Highway 61 Blues - Tunica Miss US 61 South Haven, MS

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Miss US 61

Highway 61 Blues - Tunica

U.S. Highway 61, known as the "blues highway," rivals Route 66 as the most famous road in American music lore. Dozens of blues artists have recorded songs about Highway 61, including Mississippians Sunnyland Slim, James “Son” Thomas, “Honeyboy” Edwards, Big Joe Williams, Joe McCoy, Charlie Musselwhite, Eddie Shaw, Johnny Young, Eddie Burns, and Mississippi Fred McDowell. The original route, now called Old Highway 61, was just west of here.

HIGHWAY 61 BLUES

HIGHWAY 61 BLUES

Highway 61 Blues - Tunica

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Highway 61 Travel has been a popular theme in blues lyrics, and highways have symbolized the potential to quickly “pack up and go,” leave troubles behind, or seek out new opportunities elsewhere. As the major route northward out of Mississippi, U.S. Highway 61 has been of particular inspiration to blues artists. The original road began in downtown New Orleans, traveled through Baton Rouge, and ran through Natchez, Vicksburg, Leland, Cleveland, Clarksdale, and Tunica in Mississippi, to Memphis, and north to the Canadian border. Mississippi artists who lived near Highway 61 included B. B. King, Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Son House, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson No. 2 (Rice Miller), Ike Turner, Robert Nighthawk, Sunnyland Slim, Honeyboy Edwards, Sam Cooke, James Cotton, Jimmy Reed, and Junior Parker.

The first song recorded about the road was Roosevelt Sykes’s “Highway 61 Blues,” cut in 1932; at the time Sykes was a resident of St. Louis, the first major city along Highway 61 above the Mason-Dixon line. In 1933 two Memphis bluesmen, Jack Kelly and Will Batts, recorded "Highway No. 61 Blues," and the Tupelo-born Sparks Brothers cut "61 Highway." Other 1930s recordings included "Highway 61," a sermon by Raymond, Mississippi, native “Hallelujah Joe” McCoy; "Highway 61" by Jesse James; and "Highway 61 Blues" by Sampson Pittman, recorded for Alan Lomax of the Library of Congress. In 1947 Gatemouth Moore recorded a jump blues version of “Highway 61 Blues,” and in 1956 pianist Sunnyland Slim (Albert Luandrew) of Vance, Mississippi, recorded “Highway 61.” Over the next decades, Highway 61 songs often appeared on albums by James “Son” Thomas of Leland, Honeyboy Edwards, Big Joe Williams, Mississippi Fred McDowell, and other traditional blues veterans.

Although many bluesmen used the lyrics “Highway 61, the longest road that I know,” their descriptions of the highway’s route were often misleading. Some suggested that the road started at the Gulf of Mexico (100 miles south of New Orleans) and ran through Atlanta, New York City, or Chicago. Many Mississippians certainly did begin their migrations to Chicago via Highway 61, but most finished their journeys by continuing from St. Louis to the Windy City along the famous Route 66. In 1965 the road gained an even more mythological reputation when Bob Dylan recorded his influential album “Highway 61 Revisited.” Dylan was well versed in the blues, but his inspiration may also have come from the fact that Highway 61 ran through his home state of Minnesota.

Well, I'm leavin' here in the morning
I'm goin' down Highway 61.
Girl, I'm lookin' for my baby.
Boy, you know that ain't no fun.
If she done left Mamphis
There's one thing, boy, that worries me;
She's down in New Orleans
"Down on Rampart Street  Highway 61"
Suland Slim

The blues artists pictured here are among the many who lived along the route of Highway 61 It is the northern Delta area of Mississippi and or in Memphis or Missouri
Muddy Waters
James Cotton
Jimmy Reed
Junior Parker 
Sunnland Slim 

Cobra Record Corp
 “Highway 61”
Sunnyland Slim 

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

Pops Staples -WINONA Miss US 51 South Haven, MS

Miss US 51

Pops Staples *1914-2000)

Roebuck “Pops” Staples, one of the foremost figures in American gospel music as a singer, guitarist, and patriarch of the Staple Singers family group was born on a farm near Winona on December 28, 1914. Staples began playing blues as a youngster in the Delta, but by the time he left for Chicago in 1936, he had embarked on a gospel singing career.  He and the Staple Singers later enjoyed crossover success in the rhythm & blues and pop fields. Staples died on December 19, 2000.

