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.