BBC correspondent Vince Hunt stopped at the Padelford Riverboats on chilly March day to talk about the Mighty Mississippi, it's steamboats and it's music. We were flattered to be included in Vince's tour from New Orleans to St. Paul (Saints to the Saint, as he noted). I brought along musical magician Dr. Tom Mega, a professor at St. Thomas University and long, long time riverboat musician with the Mississippi Minstrels, to expound on river music and all that jazz. Dr. T also is a pretty good photographer.
Vince began his six-week sojourn up the river in the Cresent city where he met with river legend Capt. Doc Hawley aboard the historic Natchez. Moving up river he stopped in Baton Rouge to see Capt. John Strekfus whose family has run the most famous riverboats in the country for nearly 200 years. He also visited with Capt. Joy Manthey and Capt. Tom Dunn in St. Louis before driving to St. Paul with a brief stop in Dubuque to visit the incredible National Rivers Hall of Fame Museum where our founder Capt. William D. Bowell, Sr. has a research library named in his honor. Before Vince headed to Chicago for meetings with a group of jazz musicians I took him to meet with Capt. Bowell. We're looking forward to hear Vince's reports from London.
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