Roebuck “Pop” Staples 

Roebuck “Pop” Staples

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Roebuck “Pop” Staples fused old-time religion and the blues with an activist commitment to peace, equality, and brotherhood to create inspirational “message songs” that transcended the traditional boundaries of gospel music. Under his guidance, the Staple Singers not only earned the title “the first family of gospel music,” but also developed followings among blues, soul, folk, rock, and jazz audiences. Staples traced his style back to the hymns and spirituals he learned from his grandfather and the blues he heard in Mississippi. Roebuck and his older brother Sears, the last two of fourteen Staples children, were named after the Chicago mail-order company that numbered many rural African Americans among its millions of customers. Another Staples brother, David, played blues guitar before becoming a preacher, and a famous relative born years later was Oprah Winfrey, whose great-grandmother was Roebuck’s aunt, Ella Staples.  The Staples lived around Mayfield and Kilmichael until they moved to Dr. Joseph David Swinney’s plantation west of Minter City (c. 1918) and then to Will Dockery's near Drew (c. 1923). Inspired by Delta blues kingpin Charley Patton, a Dockery resident, and Howlin’ Wolf, who often performed in Drew, Staples took up a guitar and began frequenting local juke house parties, but also sang in church and at local gospel gatherings, sometimes with the Golden Trumpets in Carroll and Montgomery counties.  Although he chose to stay on the gospel path, he remained a lifelong blues fan and was a friend to many blues singers, from Wolf and Muddy Waters to Albert and B. B. King.

Staples’ children Cleotha and Pervis were born at Dockery, followed by Yvonne, Mavis, and Cynthia after the family moved to Chicago.  Staples put the guitar aside for several years while he worked as a laborer to support his brood, although he sang locally with the Trumpet Jubilees. Around 1948 he decided to put together a family group, and soon the Staple Singers were performing at area churches and gospel shows.  Their 1956 recording of “Uncloudy Day” brought them widespread attention, both within and outside the gospel world. Among their many later hits, most of them featuring Mavis Staples’ powerful lead vocals, were “I’ll Take You There,” “Respect Yourself,” and “Let’s Do It Again.” Pops Staples professed not to be a blues singer, but he did collaborate with guitarists Albert King and Steve Cropper on the Stax album Jammed Together, and he won a GRAMMY® in the Contemporary Blues category in 1994 for his final CD, Father. “It’s just my way of playing,” he explained.  “I can’t get away from it – it’s gonna have a little touch of blues.” The Rhythm & Blues Foundation honored Staples with a Pioneer Award in 1992, and in 1998 he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Staple Singers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999

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The Staple Singers' "Too Close" featuring Pop's down-home guitar, was recorded live at a concert at Clarksdale's Higgins High School in 1960 by WROS deejay and gospel promoter Eary Wright. Revenant Records later included it on the Grammy-winning box set The World So Charley Patton. Staples was heard to play Patton's blues note-for-note at home or backstage, but would not perform the song onstage.
All right, rock star John Fogerty joins Staples at the Mt Zion Memorial Foundation's dedication of Patton's headstone in Holly Ridge on June 20, 1991. Both performed at a Pops Staples Park Festival in Drew later that day.

Sear, Roebuck & Co catalog from the year Pops Staple was born in 1914.
The original Staple Singers Pervisk Pops, Cleotha, and Mavis in the later (right)Yvonne Staples replaced Pervis.

Among the blues performers who have called Winona their birthplace although all were born in rural areas outside of town are from let Pianist LafayetteLeak (1916-1990), a premier studio musician and longtime member of Willie Dixon; 's Chicago Blues, all-star guitarist LC McKinley (1917-1970), who was active on the Chicago blues scene in the 1950s and '60s and harmonica player Littel Say Davis (born c1928) a well-traveled recording artist known for hi appearance son New Yori radio personality Don Imus's syndicated program Ims in the morning. McKinley and the Staples Singers were labelmates at Vee-Jay Records in Chicago. His son Rev. McArthur Mckinley, later pastored at Little Zion <B Church in Greenwood the site of blues legend Robert Johnson's grave.

