In the next coming months, I am thinking about taking The Blues Road Trip from Memphis to Clarksdale. Has anyone done this road trip before? Thoughts?

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I don't know if it's on youtube, but if you can get a hold Joe Bonamassa's DVD Muddy and the Wolf, there is a Bonus feature where he chronicals a trip he took along the Blues Route which includes the real Crossroads vs. the "Claimed" crossroads. After watching it I decided that it's a trip I hope to make within the next few years.

Before seeing the Stones in Atlanta this year, I made stops in Memphis, Clarksdale & Nashville.

So I haven't done "the blues road trip" as suggested in your link, but visited Memphis and Clarksdale.

Memphis is great. Of course I visited Graceland. Then I stopped at Sun Studios, Staxx Musxeum, Beale Street, the Gibson factory and some record stores.

Clarksdale is really a small town. If you top there for one or two nights, you get to see everything. You've got to eat a burger at Abe's at the crossing of highway 61 and 49. There is live music at Morgan Freeman's Ground Zero Blues Club. I would suggest to stay at the Hopson Plantation just outside of town. It's such a unique place.

I would do it again. Go for it.

Pity ya hadn't have gone ta Clarksdale somewhere in the early 30's and then back down ta Memphis in '54 ....



ROCKMAN

Hello JohnnyBGoode,

I drove that road all the way north from New Orleans to Memphis. To be honnest, the part from Clarksdale to Memphis is not the best one (I even remember it was boring when approaching Memphis).

The best of the best is from New Orleans (or any place from the very south of Mississippi state, for instance Natchez) to Clarksdale.

There are so many interesting places to visit that you should plane 3 days.

Last advise, DO NOT visit Clarksdale on a monday evening because the famous Ground Zero Club is closed.

After Clarksdale head on down to Greenville and eat at Doe's Eat Place. The best steak you will ever have. Google it! Some nice juke joints as well!

Ross

Make sure you have your rider by your side man.

In Clarksdale, make sure you stay at the Shack Up Inn: [www.shackupinn.com]

Yes I've done it. Gotta visit the crossroads of course and the Delta Blues Museum where you can step into the remnants of Muddy Waters original MS cabin.

Then head to Greenwood where Robert Johnson is buried. Greenwood is a very cool little southern town, home of Bobby Gentry. Visit the winery in an old fire station. Fans of the movie "The Help" can also visit many sites from the movie including the house most of it was filmed at.

Don't miss everything in Memphis, Sun, Graceland, Beale St., Stax, Rock & Soul, Blues Hall of Fame, Memphis Music Hall of Fame, etc.



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done it. after all it's still a shame to see that compared to the religious elvis-mania the old blues guys almost get no recognition. but you'll find fantastic liveshows in nashville, memphis and especialy new orleans. greenville has quite a famous bluesfestival.

Muddy's place is in Rolling Fork, a bit south of Greenville. Between Greenville and Greenwood you will go right through Indianola, MS, birthplace of BB King. Stop by the BB King Museum and Delta Center. (You also go through Leland, if you are a Muppets fan check out the Jim Henson museum!)

There are at 3 Robert Johnson burial sites around Greenwood, Itta Bena and Morgan City, take your pick or see all 3! Then stay at the Alluvian Hotel in Greenwood.

Mississipi is rich with culture. A wonderful place to visit, just don't venture too far off the beaten path at night!

Ross



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Also in Clarksdale, stay at the Riverside Hotel, where Bessie Smith died when it was a hospital. I did it in 1996 as part of a blues pilgrimage where I drove about 2,000 miles around Mississippi - most of that was getting lost and backtracking. None of the locals had heard of any of the bluesmen we know and love.

Clarksdale also has (had?) the birthplaces of Sam Cooke and Ike Turner. I believe Morgan Freeman lives there now, and owns a bar. The town was pretty run-down when I was there. IIRC, its rebirth was recounted in the NYTimes or some other august publication fairly recently.

I also did lots of graves in MS - Fred McDowell, all the Robert Johnsons, Charley Patton, Sonny Boy Williamson, etc.

There is (was?) also the Dockery Farms plantation, the former site of the Three Forks store where Robert Johnson was poisoned. BTW, the location of the current Crossroads is different from where he sold his soul. I went there at night, of course.

Beyond that, the Mississippi hill country - Oxford, Hollis Springs - is a beautiful drive.

Try contacting this chap, Jim O´Neal. See if he has any more Delta Blues Map Kits for sale. I bought mine from his now-defunct shop in Clarksdale:

[stackhouse-bluesoterica.blogspot.com]

Also, the Robert Palmer/Dave Stewart Mississippi blues docu Deep Blues is essential viewing, though most of its participants are dead now.