Yacovone

Heather Crosse, a respected bassist from Clarksdale, Mississippi, now releases her debut on Ruf Records. Her band Heavy Suga‘ & the SweeTones has appeared frequently at the world-famous Ground Zero Blues Club and has performed at major festivals, opening for B.B. King, Robert Plant and others. As a singer, Crosse looks to soul and blues icons like Etta James, Koko Taylor and Big Mama Thornton for inspiration.

The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross is a six-part documentary miniseries written and presented by Henry Louis Gates Jr. It aired for the first time on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the fall of 2013, beginning with episode 1, "The Black Atlantic (1500–1800)", on October 22, 8–9 p.m. ET on PBS, and every consecutive Tuesday through to episode 6, "A More Perfect Union (1968–2013)", on November 26. The companion book to the series, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross (SmileyBooks, 2013), was co-authored by Gates and historian Donald Yacovone.