Record “Too Close"
 by Staple Singers
 on
VEE JAY label 

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6636264/roebuck-staples

Joe Callicott-Nesbit Miss US 51 Blues Trail Tanger Outlet South Haven, MS

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Miss US.51

Joe Callicott -Nesbit (1900-1969)

Although his early recording career resulted in only two songs issued in 1930, Nesbit native Joe Callicott (1899-1969) is often regarded as one of Mississippi’s finest early bluesmen. His guitar work was also featured with local bluesman Garfield Akers on Cottonfield Blues, a classic 1929 single that illustrated how blues developed from field hollers. In the late 1960s, Callicott recorded more extensively for folklorists and served as a mentor to Nesbit guitarist Kenny Brown.

Joe Callicot 

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Joe Callicott, whose music was notable for his delicate guitar style and rich vocals, spent most of his life here in Nesbit. He began playing blues as a young boy and performed for many years together with fellow guitarist Garfield Akers (c. 1900-1959). They played mostly around the area at informal gatherings and performed in a distinctive local style similar to that of Memphis blues pioneer Frank Stokes and Hernando’s Jim Jackson. In 1929 Jackson arranged for the pair to record for the Brunswick-Balke-Collender corporation of Chicago, which had set up a temporary recording unit at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis. Callicott’s recording of “Mississippi Boll Weevil Blues” from that session was unissued, but he played on Akers’ two-part single “Cottonfield Blues,” which was issued on the Vocalion label. The following year they again recorded in Memphis. Vocalion issued “Dough Roller Blues” and “Jumpin’ and Shoutin’ Blues” by Akers, while Brunswick released Callicott’s "Fare Thee Well Blues" and "Traveling Mama Blues" (using the spelling Calicott on the label and Callicutt in company files). Although Callicott gave up performing in the 1940s, Akers was active on the down-home Memphis blues scene of the early ‘50s. Akers, however, never recorded again.

In 1967 folklorist George Mitchell met and recorded Callicott, and Callicott’s subsequent return to performing included a booking at the 1968 Memphis Country Blues Festival in Memphis and travels as far as New York City. Recordings made by Mitchell and British producer Mike Vernon of the Blue Horizon label revealed the impressive range of Callicott’s early repertoire, which included songs about World War I and the boisterous nightlife of Beale Street. During this period Callicott also taught guitar to Kenny Brown (b. 1953), who lived with his family next door. Brown later became well known in the blues world via his twenty-year relationship with Holly Springs guitarist R. L. Burnside as well as his own recordings. On his 2003 Fat Possum CD Stingray Brown recorded three of Callicott’s songs.

Another young student of older blues artists in the area was Bobby Ray Watson (b. 1943) of the nearby Pleasant Hill community. Watson often performed together with local harmonica player Johnny Woods (1917-1990), a dynamic performer and native of nearby Looxahoma. This area’s most famous resident, the legendary pianist, and vocalist Jerry Lee Lewis included many blues songs in his repertoire. The Nesbit ranch purchased by Lewis 1973 became a tourist attraction and featured a piano-shaped pool.

Joe Callicott Miss US 51

Joe Callicott Miss US 51

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Left and above right, Joe Callicott, late 1960a. Above left with his wife Doll, circa the 1950s. The top label is from a 1970 LP of George Mitchell field recordings. Callicott is buried in the cemetery adjacent to this marker. 

Cover sleeve of a 1972 single on the Oblivion label by Johny Woods. In addition to making his own recordings, Woods also performed on record with his frequent musical partners R. L. Burnside and Mississippi Fred McDowell. 

