Down to the Delta 2007, by Dorothy L. Hill

Text and Photos by Dorothy L. Hill

An annual trip to the Delta has become a major event in my life and the anticipation is part of the fun. Going to the heart of the region that spawned the music is sheer heaven for a blues fan!

My trip started this year on October 2^nd leaving San Francisco, California for Memphis, Tennessee on a non-stop flight arriving early evening. My blues buddy Lucretia Bjorklund was my traveling companion and we are both old hands at this by now. First on the agenda was picking up the rental car and then checking into the motel for a quick freshen up before heading over to Beale Street. Fortunately, the fine soul vocalist and guitarist Preston Shannon was playing at B.B. King’s Blues Club that night. Although this is a tourist destination and blues is not high on the playlist, Shannon always has a great group of talented musicians even though the music leans heavily toward funk and R&B. This evening the music was way too funky and rude dancers crowded the dance floor. At the break, we greeted Shannon and told him we wanted to hear some blues. Although he said he would oblige us on the next set, we decided to head out to find a new club called Juke Joint which the airline steward had told me about when he recognized me from last year. After wandering around, we finally found it next door to the Rum Boogie Café. Since it was rather late, we were only able to catch a short set but found out that the same band, Delta Highway, would be there the night we would be back in Memphis for our trip home.

Jonn Richardson & Diunna Greenleaf
Photocopyright by Dorothy L. Hill

The next day we headed to the Isle of Capri in Lula, Mississippi, the host hotel for the Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival, after making a stop to stock up on supplies and the mandatory festival chairs. The trip of about an hour down Highway 61 was pleasant with miles of cotton fields on both sides, a broad horizon that appears endless and entrances along the way to the huge casinos in Tunica. As we drove up to the hotel entrance, we greeted vocalist Diunna Greenleaf and her guitarist Jonn Richardson who had just driven in from Houston, Texas.

"The CROSSROADS"
Photocopyright by Dorothy L.Hill

On Thursday, in order to get premier seats in the front, we got an early start and crossed the bridge from Lula into Helena, Arkansas which is only about a ten minute drive. After setting up chairs and getting settled, it was time to chat with old acquaintances who are the mainstays of the Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival (formerly known as King Biscuit Blues Festival). Many of them have attended the festival for all of the twenty-two years and they travel from all over the country and from abroad. One and all say the same thing - that this is the best festival they have ever been to and they rave about the ambience and accessibility afforded to fans. Loyal blues fans are a valuable commodity and this festival has not forgotten that and has continued to make it free for the most part (Friends of Biscuit donate a nominal $50 to sit in the very front).

After three days of phenomenal music, many of the festival attendees then head to Clarksdale, Mississippi for the Pinetop Perkins Homecoming Celebration at the Hopson Plantation on Sunday. Arriving in Clarksdale and making a left turn to go down the road to Hopson, we passed the sign marking the intersection of Highways 49 and 61, the Crossroads, which always gives me chills. After checking into the Shack-up Inn in one of the cotton gin bins and securing our table for the show, we headed to Ground Zero Blues Club for brunch. Driving past the Cat Head Store, we saw the crowd spilling out on the streets for the Cat Head Mini Blues Fest and saw T-Model Ford performing but did not have time to do both so we headed for the food. We were treated with a solo performance of Mississippi blues by vocalist/guitarist Louis “Gearshifter” Youngblood during brunch.

Back at the Hopson Commissary, the show got off to a great start with Terry “Harmonica” Bean who was a one-man band on guitar, vocals and harmonica rack.

He introduced each tune with a personal witty tale such as “Back Door Man” which he said he used to be but "I ain’t like that no more”. His hypnotic vocals and haunting guitar voicing evoked Mississippi hill country style. Blue Mother Tupelo is a husband-wife duo, Ricky and Micol Davis, who have forged a musical partnership with a roots influenced style that was original, highly entertaining and full of spirit. Ricky’s dobro playing followed the blues system with Micol’s fiery vocals and ever-present tambourine accompaniment. Their passionate rendition of “Put Your Head On My Shoulders” was unusually effective.
Many of the festival musicians come to jam or to just enjoy each other’s company. Sitting alongside Pinetop Perkins was Hubert Sumlin, neither of whom played this day. The legendary aggregation of musicians who graced the stage included Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, bassist Bob Stroger, guitarist Bob Margolin, and bassist Calvin “Fuzz” Jones. This led to an old-fashioned jam which featured a host of performers, notably a young man who had created a buzz all weekend although he had no official booking at the festival, sixteen year old Marquise Knox from St. Louis, Missouri. Knox has been called a ”young Muddy Waters” and he held his own on this occasion alongside the veterans. It will be interesting to see how this young man who showed such maturity on guitar will fare in making his mark on the blues.
Kenny Neal did a turn on harmonica - Jonn Richardson and Diunna Greenleaf wowed the crowd - Super Chikan delighted on his version of “Down In Mississippi” on his handmade cigar box guitar and raw-edged vocals - R. J. Mischo got down and dirty on harmonica - Eugene “Hideaway” Bridges did a soulful rendition on “Chain of Love.” The cast of supporting musicians shifted constantly and included the talented young Hiser Bros.

