Today we woke up in Clarksdale – the town in the Delta most associated with the blues.

Yesterday we hopped across three states – from Memphis, Tennessee south into Mississippi with a stop at the excellent Gateway to the Blues Museum in Tunica (thanks Webster for giving us the tour!). More stops at blues markers along the way – including the Abbay & Leatherman Plantation where Robert Johnson spent his childhood and barbecue at the Hollywood Cafe, immortalized in Marc Cohn’s song Walking in Memphis.
Then across the bridge over the Mississippi River into Helena, Arkansas, a small town that has seen hard times but in the 1930s and 1040s was a hotbed of blues music and culture. Robert Johnson lived and played there, as did Sonny Boy Williamson II and Howlin’ Wolf. In Helena (home of The King Biscuit Blues Festival – considered one of the world’s best) we toured the Delta Cultural Center, from which KFFA 1360 broadcasts a noontime blues show (“the longest running blues show in the world” – since 1941). Then, back over the Mississippi River and the short drive to Clarksdale, MS.