Rollin' and Tumblin'

Jacquie "Lady J" Maddix is a broadcast veteran with 24 years of experience in radio and television. Her background includes work as an on-air personality at KFAI Radio in Minneapolis, Minnesota as well as on-camera exposure at SPNN, a cable television company in St. Paul Minnesota. Ms. Maddix has also worked in news as a producer, assistant producer and production assistant at CBS's Minnesota affiliate station, WCCO TV.

Since June 2011, Ms. Maddix has stepped on stage to create a new stage show dedicated to the magic of the blues.

Taking on the persona of a female root worker or tribal medicine woman, Jacquie becomes LADYJ GRIOT, a blues storyteller who takes you deeper into the lyrics of the blues. Did you know that the blues line "little Johnnie Conker-oo" really refers to a root used in healing? It's called Low John The Conqueror Root and has multiple uses depending on your intentions. LadyJ Griot tells you about those intentions and about the uses of the ancient African tribal religion that the slaves brought with them from the Old World to the new.

The blues is full of references to the uses of sympathetic magic and LadyJ Griot, as the female root doctor can tell you how it's done. It's all in the songs...the lyrics reveal how the magic was used and for what. And if you misused those "gifts", the old folks would say you were "born under a bad sign".

On stage, in performance with live music and spoken word, Jacquie Maddix as LadyJ Griot will take you back to a tribal place hidden deep within the blues.

"The blues goes down deeper than a well
How far it goes no one can tell
But when it rises, it lifts us all in it's tide
The blues will reveal all you think you can hide!"
(A spell written by LadyJ Griot)