Watson and his wife Libby Rae founded the Mississippi Country Blues Society and conducted field recordings sessions with many traditional blues artists around the state

Kenny Brown left with David Kimbrough, Dwayne Burnside, and Cedric Burnside at the dedication of the “Hill Country Blues” Blues Trail marker in Holly Springs, July 3, 2008. In 2006 Brown started the annual North Mississippi Hill country Picnic that celebrates blues from the region. 

Revival Label song 33 1/3 rpm Mono Side 1
“Deal Gone Down"
Rolling & Tumbling
Riverside Blues
Down Home Blues
Old Boll Weevil
Frankie and Albert
Joe Callicott 

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9708063/joe-callicott

Magic Sam-Grenada Miss US 51 Blues Trail Tanger Outlet South Haven, MS

Miss US 51

Samuel “Magic Sam” Maghett

Magic Sam (Samuel Maghett) was one of the most dynamic and gifted blues musicians during his short lifetime (1937-1969). Born a few miles northeast of this site, Maghett began his performing career in Grenada and lived in this house until he moved to Chicago in the early 1950s. The youthful energy and spirit of Magic Sam, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, and Freddie King modernized Chicago blues into an explosive, electrifying new style in the late 1950s and early '60s.

MISS US 51 Magic Sam 

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Magic Sam, unlike most of his blues contemporaries, was born and raised in a community where fiddle music, hoedowns, and square dances held sway over the blues among the African American population. Roy Moses, a renowned black fiddler in Grenada County, was not only the leading caller of steps at such dances but also a mentor and inspiration to younger local musicians. Samuel Maghett carried these musical influences with him to Chicago in 1950. Blues guitarist Syl Johnson, who later became a nationally known soul singer, recalled that Sam was playing “a hillbilly style” at the time, and Johnson began teaching him blues and boogies. Sam developed a house-rocking blues style unparalleled in its rhythmic drive; it may well have had roots in the dance tempos of the reels and breakdowns he learned in Grenada.

Magic Sam was better known, however, for the heartfelt vocals and stinging guitar work of his 1957-58 blues recordings produced by Willie Dixon for the Cobra label in Chicago such as “All Your Love” and “Easy Baby,” some of which featured another Grenada native, Billy Stepney, on drums. Sam’s singing reflected another early influence, that of the church. During the ‘50s he often returned to visit and perform in Grenada, where he was credited with helping to popularize the blues. Sam and his combo won a local talent contest at the Union Theater which enabled them to compete on a show in Memphis promoted by WDIA radio. After performing under several stage names, he settled on “Magic” Sam–to rhyme with his surname.

In Chicago, Sam was at the vanguard of a new West Side blues movement. He remained a popular nightclub act during the 1960s and was poised to take his career to a new level, after recording two acclaimed albums for Delmark Records and turning in legendary festival performances in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in Europe, but he died of a heart attack on December 1, 1969. His music has continued to influence generations of blues, R&B, and rock musicians.

Magic Sam’s birthplace now lies submerged beneath Grenada Lake. The Redgrass and Hendersonville communities where he spent his earliest years, along with the former town of Graysport, were flooded in the late 1940s to create the lake as a flood control reservoir. The Maghett family relocated here to the Knoxville community, where Sam resided until he was thirteen. Maggitt Street, just south of this site, represents one of many local variations of the family surname.

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You don’t have to work all day.

Just make love to me and say,

“Easy, baby, mmm, easy, baby.”

“Easy, baby, won’t you love me night and day?

You don’t have to weep and moan.

Just hold me, baby, in your arms.

Easy Baby, mmm, easy baby,

Easy, baby, let me love you night and day. 

“Easy Baby”-Magic Sam (Cobra)

Magic Singing Sam” with Letha Jones, pianist Little Johnnie Jones, and Georgia Lee Jones; in the back is drummer S. Pl. Leary, at the Tay May Club, Chicago, early 1960s

The country music influence that Sam grew up within Grenada showed up in some of his recordings, such as “Square Dance Rock” from 1960. 

What discs would you choose if you are stranded on a  desert island and had nothing else to listen to? Critics here often given “desert island side” statue to Magic Sam’s first two LPs for Delmark, West Side Soul, and Black Magic. 

