Leland and Greenville Mississippi are important places in the history of the Blues. Greenville in particular was once a major spot for touring Bluesmen. Greenville’s Nelson St. is said to have once been lined with Juke Joints. Greats like Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, and Sonny Boy Williamson would have played there in the Golden Age of the Blues. Driving down Nelson St., trying to imagine what it must have been like in the 1930’s was a fun thing to do on a very hot day. We stopped by the old train station and ate lunch at a nearby barbeque. You could almost catch the ghost of a well dressed guitar slinger, waiting on the platform for the next train from Greenville to Clarksdale.

The Jim Henson Museum in Leland is a real treat. Jim Henson and his real-life childhood friend Kermit grew up in Leland. The museum houses a Banjo Playing Kermit made by Jim Henson himself and several other muppets. The museum is a beautiful setting for Kermit. It is surrounded by shade trees and set by a creek with lilly pads. We were sad to find out that the original Kermit muppet (made by Jim Henson from his Mom’s spring coat) is at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. Still, it was fun to connect with great childhood memories and learn more about Jim Henson. He was a genius!

The afternoon took us to Tutwiler to pay our respects to the great Blues harmonica player, Sonny Boy Williamson II (Alex Rice Miller). Tutwiler was a bit off the beaten track and probably the poorest of all of the communities we visited. The grave lies in a graveyard with no church. It is a lonely spot with most of the gravestones overgrown with weeds. Sonny Boy’s grave sits in a prominent spot at the back of the yard. It was good to see that someone regularly tends to his grave.

We said goodbye to Mississippi after a stop at the grave of the Legendary Bluesman R.L Burnside in Holly Springs, M.S. Holly Springs is in the Mississippi Hill Country. The Hill Country has a totally different landscape than the Delta. Also, the Blues from the Hill Country is different from Delta Blues. Blues from the Hill Country originated from fife and drum music and is characterized by a driving rhythm and not necessarily twelve-bar formula. I poured a small bottle of whisky on RL’s burial plot. Now, I can say that I bought him a drink. If you have not heard RL Burnside, you need to. Go to youtube and pull up “Poor Black Mattie” -Wow!

So, we are on our way home now but hope to come back to Mississippi. It’s a wonderful place filled with wonderful people…like the Clarks. When we were in Moorhead at the Place where the Yazoo and the Southern rail lines cross. Bob Clark came over to see us and invited us to his office (at a nearby auto-parts shop) to see a picture of the site before they changed the position of the crossing. He told us about his younger days playing near this special site. He was so kind to us strangers, like so many folks we’ve met down here.

So, we are headed home by way of West Virginia and Ohio. Next, the Cleveland Rock and Roll Museum.

In a small town you have to be resourceful. Well, here is the next candidate for entrepreneur of the year! My dentist would have a coronary if she saw this...I think I see Xmas card potential here. Anyway, I digress.
Today, we visited the three (yes, three) gravesites of Robert Johnson and the grave of "Mississippi" John Hurt. These sites are located near Greenwood Mississippi. Back inFebruary, my friend Ken, kindly agreed to place one of my guitar picks on the grave of Robert Johnson. Ken was planning to visit the grave on the way to New Orleans. I asked him to help me make a physical connection and pay my respects because I never thought I would make it here. Since I did make it here, I felt it was my duty to help another musician make a connection to the Great One. Today, I placed one of Paul Teeter's picks on the grave of Robert Johnson. Paul is a sixteen-year old guitar player who is practising hard and showing great promise. I saw him play two songs at a cancer benefit, in Georgetown, back in April. He played "Red House" by Jimi Hendrix and did a really good job! He's got great tone and a killer vibrato for a dude his age. I hope lots of good mojo comes his way, now that part of him is here.
"Mississippi" John Hurt's grave required some off-roading. Dawn's well honed navigational skills were put to the test but she got us there, perfectly. Also, the Civic managed to survive the challenge. The grave is on a hill-top surrounded by beautiful forest. It is exactly the kind of place you would expect to find John Hurt's grave. Shady and peaceful, with the exception of a frightened Armadillo that went bounding off when we arrived at the spot.
So now I can cross these things off of my life-list. I visited four power-places of the blues today. What a day! Tomorrow we are off to Stephen LeVerre's Blues Heritage Museum(Stephen is the world's foremost expert on Robert Johnson), Greenwood and Leland (birthplace of Jim Henson and Kermit the frog).

