Clarksdale native Seth Stroud has played music in many different parts of the country, but there is no place like home for him.
Stroud, a member of The Blackwater Trio, plays the piano and guitar and sings. The band has been around for approximately eight years.
Walt Busby, who plays a little of everything, and Alice Hasen, who plays the violin, are the other members of the band.
“Walt and I played on and off together for years just doing some acoustic stuff like this,” Stroud said. “I lived in Nashville for 10 years.”
Then Stroud moved home, played around the community and heard about Hasen’s ability to play the violin. The Blackwater Trio played at the then-Pink Bar, for a couple of hours and the whole town came out.
“We said, OK, this is getting bigger than us so we started to do something with it,” Stroud said.
Stroud’s father, Joel, is a preacher, so he played at church. He played gospel, blues and other music.
Joel Stroud is a preacher at Lyon Baptist Church. Seth still plays there, but he is also the music director at First Presbyterian Church.
Stroud attended Presbyterian Day School, Lee Academy and home schooled. He then went to Mississippi College, Middle Tennessee State University and Delta State University with focus on music education and then the recording industry.
“I think it’s the only magic left in the world,” said Stroud of music.
Stroud has traveled to Memphis, regionally and gone as far as Vermont. He plays at the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale nearly every year. The JJF is every April.
“There’s a home vibe here,” said Stroud of Clarksdale. “First of all, it is my home. Second of all, it’s just like the people are ruthless in the music business in general. Once I figured out I didn’t want to be a superstar or anything like that, I just wanted to play music for a living, this is just the perfect place to be. There’s still a love for music.”