(Right) Magic Sam and friend Luberta, Texas at a Chicago Nightclub c 1963

Morris Holt, a childhood friend of Magic Sam’s in Granda assumed the stage name Magic Slim and continued Sam’s Tradition of rocking the blues in Chicago. He is pictured here at the first annual Chicago Blues Festival in 1984.

Welcome to one of the many sites on the Mississippi Blues Trail 

Visit us online at www.MSBluesTrail.org 

Magic Sam

Magic Sam
Mississippi Blues Trail
5205 Airways Blvd
Desoto County South Haven, MS
Tanger Outlets Shopping

Cobra Record Corp
Easy Baby 
Dixon 
Magic Sam 
5029
BMI Vocal 

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4161/samuel-maghett

🎼🎶🎼🎼🎶🎼🎼🎶🎼2016 Saturday July 30, Interviewing Songwriters at Library and Music at Visitor Center

At the Library, I listened to Andreas Werner interview Jimmy Johnson, Tim Carr, and Travis Wammack local songwriters & entertainers. From 11-12:30PM 

🎼🎶🎼🎼🎶🎼🎼🎶🎼🎼🎶🎼🎼🎶🎼🎼🎶🎼🎼🎶🎼🎼🎶🎼🎼🎶🎼🎼🎶🎼🎼🎶🎼🎼🎶🎼🎼🎶🎼

 Andreas Werner Jimmy Johnson, Tim Carr, and Travis Warmack

Tim talked about his love for writing music, singing, and producing.
He also talked about his collaboration with other people to make it and shoot videos.

Jimmy Johnson is a session guitarist and a member of the original Swampers. He talked about becoming an engineer, producer, and studio owner. 

Travis started his career at the age of eleven when he wrote and recorded his first record. At the age of seventeen, he hit the American charts with "Scratch". He talked about being Little Richard's band leader for many years. 
Tim, Jimmy, and Travis are still going strong but not traveling as much. They are enjoying their golden years. 

Harry Potter Event at Florence Library 

Have you seen this Wizard?

For lunch, I ordered a kid's chicken finger meal from Jack's.
I went to JC Pennys where I bought a black dress for Sunday. 

My last event of the day was at the Visitor Center, entertainers were Travis Wammack and Microwave Dave Gallaher. 

Microwave Dave and Travis Wammack jamming at Visitor Center

They sang, the Last Call for Alcohol, You Better Move on, I forgot to remember, we had it all, and many others. 
A drummer (Robert) joined in the last half of the show and he did not have a drumming stick because he used close hangers.
They ended the show with a bang!!
Wow! What a show!
If I had known Microwave Dave was that good I would have attended more of his shows during the Handy Festival. 

Microwave Dave Gallaher

Robert the drummer

Travis Wammack
A guitarist, singer, and young instrumental genius from Memphis who cut his first record at the tender age of twelve, Travis Wammack is one of the great unheralded guitarists of rock & roll

Microwave Dave Gallaher
For over 25 years, “ Microwave” Dave Gallaher has been an important part of the music scene in Huntsville, Alabama. He continues to thrive as a recording and performing artist as a solo act, and also as the frontman for Microwave Dave and the Nukes. Since 1989, he has hosted highly entertaining weekly shows on two local radio stations, featuring a wide spectrum of blues styles, eras, and artists.

W.C. Handy Music Festival
July 22-31 2016
The Shoals

2015 November 10, Tuesday, A Trip to Meridian, MS

I looked out the window the sun was coming up, it was a great day for traveling so I ask my husband if he was up for a four hour drive to Meridian MS he said yes. 
After I cooked oatmeal, eggs, and bacon for breakfast, I packed a overnight bag just incase we wanted to spend the night. 

Loaded into the van my Nikon Camera, my phone, luggage and all my travel information about Meridian MS.
We programed the GPS but did not want to go in the direction it was taking us.
We decided to drive to Russellville and then program the GPS for Meridian MS.

We took hwy 43 through Hackelburg, in Hamilton hwy 43 becomes hwy 17, through Detroit, Sulligent, in Vernon it becomes hwy 18 crossing into Mississippi on hwy 12 through Steens, to Columbus, MS

Sulligent, AL

In Columbus we stopped at Chick-fal-A for lunch. 
I ordered chicken nuggets, fries, tea and small ice cream. My husband ordered a chicken sandwich, fries, coke. 