A Hot Day in the Mississippi Delta teaches you to slow down and take your time. We spent a big chunk of the morning in Clarksdale, touring the Delta Blues Museum and seeing sights in town. It's incredible that the shack that Muddy Waters lived in, (when he worked on Stovall Plantation) is actuallly inside the museum. We sat in that shack and watched a video on the remarkable life of Muddy Waters, Clarksdale's proudest son. The power of that experience alone is worth the trip to Clarksdale and I will never forget it! After touring Clarksdale we headed out to Stovall Plantation to see where Muddy Waters lived. Here is a video of that beautiful spot. Birds were chirping and the wind was rustling through the wheat as we walked around Muddy's home. It was hard to believe that I was standing in the very spot where Alan Lomax "discovered" Muddy Waters. That discovery changed the course of music history. If Lomax didn't travel to Stovall's, there would be no Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix! WOW. We listened to the Stovall Sessions on the car radio on our way back from Stovall, to grab lunch at Abe's BBQ in Clarksdale. A side note: we have eaten Barbeque everyday since we have been in the Deep South. Right now I'm thinking about tomorrow's barbeque. Seriously, there is nothing up North that even comes close Southern Barbeque. Even the poorest shotgun Shack down here, has a barbeque in front of it. Not a gas grill! I'm talking about a real honest to goodness smoking rig. Folks down here are all experts on Barbeque and the topic is a very sensitive one. Don't talk about Barbeque, just eat it -it's all good down here. After lunch, we headed south of Beulah to find the crossroad set from the movie "Crossroads". We found it but there is no longer a true crossroad at the spot. Bad weather must has caused some re-aligning of the roads. There is a cemetery there though and it's a creepy one to boot. Here is a photo of me beside a dead tree in the cemetery that has grown around a tombstone. If I look worried, it's because there's a bees nest in that tree behind me (the buzzing sounded like an airplane). I wanted to get my photo taken here because the movie meant so much to me and approaching fourty, I am nearing a crossroad of a different sort. I waited at the crossroad but no Devil Showed up, except...I did accidentally run over a snake when I turned into the place. Maybe I got him before he got me... ha ha. Seriously, I feel so bad about running over that snake.

This is the Abbay & Leatherman Plantation Where Robert Johnson spent his formative years. It is a marker on the blues trail and a very beautiful and peaceful spot. Thanks to Dawn for taking this photo of me with my guitar. Tonight we arrived in Clarksadale. Friday night in Clarksdale is certainly special. We went out jookin' at the touristy "Ground Zero" (owned by Morgan Freeman) but ended up at the real deal - "Red's" on Martin Luther King Dr. . Commercial Yuppy tourist trap vs. real juke. It was an education... We preferred the real deal at "Red's". At Red's we danced to the blues magic of "Big Al". What a night! We are so Thankful that real Mississippi Juke Joints exist! We made some friends and killed some brain cells. A friday Night in Clalksdale makes you happy to be alive! Tomorrow, Helena, Greenwood and Indianola. Goodnight Toronto!

Beale St. at Night is a sight to see. It is kind of like Bourbon St.'s little sister. We walked up and down, watching people, listening to music, ducking drunks. There's a whole lot of night life happening in those two or three blocks.
Here's a photo of Dawn by the Blues Cafe, on Beale. Shortly after this photo, we packed it in. It was a long day of driving in torrential rains and after a belly full of Barbeque, we were beat!
Tomorrow we're off to Graceland, Helena and Clarksdale. Thankfully, there will be less driving and more sight-seeing. Oh yeah, I managed to find a rare Mississippi Fred McDowell CD ! sweeet!!

Toronto to Louisville KY

Well, my guess was pretty close. We just made it into Louisville at 11:45pm on Wed. May 19. I wasn't feeling too hot this morning, I think the final push to clear my desk and tie up loose ends at work burned me out a bit. So, its lots of fluids for me and Pro-Biotics.
It was a fun day even if I wasn't in top form. We saw the usual stuff and chuckled at the weird names of places down here, like.."Big Bone Lick State Park" (I'm not joking go to http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/recparks/bb/ if you don't believe me).
I learned an important lesson : you can't play guitar in the back seat of a Honda Civic. Yep, I brought my guitar down here to bless it with the mojo of the blues sites and to keep my chops up.
One thing's for sure, I would like to see Kentucky in the dailight, someday. Even in the glow of the moonlight, this hills are a sight to see!
Tomorrow we are on to the real South, Memphis TN...after a brief stop at Jimmy Beam's place in Claremont...What! Thare's vitameens in that thare whiskey.

Crossroads (1986) duel

Floods and Tornadoes Hit the Southern USA

It's posted all over the internet: photos showing loss and devastation in some of the USA's poorest communities. Places like West Memphis and Nashville are underwater, while Yazoo city is in pieces. Leaders are calling for days of prayer and trying to raise funds to begin the long process of rebuilding. Meanwhile, the severe weather warnings continue.
The Deep South has sure endured its share of extreme weather. Actually, the worst flood in US history happened in Mississippi in April of 1927. Fifteen inches of rain fell in the space of 18 hours causing the levee system of the Mississippi river to breach in a hundred and forty-five places. The resulting flood covered twenty-seven thousand square miles, caused four-hundred-million dollars in damage and killed a reported 246 people. Seven-hundred-thousand families were forced to seek refuge in government flood camps or move away. The recent bad weather, although less severe, has caused a similar displacement of people.
It is so hard to imagine what it must be like to loose everything and have to start again once, let alone two or three times in one life-time! There is much need so, if you are reading this, please consider offering help. Even a small donation can make a world of difference. You can go to http://www.msema.org for more information on how to donate to victims of the Mississippi hurricane. If you cannot give money, please send some positive thoughts or prayers for the good folks of Mississippi.
Trying to plan a trip to the South based on weather is an interesting project. I did some research on this matter back in January. One internet source revealed the" bad weather" season in the Deep South is from April to June while another says March to September! I'm thinking there could be a chance of bad weather somewhere between say....Winter and....um, I don't know....Fall!? We were considering putting the trip on hold (based on the current weather reports) but decided to call BB King's in Memphis and the Delta Blues Museum for more information. Thankfully, both sources report no damage and indicate business is in progress, as usual. So, time to move forward with our plan. Back to my research...