6
Mar
2010
Hitting Highway 61 in search of the blues
The Mississippi delta, the melting pot, a hot and humid brew of African, country and European sounds and rhythms. The south. The home. Where it all started.
I’m in New Orleans, Louisiana to start my blues heritage tour. Not quite an odyssey, but something akin to it.
New Orleans lies at the bottom end of Highway 61 — the Blues Highway — the popular route for blues performers travelling north from the Mississippi delta to seek fame and fortune in the northern Chicago metropolis.
The junction between Highway 61 and Highway 49 in Clarksdale, Mississipi is a famous crossroads. This is the place where, according to legend, Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for mastery over the guitar. Meeting at the crossroads at midnight, the Devil tuned Johnson’s guitar so that Johnson could play any song he wanted.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll drive north up Highway 61, stopping along the way to take in some sounds and interview characters from the local blues scene.
- What was it like to hear Jimmy ‘Snooks’ Allen in a tiny bar in 1965?
- Is there really a secret chord etched on the back of Elmore Jenson’s tombstone in Clarencetown?
- Is it true that Thomas ‘Blind Boy’ Austin drove Eddie Fitch for over a year before Eddie’s manager discovered Austin couldn’t see?
- I’m not a big drinker — can I still join the ’12 bar blues’ club?
- How do you eat a burger while pulling off a mean blues harp solo?
These are just some of the questions I’m hoping to find the answers to on this blues heritage tour.
How will I ride up Highway 61? In a chuffing fine car, that’s what: a red 1966 Ford Mustang.
Listen to interviews and music from the road trip each week on The Big Paws show from 6th March or subscribe to the podcast:
