Haney’s Big House

Parish: Concordia

Location: Ferriday


Haney’s Big House was an African American rhythm and blues club, part of the famed “chitlin’ circuit”, and was located in the 500 block of 4th Street (now East Wallace Blvd.) in Ferriday. The venue started as a barbecue joint, then it expanded to have gambling and later music. Live music was featured on the weekend nights, when club would often accommodate three to four hundred people at once. The owner was Will Haney, a World War I veteran, who also sold insurance and had rental properties. Touring musicians who played there include Frank ‘Cole Slaw’ Cully, B.B. King, Ray Charles, Little Milton, Roy Brown, Solomon Burke, Percy Mayfield, Big Joe Turner, Johnnie Taylor and Irma Thomas. Jerry Lee Lewis snuck in to see bands as a youth, hiding under tables there, and he credits Haney’s as the place that he first saw people play rock and roll. Haney’s was opened in the late 1940s and was popular until it burned in a fire that consumed most of the block in 1966.

Photo credits:

http://www.hannapub.com/concordiasentinel/frank_morris_murder/cold-case-haney-s-big-house-a-legendary-place-down/article_6ec4021e-41a4-11e3-bbc3-0019bb30f31a.html

http://www.hannapub.com/concordiasentinel/frank_morris_murder/cold-case-half-century-old-photos-show-capture-will-haney/article_30a26682-48b7-11e3-a4dc-0019bb30f31a.html#user-comment-area

2 Comments

  1. Thank you so much for this information. I am part of a Jerry Lee Lewis fan club and I wanted to get more information concerning Haney’s Big House. Too bad that there hasn’t been a photo of the building PRIOR to the fire!

    Reply
    • There are photos now, published by the local newspaper. Search Will Haney Ferridsy LA, and you will see them.

      Reply

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