Destination Blues
For some people Clarksdale, Mississippi, may seem like an out of the way location, but for blues fans arriving from all over the US, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, Clarksdale and its Delta Blues Museum is the starting point for a journey to the “birthplace of the blues.”
Clarksdale is considered the epicenter of blues. Musicologist Alan Lomax was quoted as saying that Clarksdale produced more blues artists than any other place in the world. Whether born around Clarksdale, or elsewhere, the area became a major gathering place for musicians.
Music legends with Clarksdale-area roots include “Little Eddie” Boyd, Sam Cooke, “Little Willie” Foster, Tony Hollins, John Lee Hooker, Son House, Johnny B. Moore, Herman Parker, John B. Sellers, Charles Thomas, Joe Willie Wilkins, Joseph Williams, and John Thomas Wrecher. Ike Turner’s green clapboard house sits on Washington Street in Clarksdale and, just outside of town, at the crossroads of Highway 61 and 49, a guitar-shaped monument marks a spot where early 20th century bluesman Robert Johnson allegedly sold his soul to the devil for the gift of prowess in playing the guitar.
Clarksdale continues to draw celebrities and blues musicians today. Actor Morgan Freeman, who lives on a 120-acre ranch 39 miles southeast of Clarksdale, and his friend Bill Luckett opened the blues venue Ground Zero Blues Club and a restaurant in town. Despite the celebrities associated with Clarksdale, the city remains true to its ancestry.
“We want to hold onto the basic feel and sensibility of the place. We don’t want it too high-toned, because the minute you get too big, you become like Beale Street [Memphis], New Orleans, or any other place that becomes touristy, very surface and commercial,” said Freeman in a Clarksdale interview. “Right now, Clarksdale is very real.”
To that end the Delta Blues Museum’s mission is to help visitors find meaning, value, and perspective exploring the history and heritage of the unique American music known as the blues. Exhibits teach visitors about the culture and people of the blues utilizing photos, instruments, written word, and local artifacts to tell the story.
The oldest music museum in the state, approximately 5,000 square feet of the 12,000-square-foot museum building is currently devoted to exhibits. Visitors walking through the galleries will hear the sounds of area bluesmen like Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, and John Lee Hooker. A permanent stage hosts outdoor events, including the Sunflower River Blues Festival, now in its 19th year, which is held each August.
Expansion plans for a new wing dedicated to Muddy Waters and his childhood cabin are in the funding stage. The cabin’s current location in the center of the museum is inadequate and it’s displayed without its top two timbers. The cabin was rescued from the Stovall Plantation outside of Clarksdale, where it was almost destroyed by a 1987 tornado.
|
|||
Permanent exhibits include guitars such as a B.B. King “Lucille,” a ZZ Top “Muddywood” guitar (made from a piece of the cabin), as well as clothing worn by blues artists Pinetop Perkins, Eddie Cusic, Paul “Wine” Jones, Denise LaSalle, Dorothy Moore, and others. There is a case filled with traditional blues instruments including National steel guitars (popular among Delta bluesmen); a Bruno acoustic guitar dating back to the late 1800s; juice harps; bottleneck slides; harmonicas; and many other instruments associated with the music.
Through its Arts and Education Program the museum offers lessons on many of those blues instruments, taught by local musicians in the traditional way. The lessons are available to the general public, young and old alike. Walk-in students are welcome, and students may use the museum’s instruments or bring their own.
The Delta Blues Museum is an 80-mile drive from Memphis, Tennessee, and is located just off Highway 61. Summer hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday. In the winter, November 1 through February 29, the museum opens one hour later.