The finale with Carl Weathersby (who broke a string immediately), Michael Burks and drummer Popcorn was so explosive that it brought an avalanche of standees to the front of the stage making it impossible to see anything except a sea of heads. That was when I found out that there was something happening in a cotton gin building just down the way on the grounds. When approaching, all one could see in the darkness was a huge building reverberating with the recognizable vocals of Lightning’ Malcolm.
What a setting this was for a downhome exhibition of Mississippi hill country music with none other than the legendary R. L. Burnside’s son, Cedric Burnside playing drums. I learned later that T-Model Ford had played earlier in the evening and upon being told that his time was up, pulled out his knife. Apparently he was convinced to give it up since the band continued unabated.

Then everyone headed over to Red’s, known as the home of Big Jack Johnson. With its leaky roof, unmentionably bad restroom and makeshift performing area, this is a real juke joint.
We got there early enough to get a seat which was fortunate since the joint quickly filled up every inch of the small room. Robert Belfour was sitting in the middle of the room playing acoustic guitar. His guitar rendering was hypnotic and powered by expressive vocals that fueled the authenticity of his unique style of country blues. His rendition of “What’s Wrong With You” was filled with the soul of Mississippi. What a presence he made with people crowding around to hear his every word as he worked his way through a set that went from a Howlin’ Wolf expression on “Evil” to a great upbeat version “That’s Alright.”

After Belfour’s set, a jam ensued with a number of artists performing and most notably Blind Mississippi Morris playing harmonica on “Crosscut Saw” and Lightnin” Malcolm doing a frenzied accompaniment on guitar. By this time all the air was expended in the room and claustrophobia had set in so time to head for bed. On the way out, we saw Belfour being put into an ambulance and learned later that it was fortunately just exhaustion and the crush of the crowd that had befallen him.

If one can envision all the incredible experiences of the day, then they have been to the Crossroads - Clarksdale, Mississippi.

On Monday morning, we moved over to the Riverside Hotel, finally inducted as a historical site on the Mississippi Blues Trail.
Now a hotel, this is the site where Bessie Smith died in 1937 when it was the only hospital in the area that would accept a black person. There is a room dedicated to Smith and the place reeks with history with the hallway filled with photos of famous people who have stayed there. Frank (fondly known as Rat) Ratliff runs the establishment and he has loads of stories about the blues performers who stayed there after his mother turned it into a hotel.

While visiting the Delta Blues Museum, it was wonderful to meet up with Leroy “Bluesdog” Falconi, Jr. who had recently installed an epic music art collage of artifacts and signed harmonicas which he has collected over the last twenty years. Registered with the Library of Congress, this piece has harmonicas signed by legendary artists including Bo Diddley, B. B. King, Little Milton, James Cotton among others and will be on exhibit until October 2008. A limited edition poster of the collage was available in the gift shop. We had a nice chat about all our mutual acquaintances and this was another example of the talented people that one runs into in Clarksdale!

As we made our way to the Cat Head Store to stock up on CDs and books, we ran into Eugene “Hideaway” Bridges and again in the Blues Source Record Store which recently opened up in town. The town is alive with more blues-related businesses opening. We had lunch at the new Depot Restaurant and got a personal tour of the adjoining room and patio now featuring blues shows.

That evening we decided to check out Red’s to see if there was going to be any music - as Red had said the day before “maybe!” Sadly, there was none but we sat around for a short time chatting in between the TV football game.

On Tuesday we headed to Memphis to spend the night before our Wednesday early morning flight back to San Francisco but not before checking out the Juke Joint again. First we stopped for a short time at the Rum Boogie Café where James Govan & The Boogie Blues Band was holding forth. This was a tight band with a repertoire of R&B and soul classics. We were anxious to get that last dose of blues so we repaired next door to the Juke Joint where we were honored to fully experience an evening of deep blues sounds from Delta Highway.

They remembered us from our previous short visit and introduced themselves - Jason Sulek on guitar, Brandon Santini on harmonica and vocals, Slim Lewis on bass (veteran of the Jason Ricci Band) and Kevin Eddy on drums. When I asked Jason who the fantastic drummer was on our first visit, he replied it was Willie Hall who was a drummer with Stax and backed Isaac Hayes on his recording of “Hot Buttered Soul.” This really good band just reinforced my opinion that there is another generation of budding talents prepared to keep the blues alive.

My annual trek to the Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival and the side trip to Clarksdale, Mississippi is always the most rewarding blues experience of the year and every year it just gets better - it is always an enriching adventure!

----- Dorothy L. Hill,
jazzpix@pacbell.net

home

back