Hopson Plantation, MS. Photo source.
Mississippi is the birthplace of the blues. One of Mississippi’s most famous sons, Muddy Waters, said “The blues had a baby, and they named it Rock and Roll.” By that token, Mississippi is the grandparent of Rock and Roll — quite a musical family, especially when you think that Mississippi’s next door neighbor is Louisiana, where jazz was born. Blues came out of hard times, and there are still hard times in Mississippi, but there is also a thriving blues-based tourist industry as well, with folks traveling from all over the world to soak up the music and culture that helped give birth to most forms of modern American music.
Crossroads of Hwy 61 and 49, Clarksdale, MS. Photo source.
We’ll start today’s journey at the fabled crossroads: Clarksdale, Mississippi, the town at the junction of Hwy 61 and 49, where Robert Johnson himself was reputed to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for mastery of the guitar. Clarksdale is also home of the Delta Blues Museum, the Juke Joint Festival in April, the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival in August, as well as world famous juke joints like Red’s, Ground Zero, and Shack Up Inn. At the Shack Up, you can rent real shotgun shacks that have been “renovated” into hotel rooms for folks who’d like to sit on the porch,watch the cropdusters spraying the cotton fields surrounding the hotel, and listen to live blues music in the converted cotton gin, renamed the Juke Joint Chapel.
Lightnin Malcolm playing the Juke Joint Chapel at Shack Up Inn. Photo source.
To the south of Clarksdale, on Hwy 49 past Indianola (birthplace of BB King), Belzoni, and Yazoo City is Bentonia, home of Mississippi’s oldest surviving juke joint, the Blue Front Cafe. Bentonia’s most famous blues player, Skip James, used to play at the Blue Front. You may remember Skip James’ most famous song “Hard Times” from the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou” where the Tommy Johnson character plays the haunting melody around the camp fire. Jimmy “Duck” Holmes is the current proprietor, as well as one of the last remaining Bentonian bluesmen.
Blue Front Cafe, Bentonia, MS. Photo source.
What is your favorite blues song? Drop a line below in the comment section and tell us. And before you hit the road, hit PPLmotorhomes.com for all your RV parts and accessories.