On a steaming hot night in the Mississippi Delta, two men met at the dusty, deserted crossroads of Highways 61 and 49 in Clarksdale, MS. No one knows the details of the meeting, but legend has it that one of those men was Robert Johnson and the other entity was the Devil. By the time Johnson walked away, he had sold his soul to the Devil for the ability to sing and play the blues.
Today, that intersection is a paved road with traffic zooming through 24/7. There’s a marker erected at the site to commemorate the legend. Although the area has changed since Johnson’s day, the ground still vibrates with the sweat, tears, pain and mournfulness of the Delta Blues.
Highway 61 begins in New Orleans and runs north, all the way up to Minnesota, weaving through Memphis and Helena, Arkansas, hot spots for blues music. Highway 49 winds from Gulfport, MS, northward ending in Piggott, Arkansas. These routes were heavily traveled by bluesmen and women playing in juke joints and private homes for the black population of towns, who were forbidden from mingling with whites. It’s easy to conjure up images of the party that went down when the itinerant bluesmen reunited in Clarksdale, where the two roads intersect.
The Devil’s music
There’s a complex relationship between the African-American church and the blues community. When a noted musician came to town, folks would flock to the juke joint or house party where he was playing to let off steam. They’d dance, drink, eat and gamble until the wee hours of the morning. Come Sunday, when the collection plate looked anemic, preachers knew where the money was being spent and began declaring blues the devil’s music.
Many music fans gained an introduction to the blues from listening to “white boy blues.” Modern day artists such as Eric Clapton, Duane Allman and Stevie Ray Vaughn mesmerized fans with their slide guitar and finger work that made the guitar strings scream with agony. Through their music, fans delved deeper to find the purest form of this genre, which sprung from a mixture of Negro spirituals, slave field chants and African musical traditions.
Begin your tour here
Grab a delicious breakfast at Yazoo Pass. DON’T pass up their angel-soft biscuits and espresso. A double shot of espresso or a decadent specialty coffee? The friendly staff will help you decide.
Plan to spend a day at the Delta Blues Museum, listed as one of the 1000 Places To Visit Before You Die by Patricia Shultz. It will give you a greater understanding of the source of this dolent, powerful music genre. They display outfits worn by performers, unique instruments such as cigar box guitars and other memorabilia. Clips of performances and interviews are shown on large screen televisions with benches strategically placed in front of them.
Relax and listen to the words of the old bluesmen and women on how they channeled the agonies and sorrows of their lives into their music. Present day musicians relate how they are influenced by this style of American music. Let the rhythm of the music pulse through your body, urging you to tap your feet, clap your hands and shake your moneymaker. If you can’t feel the beat, you’d better check your pulse. You could be dead.
Tour the city on foot
Download a free audio tour from VoiceMap (available from your favorite app store) to get the lay of the land and venture further into the town. It’s an excellent guide narrated by some of Clarksdale’s bright young minds and includes snippets of interviews from business owners and longtime residents of Clarksdale. The tour will guide you step by step, covering the important musical, cultural and historic sites of the town. It’s not a polished up, glib narrative. They tackle the issues of slavery, civil rights, the great migration of blacks to the North and the culture from which the blues rose.
Music may be the main attraction that draws you to Clarksdale, but there’s more cultural offerings. Did you know the town had strong ties to the Civil Rights Movement? The Reverend Martin Luther King came to the town in 1958 to help form the town’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He returned in 1962, encouraging the blacks of the community to unite and engage in peaceful protests to further their fight for civil rights.
It ain’t just the blues
From such a rich and painful history, art arises. I’m not talking about the fine oil strokes of a trained artist. The flat lands of the Delta has given birth to folk artists who draw inspiration from the land, music, the oppression, the church and the devil. They render their primitive creations using the materials available to them. They may utilize leftover house paint, rough lumber, mud and beer caps in their work. But the primal inner stirrings mixed with their chosen medium erupt and result in vivid orgies for the eye.
Cathead Delta Blues and Folk Art is tops on the list for music and art. Transplant Roger Stolle opened the music and art venue in 2002 to keep the flame of the blues movement stoked. It’s like blues heaven. He sells records, books and art. Don’t be surprised to find a performer picking and wailing outside on the sidewalk. One visit will give you an understanding why Paste magazine declared it one of the 17 “coolest record stores in America,” along with mentions in Lonely Planet, New York Times and 1,000 Places To See Before You Die. Check out their superb website, which is a combination of links to local happenings within the store and the blues community.
Eat, sleep, ramble, repeat
By now, you’re hungry. Clarksdale was once considered a food desert, lacking in the availability of fresh foods. But the revitalization of this town has reversed that situation. There’s a good variety of restaurants, serving everything from meat and threes to Lebanese, Chinese and Italian cuisines. It wouldn’t be a true Delta town without BBQ and tamales, which are also served up.
Now that your energy has been recharged, it’s time to hit up the nightlife. There’s the Stone Pony, Levon’s or Ground Zero Blues Club (owned by Clarksdale native Morgan Freeman). If you’re timing is right, you’ll land in Clarksdale for one of their many festivals. Folks flock into town for these events, so be sure to book accommodations early.
Explore the town’s literary ties to noted author and playwright Tennessee Williams. Visit the museum dedicated to him or attend the Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival, which presents scholarly lectures and plays on stages all around town.
Are you tired, yet? Accommodations in town range from low budget to upscale apartments and B & Bs. A night in one of the shotgun houses at the Shack Up Inn, America’s first B & B (beer and bed), is an experience that will never escape your mind. The owner moved several of the sharecropper homes onto the historic Hopson Plantation, and created a must-visit blues haven. The accommodations are bare-bones, decorated in thrift-store chic, evoking the hardcore existence of the sharecroppers who once lived there. Noted musicians and visitors from all over the world make the pilgrimage here to soak up the atmosphere and scratch their itch for the gritty blues. If you don’t feel the blues seep through veins after a night here, you just need to leave town.
Why Clarksdale? Why not?
Clarksdale is a friendly town, true to its Deep South roots. Folks here are used to visitors from all over the world. Transplants felt the vibe of all this town has to offer and made the decision to relocate to this mecca of the blues.
So what’s the draw of this town? It’s the pull of the nearby mighty Mississippi River, combined with the flatlands of the Delta providing vistas as far as the eye can strain to see. It’s the ghosts of the past, whispering in your ear, about the painful struggles of the slaves and sharecroppers. It’s an acoustic cigar box guitar, being plucked by a self-taught musician with a mournfulness that drives his talent. It’s the music that is played 365 nights a year, even on Christmas Eve and Christmas night. Perhaps it’s even a little bit of the same hoodoo that gave Robert Johnson his gift of the blues. Are you feeling the spell yet?
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