Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 662-627-3166; 395 Sunflower Ave; cover $10; live music 9pm Fri & Sat)
Clarksdale's best
juke joint, with its neon-red mood lighting, plastic-bag ceiling and general soulful disin-
tegration is the best place to see blues men howl. Red runs the bar, and may have some
moonshine hidden back there?
Ground Zero
BLUES CLUB
(
www.groundzerobluesclub.com
; 0 Blues Alley; 11am-2pm Mon-Tue, to 11pm Wed & Thu, to 1am
Fri & Sat)
For blues in more polished environs, we recommend Morgan Freeman's Ground
Zero, a huge and friendly hall with a dancefloor surrounded by tables. Bands take the
stage Wednesday to Saturday.
Shopping
Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art
ARTS & CRAFTS
(
www.cathead.biz
;
252 Delta Ave; 10am-5pm Mon-Sat)
Friendly St Louis carpetbagger and
author, Roger Stolle runs a colorful, all-purpose, blues emporium. The shelves are
jammed with books, face jugs, local art and blues records. Stolle seems to be connected
to everyone in the Delta, and knows when and where the bands will play.
Around Clarksdale
For such a poor, flat part of the country, the Delta has a surprisingly deep list of funky
little towns to explore.
Down Hwy 49,
Tutwiler
is where the blues began its migration from oral tradition to
popular art form. Here, WC Handy, known as the Father of the Blues, first heard a share
cropper moan his 12-bar prayer while the two waited for a train in 1903. He transcribed
it in 1912, but wasn't recognized as a blues pioneer until his 'Beale Street Blues' became
a hit in 1916. That meeting is immortalized by a mural at the
Tutwiler Tracks
(Hwy 49,
Tutwiler; )
.
East of Greenville, Hwy 82 heads out of the Delta. The
Highway 61 Blues Museum
(
www.highway61blues.com
; 307 N Broad St; 10am-4pm Tue-Sat Nov-Feb, 10am-5pm Mon-Sat
Mar-Oct)
, at the start of the route known as the
Blues Highway
' packs a mighty wallop in
a condensed, six-room space venerating local bluesman from the Delta.
Leland
Stopping in the tiny Delta town of
Indianola
is well worthwhile, to visit the incredible,
