It has been called “The Main Street Of The Delta” – and it’s not hard to see why. Highway 61 runs for 1,400 miles (2,300km) between New Orleans, Louisiana, and Wyoming, Minnesota. For our purposes, we will concentrate on the section from “The Cradle Of Jazz” to Memphis, often dubbed “The Highway Of The Blues”, the area that is broadly defined as the Mississippi Delta.The Delta begins at Vicksburg, 300 miles from the mouth of the river, extending for 250 miles northwards to Memphis. The vast almond-shaped alluvial plain was formed from thousands of years of flooding by the mighty Mississippi in the west and the smaller Yazoo River in the east. This vast lush plain, “flat as a griddle”, is cotton country.Until 1820, the Delta was an undeveloped area of hardwood forest.
This is a release I have had for a while but haven't been able to find any info about it online so the release year is not 100% sure. All thats known is the info written in the booklet; it was recorded at Difference Studios, Winter park in Florida and the Line-Up was: Roderick Gray-Lewis - Lead, Rhythm and aucustic Guitars, David Mikael - Vocals, Bass & Keyboards and Chip Micronus - Drums.
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Around 1835, settlers began to clear the Delta so that cotton could be grown. After the Civil War, the land was completely cleared and plantations were developed across the length and breadth of the Delta. The Delta became the catalyst, an unrelenting environment from which the only outcome could have been the blues.On 27 November 1936, in San Antonio, Texas, Robert Johnson recorded his ‘Crossroad Blues’, which was the genesis of his legend and the ongoing fascination with Highway 61. It’s the legend of Johnson selling his soul to the devil at a crossroads, probably on Highway 61, and has preoccupied almost everyone in blues and rock’n’roll for the last 80 years.The legend causes current residents of the Delta to roll their eyes when asked by eager blues tourists to tell them where they can find the crossroads. Others, of course, do not bother asking. They just go to the junction of Highway 61 and Highway 49 and have their photograph taken. What they do not realise is the current crossroads of the two highways is at least half a mile from the one that would have existed in Johnson’s lifetime.
In any event, there were no actual crossroads, Johnson was singing of a mythical place.1965 album, Highway 61 Revisited fuelled the interstate’s legend still further, and in the intervening years between Johnson’s classic recording and Dylan’s revisiting, blues songs by Mississippi Fred McDowell (‘61 Highway’), and Roosevelt Sykes, Jack Kelly & His South Memphis Jug Band and Will Batts (‘Highway 61 Blues’) have added to the mythology.The blues introduced itself to the world from Memphis. Moving up Mississippi’s Highway 61, it, the legendary musical haven and centre of African-American culture in Memphis and the surrounding region.In the 20s, labels including Columbia, OKeh, Victor and Bluebird headed to Memphis and had their scouts put out the word that if you had some good songs to perform then you should present yourself during a specific time. Among those that answered the call were The Memphis Jug Band, Cannon’s Jug Stompers, Frank Stokes, Ishman Bracey, Tommy Johnson and Sleepy John Estes. Planning a road trip? Here are 13 unmissable spots in and around Highway 61.
Rhythm Night Club5 St Catherine Street, Natchez, MississippiNo longer an actual nightclub, this small memorial building commemorates the Natchez fire of 23 April 1940, during which over 200 people died. The three markers claiming to be Robert Johnson’s resting place. Left: the Mount Zion marker laid down by Sony; top: the marker at Payne Chapel, paid for by ZZ Top; bottom: the marker at Little Zion Missionary Baptist church.Dockery Farms229 MS-8, Cleveland, MississippiA 25,600-acre cotton plantation and sawmill, Dockery Farms was situated on the Sunflower River, on Highway 8, between Cleveland and Ruleville.
Recently named a, the site is generally considered the birthplace of the blues; sharecroppers working for Will Dockery would live together in boarding houses, where they would play the music that took shape as the blues. The “Founder Of The Delta Blues”, Charley Patton was one of the earliest settlers at Dockery, through Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf and Pops Staples also passed through, soaking up influences and forming their own styles. The GT Thomas Hospital room in which Bessie Smith died is now part of the Riverside Hotel.Stovall Farms4146 Oakhurst Stovall Road, Clarksdale, MississippiLocated just outside Clarksdale, Stovall Farms is where Muddy Waters lived for much of his early life – and, most importantly, where he was recorded by Alan Lomax between 1941 and 1942. The actual building in which he lived is now preserved in the Delta Blues Museum.BB King’s Blues Club143 Beale Street, Memphis, TennesseeOne of several BB Kings Blues Clubs across the US, the Beale Street venue was the first, opened in 1991, in the heart of the live music district in Memphis.
Photography by Evan Maragkoudakis www.evanmaragkoudakis.comrecorded, mixed and mastered by Alex Ketenjian, at www.unrealstudioz.comLYRICS:It's all about youMakes me wanna kill myselfI'm sorry it's trueNow it's time to goBelieve it or notDid my best in loving youNo time to loseNo goodbyesThe turned back bluesI should have knownWhen I met your hazel eyesNo harm, no foulNo game, no lifeBetter alonedon't regret a thing you didNo pain, no gainNo cross, no crownThe turned back blues.