We’ve been busy.
Digging deep into the noteworthy spots that tell the story of the Delta blues. We stood by the tracks in Tutwiler where W.C. Handy first heard the strains of that “new” strange form of music called the blues – the seminal event that took the blues from porch front and field songs to something that was written and marketed.
At the excellent Railroad Heritage Museum in the pretty town of Cleveland we learned how the railroad up and down the Mississippi spread the blues outward from the Delta.
At Dockery Farms we interviewed the director (a genuinely nice fellow), toured the property and really came to appreciate why this spot was where first generation bluesmen like Charley Patton birthed a new music form (the next day we took a bumpy dirt road to the rural cemetery at Holly Ridge where Patton is buried).
We toured the new Grammy Museum | Mississippi – the celebrity angle does not interest us much but there is a great display on the blues of the Delta and Mississippi musicians.
In Greenville, we walked the levee, spent time at the small, but fascinating, 1927 Flood Museum to bone up on what was one of the defining events that shaped America – the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. If you don’t know about it, read up – it’s an amazing, heartbreaking history and will be a big part of our book.
Finally, in Indianola it was B.B. King and all B.B. King – one of the best blues museums around, his gravesite onsite and a guided visit to Club Ebony, a local nightclub associated with B.B. that specialized in the blues of the Delta.
BB is the man. Nice reading about him. Saw him in Edmonton so this is too cool. Started listening to Robert Johnson when I moved to Edmonton in 1977. I am looking forward to the book. Follow up articles on where the blues went after like some N’Orleans type musicians and the blues bars that are in or were in places in (western) Canada would be interesting. Enjoying the posts.
The book will have a section of the blues “beyond the Delta” – the Mississippi Delta is certainly not the only place the blues have found a home! Thanks for getting in touch. Appreciate the feedback.
I have always been drawn towards this style of blues and have read all I could find about it I really look forward to your book and learning more and hopefully taking a few lessons. Ron
We’ve been thinking about you and Morley and your Class B camper van travels! You know what’s on our list? … A crossover of our trips, so we can be in the same cool location at the same time with you two. That would be just great.
Lots and lots of blues here – we feel so fortunate to have the luxury of almost five weeks exploring the Delta. So much good book material, so many warm and welcoming people, so much music.