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
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Page ix
... East Mississippi 213 208 Meridian 213 Crawford 216 West Point 218 Whites (White Station) 222 Aberdeen 222 Tupelo 223 Chapter 10: North Mississippi Hill Country Oxford 228 Abbeville 233 Water Valley Holly Springs 231 233 Chulahoma 238 ...
... East Mississippi 213 208 Meridian 213 Crawford 216 West Point 218 Whites (White Station) 222 Aberdeen 222 Tupelo 223 Chapter 10: North Mississippi Hill Country Oxford 228 Abbeville 233 Water Valley Holly Springs 231 233 Chulahoma 238 ...
Page 6
... eastern guitar virtuoso Blind Blake, and the most popular and in- fluential of them all, the Dallas street singer Blind Lemon Jefferson. Jefferson traveled widely, recorded prolifically, and be- came the first superstar of the country ...
... eastern guitar virtuoso Blind Blake, and the most popular and in- fluential of them all, the Dallas street singer Blind Lemon Jefferson. Jefferson traveled widely, recorded prolifically, and be- came the first superstar of the country ...
Page 7
... east Texas , Alabama , Louisiana , and even Missouri . What is clear is that the blues , since its beginnings , has always found a home here . Mississippians have always made up a large proportion of all blues singers and an ...
... east Texas , Alabama , Louisiana , and even Missouri . What is clear is that the blues , since its beginnings , has always found a home here . Mississippians have always made up a large proportion of all blues singers and an ...
Page 9
... east - central Mis- sissippi . And Memphis , Tennessee , has always attracted Mississip- pians , among them musicians who played on Beale Street and heavily influenced that city's sounds . Mississippi blues reemerged as a national ...
... east - central Mis- sissippi . And Memphis , Tennessee , has always attracted Mississip- pians , among them musicians who played on Beale Street and heavily influenced that city's sounds . Mississippi blues reemerged as a national ...
Page 32
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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