The BluesFest : a short history

In the early 1990’s, a musician by the name of Glen Alyn did benefit performances in Austin. He recruited other Austin musicians to join him and they sent money to the Navasota High School to underwrite a Scholarship for a graduating senior. The scholarship was to be in memory of Mance Lipscomb, Navasota Bluesman. Alyn lived in Grimes and Washington counties for a number of years. He interviewed Mance Lipscomb and recorded these interviews for an oral history. Mance talked about his life…and his music. The end result (which came many years later) was a book by Alyn, “I Say Me For A Parable” – which is written in Mance’s words as he told his recollections.

Mark’s wife, Nancy Bouliane wrote her college thesis on Mance Lipscomb – so Mark and Nancy met Glen Alyn and they all became friends. Mark and Glen – along with

As founders of the festival – Glen Alyn, Mark Bouliane, John Fultz and Richard Chase made a decision that an annual event would not only honor Mance Lipscomb, but also continually keep the blues music alive. The festival would be a coming together of local and regional musicians, and these musicians would inform others of the event that would take place in Navasota once a year. The festival would also be a vehicle of reaching across cultures for anyone that had a love for the blues to gather and be entertained. The monies that were to be raised would be a boon for a graduating senior – to help with their college education, and so the Mance Lipscomb Scholarship was established. Several years later the festival made a decision to continue helping these students as they worked at accomplishing their educational goals…and so the Continuing Education Scholarships were added.

Local citizens and businesses continue to sponsor the event. Musicians that have performed in the past always contact the festival and want to come back. Young people who have been awarded the Mance Lipscomb Scholarship have gone on to graduate, or are still in school. The event remains not only an event to honor one of Navasota’s own, but a gathering where people can come, sit back, eat good food and listen to good music; and also a family event where kids are always welcome - and even have their own area at the festival.

May 2004, the festival was reorganized and has now become The Navasota Blues Fest, Inc. The criteria of the original set-up still holds, but new and exciting goals have been added to make a bigger and better.