The 'Crossroads' of blues legend are believed to be somewhere in the Mississippi Delta. Some experts believe that the true crossroads exist just across from the Dockery Farms, maybe a half mile or so. Robert Johnson would have passed through this particular crossroads when he visited Charley Patton. The 'sold my soul at the Crossroads' legend had a mysterious appeal to many as it supposedly endowed you with superhuman talents, although at a steep price - the cost of your soul.  Tommy Johnson was reportedly to have sold his soul (an account disputed by his daughter), and Peetie Wheatstraw claimed to be 'thrown out of hell'. The 1927 book Folklore of the Mississppi Delta even had a chapter devoted on how to 'sell your soul'.

It was due to this precarious place between good and evil that caused that tension between the bluesman and the minister, and the term 'Devil's Music'.

The Blues left Dockery Farms and countless other places in the south, and have extended their hold throughout the world. From the delta, and the hills, many left from the platform of the Clarksdale Railway Station, and the blues headed north to Beale Street in Memphis. Unfortunately, many of Memphis' best Blues artists left the city when Mayor "Boss" Crump shut down Beale Street to stop the prostitution, gambling, and cocaine trades, effectively eliminating the musicians, and entertainers' jobs, as these businesses closed their doors. The Blues migrated to Chicago, where it became electrified, and onto Detroit. It was in these northern cities like Chicago and Detroit, during the later forties and early fifties, that Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, and Elmore James among others, played what was basically Mississippi Delta blues, backed by bass, drums, piano and occasionally harmonica, and began scoring national hits with blues songs. At about the same time, T-Bone Walker in Houston and B.B. King in Memphis were pioneering a style of guitar playing that combined jazz technique with the blues tonality and repertoire. You've heard the saying 'the Blues had a baby, and named it rock and roll'. It took the British Invasion of the 1960's to reacquaint America with it's own musical heritage, but there's been no turning back. The blues have strongly influenced almost all popular music including jazz, country, and rock and roll and continues to help shape music worldwide. The blues torch has been passed on to the next generation of Bluesmen and Women, and will always be a strong presence in the music world. It's just as Little Milton sang, "Hey, Hey, The Blues Are Allright"!

Some highlights include -

BB King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, MS.
BB actually worked there as a young man, when it was a true cotton mill. It is now the last standing all brick cotton mill in Mississippi. 2 different university architectural and planning classes spent time looking for the ideal location for this museum, and independently came up with the same exact location. BB wasn't actually born in Indianola, but in Berclair, MS. He spent much of his childhood in  Indianola, MS. playing on the street corner at age 17, where he ran an extension cord from a neighboring hardware store. "Before I was a superstar in the blues, I was a superstar on the plantation (on Mr. Johnson Barrett's plantation), because after years of picking cotton and pulling a plow, I was driving a tractor," he jokingly told NPR during a 1993 interview. After deciding that music was his true calling, BB headed for Memphis, and landed at WDIA Radio

WDIA was the 1st all black format radio station in the country. BB did a jingle for Pep-ti-kon that led to his popularity with the station. Many music legends got their start at WDIA, including B.B. King and Rufus Thomas. Even Elvis Presley was greatly influenced by the station. Nat D. Williams, a syndicated columnist and high school teacher, started "Tan Town Jubilee" in October 1948. This was the first radio program in the United States to specifically target black listeners, and WDIA soon became the number 2 station in Memphis. After a switch to all-black programming, WDIA was the city's top station. In June 1954 WDIA was licensed to increase its power to 50,000 watts. Its powerful signal reached down into the Mississippi Delta's dense African-American population and was heard from the Missouri bootheel to the Gulf coast. As a result WDIA was able to reach 10% of the African-American population in United States.

Malaco Records
Tommy Couch, Jr. of Malaco Records was in the studio when we dropped by unexpectedly, and graciously extended us a tour of the legendary Malaco Records. It's quite a place, you can almost feel the music that's been recorded within these walls. From the Malaco website - "After more than 30 years of making black music for black people, Malaco Records defines the state of contemporary southern rhythm and blues, soul, and gospel. "The Last Soul Company" started as a pocket-change enterprise in the early 1960s with college students Tommy Couch and Wolf Stephenson booking bands for fraternity dances at the University of Mississippi. After graduation, Tommy Couch opened shop in Jackson, Mississippi as Malaco Attractions with brother-in-law Mitchell Malouf (Malouf + Couch = Malaco). Wolf Stephenson joined them in promoting concerts by Herman's Hermits, the Who, the Animals, and others. In 1967 the company opened a recording studio in a building that remains the home of Malaco Records". (http://malaco.com/Catalog/list.php)

The Juke Joint Festival
Held in Clarksdale, Mississippi,this annual event celebrates the richness of the local music talent, yet brings in artists from all over. It's not unusual to see spontaneous musical magic happening around town, for example Watermelon Slim strolling into Red's - a legendary Clarksdale juke joint - and just tearing the house down. And where else can you see monkeys riding dogs? Read our 2008 Juke Joint Journey, with Arthur Williams