Everywhere: Articles: The Blues Highway

Traveling Highway 61 from Memphis, through Mississippi, is like traveling into the past--a past that filled with juke joints, BBQ stands, and the signs of renewed racial relations in the South.

Beale Street by Rich Newman

When you reach the end of Highway 61, you still have to deal with Beale Street in Memphis--though it is unlike any other street on your tour.

It always comes with Spring: The call of the open road. And for me, 'the road' means only one place: Highway 61. Though it stretches from Chicago all the way to New Orleans, most people recognize the section of the route between Memphis and the Louisiana Delta as 'The Blues Highway.' For those of use, though, that make the yearly pilgrimage through the cotton fields of Mississippi, Highway 61 means enjoying the blues, BBQ joints, and visiting the remnants of a tumultuous South.

The best way to begin this journey is to start from the South in Louisiana; here you can stay at one of the many plantation houses that have now been renovated and turned into B&B's before hitting the open highway and traveling into Mississippi--if you're feeling particularly brave, you can even stay at a haunted southern plantation: The Myrtles. Located just outside St. Francisville, Louisiana, the Myrtles is said to be haunted by an ex-slave girl named Chloe.

Once you are in Mississippi, Highway 61 will take you past old cotton plantations where people like Charlie Patton and Son House worked the day away (check out the Dockery Plantation in Sunflower County) and the sites of ferocious Civil War battles (Vicksburg has one of the best). Just make sure you get your BBQ fix in either Natchez or Greenwood before continuing North (and be sure to visit the Greenwood Blues Heritage Museum).

Eventually, you will end up in the heart of the Delta: Clarksdale, Mississippi. It's here that you will experience the soul of the Delta blues. After a quick visit to the Delta Blues Museum, check out the local 'cue at Morgan Freeman's Ground Zero blues club. You'll also want to pay homage to the late, great Robert Johnson at the infamous crossroads where it is said that Johnson sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for his legendary guitar skills.

Clarksdale also marks the location for sites like the Riverside Hotel (where singer Bessie Smith died after being involved in a car accident), the home of singer Ike Turner, and several of the area's best blues festivals (plan your trip during either the Juke Joint Festival or the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival). Once you've gotten your fill of the local goodness, get back on the road and continue North. You'll be ending your trip in Memphis, Tennessee.

Memphis is a neon becon at the end of your journey, welcoming you back to the present. Memphis is also the home of blues bars like B.B. King's, Mr. Handy's Blues Hall, and Wild Bill's Lounge. Kick it all off with some of the country's best BBQ (I prefer Cozy Corner, Payne's, and Central BBQ), then hit the music of Beale Street. It's the perfect end to a perfect trip--and one you won't soon forget.

See you next Spring!