this estate The Hill because we're sitting way up on a hill."
Mr. Sipp doesn't need the altitude to see how the music industry has changed tremendously.
"It's a little weird right now," he said.
"It's never really been in favor of the musicians. With the musicians being more independent now, that's kind of a leg up for the musician, but yet still with all the fees and things of that nature, it still balances back out that's it not really in favor of the musician. My heart goes out to musicians all over the world because of this."
TEAM SIPP
Mr. Sipp hopes musicians don't stop.
"You can't let the music stop, but yet still secure themselves in other areas where they can continue to make a profitable living and take care of themselves as well as their family. That is my goal with Team Sipp," he said.
The father of five now has two grands, a three-month-old and an eight-month-old.
"We're not just musicians out there playing clubs and festivals," he said.
"We are businessmen seeking to take care of our families first."
His musical accolades include 2014 International Blues Challenge Winner, 2014 Gibson Best Guitarist Award Winner, 2014 Bobby Rush Entertainer of the Year Award by the Jus' Blues Foundation.
In 2015, he won several Jackson Music Awards including International Male Blues Artist, Blues Artist of the Year, and Entertainer of the Year.
He was the BMA Best New Artist Album winner 2016 and The Spirit of Little Walter Award 2016. The same year, he was the first blues artist to have his handprint inducted into the Wall of Fame in Frederikshavn, Denmark.
For the 25th Annual Living Blues Awards, he won the Best Blues Album of 2017 New Recordings Award (Contemporary Blues) with "Knock a Hole In It," and in 2018 he won the National Blues Artist of The Year Award at 44th Annual Jackson Music Awards.
"The music is for my soul, but everything else is geared to securing the security of my family, my kids and grandkids," he said.
Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com
Twitter@RobinCaudell
