Mississippi has long been well-known as ‘ The cradle of the Blues’. Recently Mississippi has established the ‘Mississippi Blues Trail’ with regional markers to birthplaces to the homes of the legendary players’ plantations of the blues. An excursion in the Mississippi Delta takes visitors to where the blues began.
Clarksdale is generally a good place to begin the Mississippi Blues Trail. Being the cradle of Muddy Waters, Clarksdale, MS he is definitively the most cultural community of the blues in Mississippi. If you are looking for real blues you must look far beyond Beale Street in Memphis. You will have to leave this well-known area to find the true blues. Places like Po’ Monkey in Merigold. Merigold is to about 50 miles south of Clarksdale.
Ok, so you are ready to embark on your Blues Trail Tour? But where do you you start? A great place to start your adventure is the ‘ Shack Up Inn’ (www.shackupinn.com) just outside of Clarksdale, The tour truly is a trip in the time to the days of the plantation. The Shack Up Inn has refurbished ‘Shot Gun’ houses that were taken from ‘ Hobson Plantation’. The prices are very reasonable and houses have a complete kitchen and other nice amenities. From here, you are not far from the Blues Museum of Clarksdale. Here you can obtain area information and directions to all types of places of interest including many famous blues clubs. You can also go to the Cat Head Mini Blues Fest, which is put on each year in October. A great website for more information on this is www.cathead.biz.
The Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival Clarksdale Usually takes place in August. The Festival features many top Blues legends and top Blues acts from all the country, some of the south’s best barbecue, as well as arts and the crafts. This festival has been named one of ‘ Top 10′ festivals in the country. You can get more information at their website www.sunflowerfest.org.
On the other side of the bridge of the Mississippi river is Helena, AR. Every year in the second weekend of October there is another cool festival to attend known as the ‘Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival’. Many people say that Helena ,Arkansas is one of the best places in the South to hear real blues music. What started out as a small festival has gained a reputation throughout the nation and always draws a big crowd. Despite all the growth, the festival organizers have remained loyal to their roots. The festival is still dedicated to the Blues as performed by the musicians that were directly or indirectly influenced by Sonny Boy and his contemporaries. These artists include Pinetop Perkins, James Cotton, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Billy Branch, Kim Wilson of The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets featuring Sam Myers, Charlie Mussellwhite, Frank Frost, Sam Carr and a host of others.
