I just got back from Clarksdale, Mississippi, where I attended the 25th Annual Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival, and where, at the Crossroads of Highways 61 and 49, I sold my soul to the devil, as did Robert Johnson, to become a better artist. I hope the ol' guy keeps his end of the bargain. Here I am shortly after having cosummated the deal.
You know you're in the Delta when you see the Christmas snowflake still hanging from the utility pole just left of the big crossed guitars sign.
You know you're in the Delta when you see the Christmas snowflake still hanging from the utility pole just left of the big crossed guitars sign.
Not far from the Crossroads, on the banks of the Sunflower River, is another Blues landmark, not to be missed when you are paying homage to the blues masters in the Mississippi Delta. The Riverside Hotel was once the G.T. Thomas Hospital for African Americans, and where Bessie Smith, the Empress of the Blues, died on September 6, 1937, after a car accident outside of Clarksdale.
Since it was turned into a hotel in 1944, many blues legends have stayed there, including Sonny Boy Williamson II, Robert Nighthawk, Ike Turner, and Duke Ellington.
Since it was turned into a hotel in 1944, many blues legends have stayed there, including Sonny Boy Williamson II, Robert Nighthawk, Ike Turner, and Duke Ellington.
Many great blues musicians were born or lived in and around Clarksdale, including John Lee Hooker, Ike Turner, Little Junior Parker, and Sam Cooke, just to name a few.
Many lived on the expansive plantations that still surround the town and command the Delta, like Stovall's, six miles north, pictured here, where Muddy Waters was discovered by John Work III and Alan Lomax in 1941. Muddy left the Stovall Plantation for good in 1943 and caught a train to Chicago at the station that still stands just off of Issaquena Street in downtown Clarksdale.
Many lived on the expansive plantations that still surround the town and command the Delta, like Stovall's, six miles north, pictured here, where Muddy Waters was discovered by John Work III and Alan Lomax in 1941. Muddy left the Stovall Plantation for good in 1943 and caught a train to Chicago at the station that still stands just off of Issaquena Street in downtown Clarksdale.
Red's Juke Joint, at the corner of Martin Luther King and Sunflower, in Clarksdale, Mississippi--the kind of place Muddy would have enjoyed.
This year's festival was jam-packed with local and international talent--too much to report on here. So, briefly, these are my favorites: O.B. Buchana and Bobby Rush rocked the house on Friday night. They were both hot and we had a party! Later, at Red's, Terry "Harmonica" Bean was exceptionally inspired--another party! Saturday morning favorites were Robert Belfour, Eddie Cusic, and Shardee Turner & the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band. Saturday night smoked with James "Super Chikan" Johnson, Charlie Musselwhite, and Robert Plant. What a show! Bilbo Walker was back in town to get down at Big T's juke joint afterwards and on into Sunday morning church time.
I have only one issue to take with the whole thing. In an effort to bring in a bunch of big names for this 25th anniversary festival, the organizers sold a ton of sponsorships and they were all rewarded with tables in front of the stage, relegating the non-sponsor, non-payers to the side and in the back on John Lee Hooker Lane--so you had all the white folks (the sponsors) in front of the stage enclosed by a fence that kept all the black folks (local Clarksdalians mostly) out and away from the performers they had come to see. I'm sure nothing racial was meant by this set-up, but it sure looked awful. Plus someone decided, for the first time ever, to put a chainlink fence around the entire festival area, again segregating the community from the show. And, since the festival is free, this of course makes no sense at all. Forgive my rant, but this craziness must be stopped!
I have only one issue to take with the whole thing. In an effort to bring in a bunch of big names for this 25th anniversary festival, the organizers sold a ton of sponsorships and they were all rewarded with tables in front of the stage, relegating the non-sponsor, non-payers to the side and in the back on John Lee Hooker Lane--so you had all the white folks (the sponsors) in front of the stage enclosed by a fence that kept all the black folks (local Clarksdalians mostly) out and away from the performers they had come to see. I'm sure nothing racial was meant by this set-up, but it sure looked awful. Plus someone decided, for the first time ever, to put a chainlink fence around the entire festival area, again segregating the community from the show. And, since the festival is free, this of course makes no sense at all. Forgive my rant, but this craziness must be stopped!
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