On the Mississippi Blues Trail

The birthplace of the Blues — and much of American music — lies in Mississippi’s northwest corner.

In this flat, green region known as the Delta, the Blues took shape in the early twentieth century. Musicians here blended West African musical traditions with English and Scotch-Irish folk influences to create something raw and new. Born of pain and persistence, the Blues rose from cotton fields, juke joints and front porches to become one of the most influential musical genres in the world.

On a recent trip, my husband and I explored part of the Mississippi Blues Trail, a network of more than 200 historic landmarks. Our home base was Clarksdale, a town of 14,000 people with deep roots in Blues history and live music every night of the week. From there, we took day trips to nearby sites that added layers of meaning to the story of the Blues.

The Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale was the starting point for our musical journey. We learned that this part of Mississippi — which has been called the “Most Southern Place on Earth” — was shaped by heat, humidity and the legacy of slavery. In the years after the Civil War, Black life in the Delta was marked by grueling fieldwork, deep poverty and the harsh grip of Jim Crow. The Blues emerged as a way to endure it all.

The Shack Up Inn repurposes historic plantation buildings, like this weathered cabin, into one-of-a-kind accommodations for blues travelers. (Bob Sessions photo)

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An exhibit at the B.B. King Museum explores radio's important role in spreading the popularity of the Blues. (Bob Sessions photo)

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Seth Hill, Lee Williams and Mississippi Marshall perform at Clarksdale's Ground Zero Blues Club, a cornerstone of the Delta's live music scene. (Bob Sessions photo)

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In the museum, the story that most intrigued me was that of Robert Johnson, one of the greatest of the early Blues musicians. He is said to have met the Devil at a crossroads around midnight and traded his soul for extraordinary skill on the guitar. This myth is so deeply woven into the region’s identity that there’s even a Crossroads marker at the intersection of Highways 49 and 61 in Clarksdale, where fans stop to snap photos. Whether taken as folklore or metaphor, the story reflects the high cost of genius.

In the juke joints of Clarksdale, we experienced the Blues not as history, but as a living tradition. We heard Mississippi Marshall, Seth Hill and Lee Williams perform at the town’s best-known venue, the Ground Zero Blues Club, which is co-owned by actor (and Delta native) Morgan Freeman. The club’s scuffed floors and graffiti-covered walls give it a down-home feel, despite its international fame.

At the Bad Apple Blues Club, Sean “Bad” Apple delivered a show that mixed music with Delta history and stories of learning his craft from an 88-year-old bluesman. At Red’s Blues Club, Lucious Spiller took the stage with guitar and harmonica, channeling generations of tradition. Midway through his set, he leaned into the mic and captured the heart of the genre: “The Blues belong to everybody,” he said. “They don’t care about color. They don’t care who you are. They all about taking the bitter with the sweet.”

In Clarksdale, we also learned that the Blues are a global phenomenon. Everywhere we turned, we kept running into international visitors, from an Italian family with two young daughters to a trio of Dutch tourists. Ronnie Drew, who sells guitars and sound equipment from his Bluestown Music store, told us that he thinks he’s met someone from every country in the world in Clarksdale.

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“We’re a magnet for top musicians too, who come here to perform but also just to soak up the history,” he said. “I’ve sold guitars to everyone from Willie Nelson to Elvis Costello.”

On a day trip from Clarksdale, we visited Dockery Farms, a former cotton plantation where Blues greats Charley Patton, Willie Brown and Howlin’ Wolf once played. A weathered cotton gin, rusting farm equipment and aging, wooden buildings remain, standing like ghosts of another era. At one point, we pressed a button and an old Blues song filled the air, making the scene even more evocative.

After visiting the plantation, we toured the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in the small town of Indianola. The museum traces both the life of B.B. King (who spent his childhood in Indianola) and the larger history of the region. Through memorabilia, vintage photos and audio clips, we learned how the Blues began to travel north in the 1910s during the Great Migration, when African Americans left the South in search of opportunity. Along the way, the music evolved, taking root in cities like Chicago and St. Louis. B.B. King became one of its most beloved ambassadors, helping to bring the Delta blues to the world stage.

During our stay in Clarksdale, we enjoyed a tasty food scene. For breakfast, we loved Our Grandma’s House of Pancakes, where the vibe is friendly and the portions generous. Abe’s Bar-B-Q, near the famous Crossroads marker, has been serving up smoked meats and tamales since 1924 and is a must-stop for Blues pilgrims and hungry travelers alike. For dinner, Hooker Grocer + Eatery offers a creative menu with Southern flair in a stylish space that honors local blues legend John Lee Hooker. And on the weekends, the eggs at the Bluesberry Café come with a side of live music.

Wherever we went, we were warmly welcomed.

“When you come here, you’re not a tourist — you’re our guest,” said Bubba O'Keefe, director of the Clarksdale-Coahoma County Tourism Office. “We want you to hear great music, talk to locals and get to know Clarksdale as a real place, not just a tourist destination.”

During our visit to Clarksdale, we stayed at the Shack Up Inn, a one-of-a-kind lodging spot on the site of an old cotton plantation south of town. The rooms are converted sharecropper shacks that are weathered on the outside and cozy on the inside, with rockers on their front porches.

We enjoyed reading the graffiti on the walls left by past guests, which ranged from declarations of undying love to philosophical musings. We especially appreciated this note above the bathroom door: “Dan came here for the Blues after his wife left him for another man and he got cancer: seemed appropriate. I will be ok!”

Wherever he is now, I hope Dan is doing ok — but if he isn’t, the Blues are likely helping him.