Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta BluesAt a crossroads in the Mississippi Delta, Robert Johnson is said to have sold his soul to the Devil so that he could become a guitar virtuoso and King of the Delta Blues. Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues will tell you where that legendary deal was supposed to have been made and guide you to all the other hallowed grounds that nourished Mississippi's signature music. Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, Memphis Minnie, Jimmie Rodgers, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Howlin' Wolf, B. B. King, Little Milton, Elvis Presley, Bobby Rush, Junior Kimbrough, R. L. Burnside-the list of great artists with Mississippi connections goes on and on. A trip through Mississippi blues sites is a pilgrimage every music lover ought to make at least once in a lifetime, to see the juke joints and churches, to visit the birthplaces and graves of blues greats, to walk down the dusty roads and over the levee, to eat some barbecue and greens, to sit on the bank of the Mississippi River, and to hear some down-home blues music. Blues Traveling is the first and only guidebook to Mississippi's musical places and blues history. With photographs, maps, easy-to-follow directions, and an informative, entertaining text, this book will lead you in and out of Clarksdale, Greenwood, Helena (Arkansas), Rolling Fork, Jackson, Natchez, Bentonia, Rosedale, Itta Bena, and dozens of other locales that generations of blues musicians have lived in, traveled through, and sung about. Stories, legends, and lyrics are woven into the text so that each backroad and barroom comes alive. Touring Mississippi with Blues Traveling is like having a knowledgeable and entertaining guide at your side. Even people with no immediate plans to visit Mississippi will enjoy reading the book for its photos, descriptions, and lore that will broaden their understanding and enhance their appreciation of the blues. Steve Cheseborough is an independent scholar and blues musician. His work has been published in Living Blues, Blues Access, Mississippi, and the Southern Register . |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 57
Page 6
... artists, past and present. But even today, if you ask a rock, pop, or jazz musician to play the blues, that standardized format is what you will get. The next blues craze began in 1920, when bandleader- composer Perry Bradford persuaded ...
... artists, past and present. But even today, if you ask a rock, pop, or jazz musician to play the blues, that standardized format is what you will get. The next blues craze began in 1920, when bandleader- composer Perry Bradford persuaded ...
Page 7
... artists , most of whom were southerners transplanted to Chicago , such as Big Bill Broonzy , Memphis Minnie , and Tampa Red . But down in Missis- sippi , people continued to play the down - home blues in jook joints and on street ...
... artists , most of whom were southerners transplanted to Chicago , such as Big Bill Broonzy , Memphis Minnie , and Tampa Red . But down in Missis- sippi , people continued to play the down - home blues in jook joints and on street ...
Page 8
... artists were actually born in the hills) who interacted, competed, and innovated. As ethnomusicologist David Evans has explained, the Delta, despite its rural nature, functioned like an urban area, pulling in people from widespread ...
... artists were actually born in the hills) who interacted, competed, and innovated. As ethnomusicologist David Evans has explained, the Delta, despite its rural nature, functioned like an urban area, pulling in people from widespread ...
Page 9
... artists with styles so similar to each other's yet distinctive from anyone else's that some scholars consider the town a unique blues “ school . ” Jimmie Rodgers , the white singing brakeman whose yodeling versions of black blues songs ...
... artists with styles so similar to each other's yet distinctive from anyone else's that some scholars consider the town a unique blues “ school . ” Jimmie Rodgers , the white singing brakeman whose yodeling versions of black blues songs ...
Page 10
... artist . A few years later , the Robert Mugge film Deep Blues showed that there still were down- home Mississippi blues artists in real life , not just on old records . Other developments include Living Blues magazine moving its of ...
... artist . A few years later , the Robert Mugge film Deep Blues showed that there still were down- home Mississippi blues artists in real life , not just on old records . Other developments include Living Blues magazine moving its of ...
Contents
3 | |
Memphis | 23 |
Down Highway 61 | 55 |
The Clarksdale Area | 81 |
The MidDelta | 105 |
The Greenwood Area | 131 |
Greenville to Vicksburg | 151 |
The Jackson Area | 183 |
East Mississippi | 213 |
North Mississippi Hill Country | 227 |
Recommended Reading | 251 |
Recommended Listening | 253 |
Index | 259 |
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Common terms and phrases
album Avenue B. B. King band Beale Street blues artists Blues Festival blues marker Blues Museum blues singers bluesman Bo Carter building Café casinos catfish cemetery Center Charley Patton Chatmon Church Clarksdale club cotton crossroads dance Delta Blues Dockery downtown drive Elmore James Elvis Forks front grave Greenville Greenwood guitar guitarist Handy harmonica Helena Highway 61 Holly Springs Howlin Hurt Jackson Jimmy jook joint Kimbrough King Biscuit levee live blues live music Lomax Memphis Minnie miles Mississippi blues Mississippi Sheiks moved Muddy Waters murals Natchez Nelson Street night owner Parchman Park plantation Presley radio record company restaurant River road Robert Johnson Robert Nighthawk Rodgers Rufus Thomas sang Saturday shacks sing Skip James songs Sonny Boy Nelson Sonny Boy Williamson Southern Speir station Stax studio Sunflower tour town Tutwiler Vicksburg Willie Wolf Yazoo