Highway 61 & The Blues Trail
Mike Marino

Mississippi Delta Blues singer Robert Johnson penned the words to the song, "Cross Road Blues" and today, the spirit of Robert Johnson will be at your side as you make the journey to a rich variety of historic blues sites and museums in the state of Mississippi that preserve, document and celebrate the lives of the musicians and their music that are intrinsically interwoven into the very fabric of the American experience. There is no doubt about it, when it comes to the blues, Mississippi is the very crossroads of southern blues music and it's rich southern heritage. There is even an official blues highway, and you can hit the road with a bag full of blues when you gas up and put the pedal to the metal on Highway 61...Mississippi's official Blues Highway.
Highway 61 blazes a path through a diverse blues filled garden of musical Eden in Mississippi from the Delta to the Pines as you take a journey on a musical highway deep into the past that will take you to the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, located at the legendary "cross roads" of Highway 61 and Highway 49 where Faustian-like legend has it, Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for the ability to master the blues. It was also on this very same stretch of road where singer Bessie Smith died in a car wreck back in the Depression Era of the Thirties.
Highway 61 actually stretches from New Orleans in Louisiana, northward through the south and as far as it's terminus in Minnesota near the Canadian Border. This was the north-south route many of the south’s blues musicians traveled along to play their brand of roots music in jumpin' urban clubs in Memphis and as far north as the Windy City of Chicago.
Minnesota native, folk singer and civil rights activist Bob Dylan wrote a song about the highway entitled "Highway 61 Revisited" but, the song that will forever stand as a lasting tribute to the famed highway and to the blues, is the Cross Roads Blues by Mississippi native Robert Johnson.
Johnsons song was originally released in 1936 on 78 rpm records on the Vocation label. It was later covered by many musicians who regard Johnson as their inspiration including the British super-group Cream with lead guitarist Eric Clapton.
In addition to Highway 61, there is also the more encompassing Mississippi Blues Trail created by the Mississippi Blues Commission to place markers at all the historic sites and places that are related to the growth of the blues in the state.
When it comes to the blues, Mississippi has given birth to more blues musicians than all of the other southern states combined, so, there are a lot of markers marking locations that are must see on any blues itinerary.
The Mississippi Blues Trail has placed historic markers throughout the state of Mississippi down to the Louisiana border at historic blues sites at the homes of blues musicians, and other locales important to the story and development of the blues, including stops along the famous Chitlin Musicians Circuit, blues radio stations, cemeteries, churches, small clubs and even the state prison in Parchman where Civil Rights Freedom Riders in the turbulent Sixties were imprisoned under horrendous conditions upon conviction of whatever charges the judges could fabricate.
The prison was harsh, but, the incarcerated prisoners sang songs to not only pass the time in peaceful protest, but also to irritate the guards and prison staff, needless to say, those songs were the blues.
The Blues Trail traverses various parts of the state, and is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Not all markers, however, are in Mississippi. There are markers in Memphis as well. Remember, Elvis had blues and gospel roots too, and that musical heritage was the foundation for his brand of southern fused rock and roll.
The first marker placed by the Commission was in Holly Ridge in 2005 and is dedicated to Charlie Patton, known as the Father of Mississippi Delta Blues. There is even a marker in downtown Chicago as that is where many blues musicians migrated to from the south to play small clubs prior to becoming famous. Museums that lie along the trail include the B.B.King Museum and Interpretive Center in Indianola; The Elvis Presley Birthplace and Museum in Tupelo; The Highway 61 Blues Museum in Leland; and numerous other museums dedicated to such notables as Howlin Wolf, Jimmie Rodgers, Robert Johnson and the Rock n' Roll and Blues Heritage Museum.
The Mississippi Delta Blues Museum is one of the crown blues jewels in Mississippi located on the Blues Trail, as a matter of fact it's located right on the Blues Highway itself at the "cross roads" of Highway 61 and Highway 49 in Clarksdale. This is the legendary intersection made famous in The Cross Road Blues.
Clarksdale is properly known as "The Land Where the Blues Were Born" and has been the vital epicenter of southern blues culture since the 1920's. Many of the legendary blues musicians are from the area including B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Ike Turner, Sam Cooke, Junior Parker and W.C. Handy.
The museum is housed in the historic Clarskdale Freight Depot Building, built in the early 20th Century and is a 5,000 square foot wonderland of blues related memorabilia and artifacts that preserves and documents the history of this very American music genre.
One of the notable displays is the Stovall Farm cabin blues legend and icon Muddy Waters lived in during his days sharecropping. It was also at this very cabin that musicologist Alan Lomax first recorded this Waters back in 1941.
One display in the museum pays tribute to the first acknowledged rock and roll recording of Rocket 88 that featured local native son, Ike Turner, and if your a southern blues-rock ZZ Top fan and also a Muddy Waters fan you'll enjoy seeing the "Muddywood" guitar prominently displayed. The ZZ Top band had the guitar custom made from one of the wooden timbers from the Muddy Waters cabin in a unique way to pay tribute to their musical mentor. The museum also has a host of educational programs as well as blues lessons and traveling displays.
Clarksdale itself is as jumpin' as a juke joint when it comes to live music venues and annual festivals. Local clubs run the gamut from the Ground Zero Blues Club to the Hambone Art Gallery and Red's Lounge. Festivals are rousing affairs such as the Juke Joint Festival held every April featuring a parade, food, art, a petting zoo, kids activities, tours and a pig race! At night there is a roster of bands that fill the air with the sounds of the blues. Other annual festivals include the Highway 61 Blues Festival, and the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival. Then there is the annual party of all blues parties with the B.B. King Homecoming Festival where the man, the myth, the legend himself returns to town to play a free outdoor concert.
So pack up your bag and head for Mississippi, home of the Blues Trail or make tracks for the “cross roads” on Highway 61! The Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale http://www.deltabluesmuseum.org/ The Mississippi Blues Trail Organization http://www.msbluestrail.org