Ice Cream, Chicken nuggets, Waffle fries 

In Columbus we took hwy 45 into Meridian, MS. 
A rough highway with noting to see except where log trucks had taken away all the timber that had been cut, left behind was stumps, brush, and spinel trees. 

Birthplace of
Jimmie Rodgers
Born Sept 8, 1897, at Meridian, MS
Known as the "Singing Brakeman," Rodger's recordings of
Southern blues and ballads greatly
contributed to the world~wide
popularity of a distinctly American musical form. 

Our first stop was the Jimmy Rodgers Museum/Birth home. 
We watch a ten minute film about the early life of Jimmy Rodgers.
Jimmy's  father worked for the railroad.
Jimmy's mother died at a early age of TB, as did Jimmie. 

Our curator gave us a history lesson on the Jimmy Rodgers guitar.
The guitar was opened for display behind a glass case, in a temperature controlled vault. 

The Original Jimmie Rodgers Guitar
Presented to Jimmie Rodgers in Washington DC by Mr C Fredrick Martin, President of The Martin Guitar Co July 27, 1928. This specially made guitar is also seen in the worlds famous "thumbs u" photographs
courtesy Anita Rodgers Court 

Hanging on the wall next to the curators counter was a quilt with history
191 Music Artist were sent three or four bow ties with the request for a signature.
This quilt was to be a tribute to Jimmy Rodgers legacy.
Each and every bow tie was returned with the signature of that artist.
Each bow tie, with its own unique color and signature was placed on a square block.
Ten blocks across and nineteen in length except for one block at the top giving information about the quilt. 
There were two quilts made this one and one given to Elvis Presley.

There were letters, photograph, suits, furniture, albums, and so much more information about the wonderful gifted Jimmy Rodgers.

Well dressed Jimmy Rodgers

We took pictures outside of the engine and caboose.

His is the music of America.
He sang the songs of the people he loved,
of a young nation growing strong.
His was an American of Glistening rails,
thundering boxcars and rain-swept nights,
of lonesome prairies, great mountains
and a high blue sky.
He sang of the bayous and the cotton fields,
the heated plains, of the little towns, the
cities, and the winding rivers of America.
We listened, we understood
JIMMIE RODGERS
The singing brakeman- America's Blue Yodeler
HIS MUSIC WILL LIVE FOREVER
dedicated by his many fans and
the Folk Artist of America
May 26, 1953

We rode to the historic downtown area of Meridian to the walk of honor to see 
Hartley Peavey, Mac McAnally, Moe Bandy, Walt Anderson and International Sweethearts of Rhythm Musician which were located in the Dumont Plaza Park across from the famous Riley center.

A performing arts center, a conference center, an educational center, a major downtown restoration project these are all accurate ways to describe the MSU Riley

Hartley Peavey

Mac McAnally

Moe Bandy

Walter Anderson

 International Sweethearts of Rhythm Musician

Distributed throughout the town of Meridian were Carousel Horses.

This Carousel Horse in next to the old Train Depot.

I took pictures of several Blues Markers, 
On 5th street and 22 avenue was " Country Music Comes of Age."
On 1901 Front Street was "Jimmie Rodgers & The Blues", & Moe Bandy."
Corner of 7th street and 23 avenue was Meridian Rhythm & blues and Soul Music."
At Oak Grove Cemetery was Jimmy Rodgers Father of Country Music.

Our last stop before getting onto I20 to head home was the Oak Grove Cemetery to see where they lay Jimmie after his death, which was nothing fancy, only a small stone rock.

"Jimmie"
James Charles Rodgers
Sept 8, 1897
May 26, 1933
American Blue Yodeler 

We stopped at Outback in Tuscaloosa, Alabama at 6:13 PM where I enjoyed a bowl of Taco Soup.

Taco Soup

My husband ordered a hamburger.
We were home by 9:30 both exhausted from the days travels.