The Blues Trail Part 4: The Road Markers

The Mississippi Blues Trail is an ongoing project of the Mississippi Blues commission that attempts to tell the story of this unique American music by noting the important places and occurrences in the lives of the men and women who originated the music. We went to Mississippi to go to the Clarksdale film festival with the idea that we could also drive the Blues trail and hit the important stops along the way. Silly Rv'ers - there are over 130 stops on the trail and still growing! The latest was just erected in Memphis to John Lee Hooker - my personal favorite of the electric blues Dudes. Yes I know Memphis is not in Mississippi but then they are apparently not letting geography get in the way of the music - much like John Lee did with timing when he played the "Boogie", he didn't let time get in the way of the groove which is why he is the real father of Rock 'n Roll for my money. So you know - the Blues Trail is mostly just markers put up in places of significance throughout Mississippi. Some are not clear as to why they are in the spot they are in but all have some of the history of the Blues to read on them.

HATTIESBURG

We started in Hattiesburg, at the marker for Hattiesburg put up to commemorate the Mississippi Jook Band. They had what was called by Rolling Stone the first recording with  "fully formed rock and roll guitar riffs and a stomping rock and roll beat" when they recorded in Hattiesburg in 1936. Problem was the marker is on the spot of an apparently torn down building in a part of town attempting to "Urban Renew". There is a corner store of some kind next to it and an empty lot where the marker is located. Around that store and on the empty slab where the marker is there were a number of ghetto captalists intent on getting us to purchase some of their fine crack - competing at it I might add. The second time around the block -when we were attempting to find out why they were congregating there at 2 in the afternoon - they were certain we were there to purchase (or possibly sell the Red Headed Irish Girl - as they were waving her over to the curb). I wouldn't reccommend stopping here - unless you need drugs really, really bad. And if you do you should probably go to a clinic instead. With that introduction we were wary of the rest of the stops we were going to make but that was the only place we felt that stopping was a bad idea.

CRYSTAL SPRINGS - Robert Johnson Museum, Tommy Johnson Marker

After an overnight in Jackson we drove to Crystal Springs to stop at the Robert Johnson Museum run by his grandson Steven Johnson who is also a bluesman. There is a marker here for Tommy Johnson who it is said is the man that the Robert Johnson legend was modeled on - including selling his soul to the devil! Tommy Johnson - apparently no relation to Robert - predated RJ by about 10 years. He recorded the hugely influential song "Canned Heat Blues" in 1928, eight years before RJ recorded 'Crossroad Blues' in Texas. And yes, Canned Heat took their name from that song. Tommy, however lived most of his life right there in Crystal Springs dying in 1956 of a heart attack after playing a gig! He is believed to be inspiration for the character named 'Tommy Johnson' in the film 'O Brother, Where art thou?". In the film a character named Tommy Johnson claims to have sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads to play the guitar. He joins the 3 main characters in the "Soggy Mountain Boys" and plays several Skip James tunes.

Robert Johnson Museum

We also stopped at the Robert Johnson Museum in hopes of meeting his grandson Steven and see some of the museums things but it was closed when we were there. I had a later email from them assuring me they would open the place for us if we call before arriving so I would say if you want to go there be sure to call in advance. We got to look in the windows though - Joy

BENTONIA - 'Skip' James, The Blues Front Cafe

Skip James Marker

This marker commemorated Neamiah 'Skip' James. Well know to Cream fans for having written "I'm So Glad" James wrote many influential songs and sung in an eerily high falsetto that many later R&B and blues singers imitated. He played at the Juke in near by Bentonia - the famous Blues Front Cafe:

Blues Front Cafe

The Bentonia Blues style as the it came to be known was played here for years. The place is now shut down but operated for many years and even had it's own Blues festival every year in the parking lot. It's boarded up and the windows barred but the building still looks solid. Some of you need to get down there and re-open it as there is still alot of the Blues spirit still there! People have come from all over the world to this empty building and signed there names somewhere on the wall. We added Joe/Dot and Travels in Blue Honey to the autographs! And of course Big Stick had his picture taken there:

Me and Big Stick Lookin' for our Groove

If nothing else the reason this looks familiar to you as it was used in a Levi 501 commercial with an old dude playing blues on that front porch!

BELZONI - Pinetop Perkins

This is the plaque just outside Belzoni for PineTop Perkins - 97 years young and just won a Grammy! To the right of the plaque is a building being finished that will be a Pinetop Perkins museum. I assumed the shacks in the background will have something to do with that as I doubt that they were for rent.

CLARKSDALE - Ike Turner, WC Handy, Ground Zero, WROX, New Roxy

On to Clarksdale where it seems there is a connection to the Blues on every corner. Ike Turner got his start as an elevator operator in a hotel on this street corner

Ike

He then went on to be a DJ at WROX and a music promoter and leader of his own band - and then TINA!

Delta Blues Museum

Just down at the end of the street is the Delta Blues Museum. Full of photos, guitars and artifacts from the many delta performers it's easy to spend 2 hours in here and think you have only been here for 10 minutes. My favorite was the actual sharecroppers shack Muddy Waters was born in. It was salvaged and put together in the museum with a life size figure of Muddy sittin' and playing. A video with every rock musician you ever hear of telling what Muddy meant to them plays in the background and the walls are hung with photos and artifacts about Muddy's life including a hand built custom electric guitar made out of boards fashioned from the salvaged wood of the shack. Commissioned by the members of ZZ Top it is truly a one of a kind Mojo filled Axe!

