Clarksdale And Beyond

Our final day in Memphis was short, sweet, and very very hot. We started off at Sun Studios, the baby of Sam Phillips, and the site of Elvis Presley's first recording. Not to mention the label that launched the careers of Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and so many more. It was incredible to be in the studio where so much history was made - it was all original instruments, fittings and furniture, and it took some serious willpower not to pick up the guitars... But hey, according to Knoxy, it's just an old empty room...

A short air-conditioned drive later and we were at the Lorraine Motel - the place where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. The motel itself is still intact, but the interior has been renovated into the American Civil Rights Museum, telling the story of the country's long and powerful struggle with racial equality. The room where King boarded is left entirely as it was that fateful day, as is the lodging house across the road where the fatal shot was fired from. Talk about moving - this was a place of historic importance so massive and consequential that the world changed dramatically after this tragic event. But hey, according to Knoxy, it's just a motel that's been unused for 40 years...

It was back in our trusty Bessie, to drive us down to Clarksdale. This is a place so fundamental to the emergence of the blues that it was an essential point of interest, and somewhere we were all massively excited about.

We arrived not knowing where we were going to stay - the Shack Up Inn was full, and the Riverside Hotel was an option. We pulled up outside the Riverside and, to be honest, it looked like a rickety old shack, and first impressions were not great. However, as soon as we walked inside, it was love at first sight. The owner, seventy-year-old Frank "Rat" Ratliff welcomed us, giving us a tour of the rooms - the regular choice of Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, The Staples Singers, Sam Cooke and Ike Turner, plus the actual room where Bessie Smith died, when the building was the GT Thomas Hospital. It was a fabulous, unique and enriching experience being there. But hey, according to Knoxy, it's just a dusty old room...

We ventured out for a seafood dinner, before pool and dancing at Morgan Freeman's blues club Ground Zero.

The next day was Saturday, and it began with a visit to the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, where we met and interviewed the curator, giving us a fascinating insight into the history of the genre, and how it germinated from the surrounding cotton fields and jook joints. The museum is packed full of original artifacts from the original blues era including Muddy Waters' wooden hut, which was transplanted to the museum from its origin across town.

From there it was out to see the crossroads where Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the Devil, then onto the Dockery Plantation - the worksite and home to Charley Patton, Son House, Pops Staples and so many blues pioneers. This was the place where former slaves took their work songs and transformed them into call-and-response songs of despair and hurt: the blues. But hey, according to Knoxy, it's just some old shacks in a field...

Final blues spot of the day was the grave site - or the supposed official one (there are at least three possibilities) - of Robert Johnson, king of the delta blues singers.

As dusk approached, we retired to the scenic college town of Oxford, Mississippi, and a fairly subdued night, as the town seemed to close at midnight. Today we are hitting the road and exploring more of Mississippi. Stay tuned...