Along the Mississippi Blues Trail

November 16, 2024: Rosedale to Memphis, TN

The cruise portion of our adventure ended Saturday morning. We left Rosedale on a bus heading to Memphis, TN but it wasn’t an ordinary bus ride. It was an 8-hour excursion, “Mississippi Sings the Blues” that took us along the Mississippi Blues Trail, traveling through the Delta dotted with historic markers informing us of the men, women and places that are part of the American blues heritage. Our guide played blues selections throughout our journey on Route 61, describing the background of each musician while we listened. Passing through the very flat Delta, we learned that in the rich top soil could be up to 60-feet deep in some areas, making this an extraordinarily fertile farming region. History, music—what’s not to love

Flat, fertile land of the Mississippi Delta

Our first stop was at historic Dockery Farms, considered the birthplace of the blues. We were given highlights of Charley Patton’s life along with other blues pioneers by the caretaker/storyteller of this “museum”. He reported learning and writing about this era from a 98-year old former slave when he was just 10 years old.

We were back on the bus and, traveling to Clarksdale, MS, the reputed “Blues Crossroads”, where we enjoyed lunch at Ground Zero. Big A, a local blues artist, serenaded us with song after song while we sipped local ale and munched on fried tomato sandwiches with “gitback” sauce. Yum!

Before reboarding the bus, we toured the Delta Blues Museum then strolled to the Cat Head shop to pick out a book and buy Big A’s cd. Support local artists!

Onward to Tunica, our last stop before leaving Mississippi. Tunica is recognized as the Gateway to the Blues and boasts a museum loaded with exhibits involving all things “Blues”. The history is fascinating and I now know what I didn’t, which is volumes!