Muddy in the Shack

One street over from the museum is the Ground Zero Blues Club. The world famous blues club and street joint owned partially by Morgan Freeman, this place has been keeping the blues alive for years by showcasing some of the best local delta bluesmen and blues players from around the country. This includes my hometown boy-ah - Damian Knapp!

Damian

One street over on the opposite side of the museum is the WC Handy plaque.

W C Handy, known as "The Father of The Blues" he lived in Clarksdale and was influenced by the delta musicians he heard. Besides being a musician himself he collected blues music and was the first musicologist of the blues. The annual Blues Foundation awards are named after him.

Continuing down the same street we see what remains of the New Roxy Theater. The front marquee is still there along with the brick walls and a stage that is used for blues acts during the Juke Joint Festival - under the stars as there is no roof!

New Roxy

Around the corner and down the street from here is the famous Riverside Motel. Originally the 'Negro' hospital in town it was famous as the place where Bessie Smith died from injuries sustained in an automobile crash.

It was bought in 1944 and turned into a motel. Blues performers of every stripe have stayed there along with celebrities like John Kennedy Jr (Rat has the pictures to prove it!). It's currently run by the son of  the original owners - Rat.

Rat of the Riverside

Rat owns the Riverside and a great big old Cadillac - with a Rat for a hood ornament. Nearly everyone I talked to in Clarksdale referred to him as " a charactah". This is about the highest form of praise a Southerner is likely to bestow on a non-family member. I spent about an hour with the Rat as he gave me a tour and running history of the Riverside. It is nearly impossible to give an adequate description of this place as it, like the Shack Up Inn, retains on the outside its connection to a past time. A time  before the Holiday Inns and Marriott's took over the roadside business in America and made everything homogonous & tame. The Riverside keeps its unique look on the outside but on the inside Rat has modernized and upgraded all the rooms and is in the process of doing the same to the cottages running alongside the motel. He is retired from a full time job and has big plans for the continuing restoration including possible a coffee shop. The rooms are all named after famous blues performers including room #2 the Bessie Smith Room. this was originally the emergency room and the room she died in.

Hallway of the Riverside

I urge you to stay here when you come to Clarksdale and visit with Rat - I promise you this will be an experience you will remember forever!

Back downtown at Cat Head you are liable to see a musician from anywhere in the country just show up and start playing in the streets. We were lucky to catch Princess and friends from Austin Texas playing on the sidewalk with just a few voices and an 18 year old guitar player.

Princess sang 'Sittin on the Dock of the Bay' for ME!!

Oh Yeah!

Happy to Sing.

'Brother' Marcus Tharpe of the Southside Ramblers

Catch some music from Marcus at http://www.myspace.com/thesouthsideramblers. What better way to end our trip to Clarksdale than with live street blues!

ROSEDALE - Plaque, Bugs Blues

Rosedale Plaque

Off the main road near an open field across from the railroad tracks they put the plaque for Rosedale. This is a sad and bleak town. There is not much there and it reeks of emptiness and despair. Around the corner from the plaque is the closed up shell of Bug's Blues Lounge.

In the parking lot and empty field to the left of the building were 15 or so men just sitting around drinking at 1 in the afternoon - apparent victims of the lack of work in the area. Down the street closer to Rt. 8 was this testament to a livelier time

Complete with bullet hole in the empty shop next door Rosedale seemed to be a town incarnated as the 'Blues'. This was the town that Robert Johnson referenced in "Travelling Riverside Blues" and that Cream added to "Crossroads" - it sure seems to have seen better days.

INDIANOLA - BB King Museum

After Rosedale we drove on to Indianola for the BB King Museum. This was an incredible stop as the place also serves as a Delta interpretive center and has much to do with all Delta Music. Set in a building that the 16 year old Riley 'BB' King actually worked in, the museum is set up to tell his story chronologically as YOU walk through it. Every stop has a portion from the DVD about 'BB's life and artifacts from that time. There are numerous versions of Lucille including an interactive one where you can sit down and play an electronic Lucille. We only had about an hour and 15 minutes before the museum closed and found ourselves only at the Delta end of the museum at that time. The woman left working let us stay an extra 30 minutes to get it all in even though it meant she worked late. This is a wonderful stop and not to be missed if you hit the Blues Trail!

VICKSBURG - The Juke Joint Blues Restaurant and Art Gallery

LaToya the Lively

We spent our last 2 days in Mississippi in Vicksburg just ahead of a cold snap in the weather. We toured a couple of antebellum mansions along the river including one that still had a cannon ball in the floor from the siege of Vicksburg during the "Unpleasantness of the 1860's". Vicksburg was laid sieged to and captured after 47 days by the Union Army. After this the Union controlled the entire Mississippi river. There are batteries where the guns stood all over the city as you move along the river and is a stark reminder of how more real the war was to the Southern cities that were defeated than to us that grew up in the North. The Confederate general John Pemberton surrendered on July 4th, 1863. The city refused to celebrate the national holiday of 4th of July again until 1945! Emotions ran high I'm guessing. 

The old downtown area along the river is currently undergoing another renovation as a restaurant/club & boutique area. It was there we spent our last day in Mississippi and discovered the Juke Joint restaurant and art gallery. The wonderful waitress in the picture is LaToya Turner who charmed us with her stories and lively personality. The art gallery is the Mississippi home for the paintings of Troy Guilbeaux. After eating lunch with several of the paintings we bought 3 of them and one will be the new masthead for Travels In Blue Honey.

Next trip to Mississippi will be in April for the Juke Joint Festival. We hope to get to places Dave Pack has insisted we go see and maybe Tupelo! Stay tuned!