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Mike's dad was born on a cotton
plantation, just West of West Memphis,
Arkansas along highway 49, in July 27th
of 1913. Now that's as blues as it gets.
plantation, just West of West Memphis,
Arkansas along highway 49, in July 27th
of 1913. Now that's as blues as it gets.
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| Buy, Sell, Trade, Repair, eBay & Lessons. Guido's Hot Springs Music is a guitar shop owned, and operated by working musicians. Vintage, new, used and gear. A local musician's hang out in Central Arkansas. Call Guido: 501-655-6168 |
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Arkansas Blues
The Mississippi River is the state line between Arkansas and
Mississippi. The infamous Blues Highway 49 crosses the
Mississippi River, and winds up in the historic blues city of Helena,
Arkansas home to King Biscuit Floor Power Blues KFFA Radio,
and the King Biscuit Blues Festival. They can’t call it the King
Biscuit Blues Festival anymore, as some New Jersey
carpetbaggers legally stole the name wanting thousands of
dollars for usage. The kind folks in Helena, AR had to start
calling the festival the Blues & Heritage Festival. I know, sounds
like real Nazi crap, but that is the way the laws are written
apparently.
The reason Arkansas didn’t get on the blues map back in the turn
of the 20th century, is the Smithsonian Institute in their quest to
record American Folk Music starting in 1902, headed down the
Appalachian Trail, wound up in Tennessee and then on down
Mississippi to New Orleans. They never crossed the Mississippi
River, heading westward, and thus Kansas City Blues, Texas
Blues, St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Blues, Oakland Bay Blues,
San Francisco Blues, Seattle Blues and Arkansas Blues didn’t
make the grade.
From there anyone trying to make a buck on blues starts at
Clarksdale, stops in Memphis, and winds up in Chicago. You can
get that info on any album liner notes, or blues mag. Don’t get
me started, and enough said for the moment. Today, I am
focusing on Arkansas Blues – You know, the west side of the
Mississippi River Valley and Delta. The Arkansas River joins the
Mississippi River, just South of Helena, Arkansas and Blues
Highway 49, a little ways Southwest from Clarksdale, Mississippi.
Welcome to Arkansas Delta Blues: Keep on jammin’ them blues,
it’s music to my ears.
Arkansas Blues Legends: www.bluesguitarnews.
com/ArkansasLegends
Blues Guitar News FaceBook: www.facebook.com/home.php?#!
/pages/Blues-Guitar-News/130791946935789?ref=mf
Ozark Blues Society: www.ozarkbluessociety.org
Arkansas River Blues Society: www.facebook.com/home.php?
#!/profile.php?id=100001082993923&ref=ts
Ft. Smith Arkansas Blues: www.riverfrontbluesfest.org
Arkansas Blues & Heritage:
www.bluesandheritagefest.com/sbbs
Arkansas Delta Cultural Center:
www.deltaculturalcenter.com/education_programs
Spa City Blues Society: www.spacityblues.org
Arkansas Blues History: www.encyclopediaofarkansas.
net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=599
Arkansas Blues on WikipediA: http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Arkansas_Delta
Arkansas Musicians in the Blues Hall of Fame:
www.blueshalloffame.
com/Local_Blues_Talent/Local_Blues_Talent_of_Arkansas.html
Arkansas Blues Radio: www.kabf.org -
www.kffa.com - www.kasu.org - www.kuaf.org
Arkansas Delta Boogie: www.deltaboogie.com
Arkansas Blues DJ’s: Queen of Arkansas Blues DJ’s Deb’s,
Blues House Party: http://www.facebook.com/search/?
post_form_id=bdfb03ea4bf896719df7c38fe714f8e1&q=kabf&init=
quick&ref=search_loaded#!/profile.php?
id=100000656863994&v=info&ref=search
Paul Kelso on KAUF: http://www.facebook.com/search/?
post_form_id=bdfb03ea4bf896719df7c38fe714f8e1&q=kabf&init=
quick&ref=search_loaded#!/profile.php?
id=560134626&v=info&ref=search
Arkansas Blues Highway 49
Blues Highway 49 begins at Gulfport, Mississippi, which is 20
miles W/O Alabama, 20 miles E/O of Louisiana, and about 50
miles from New Orleans. Gulfport, Mississippi is a true delta city,
which is on the Gulf of Mexico, and besides Florida, is the most
southern part of the United States. For those of you that have
never had a plate full of Turnip Greens, Black Eyed Peas and
Cornbread, here we go:
Traveling north, the first big town is Hattiesburg, MS, but north of
that is Mississippi’s main major city; Jackson, Mississippi home to
some of the worlds best, and most famous Gospel groups, and
Gospel and blues radio programming too. Home to the Jackson
Southernares, one of the bes Gospel groups on earth.
North of Jackson, is Yazoo City, a much worn out blues word.
Highway 49 splits at Yazoo with 49w heading northwest, and 49
northward. They join again at the crossroads of Hwy 49 and Hwy
3 in the middle of nothing but cotton fields as far as you can see.
The closet small towns are Rome and Dublin miles away.
After passing the crossroads, you will enter Clarksdale,
Mississippi, which lays claim to be the epic-center for blues
worldwide. So be it. Leaving Clarksdale you are on joint
Highway 49 and 61, and they split in ten miles with the closest
little berg being Rich, Mississippi.
Highway 61 continues north, crosses the Mississippi State line
into, Memphis, Tennessee. I was in one of the worst
thunderstorms of my life on this stretch of highway back in
1996. Highway 49 turns west and crosses the Mississippi River,
into Helena, Arkansas. This is home to the King Biscuit; KFFA
historic Sonny Boy Williamson blues radio show. We are still in
fertile cotton, and farming country. We didn’t really call it delta
when I was a kid, but referred to it as bottom-land or river
bottom.
Traveling north, you pass West Memphis, Arkansas by about 20
miles, and head into Jonesboro, Arkansas. My daddy was born
here in house along side Highway 49 back in 1913, and he was
raised on a cotton farm between Jonesboro, and Paragould,
Arkansas. From here if you stay north on 49, and you will cross
Arkansas into Missouri around Moark, Arkansas.
49 and 67 are joint highways in Missouri for a few miles. 49 will
branch off around Williamsville, Missouri, and Highway 49 will
continue to the north, and finally end at the historic Route 66 in
Cuba, Missouri, which is now Interstate 44.
Highway 67 continues northeast and eventually joins Interstate
55, just south of St. Louis, Missouri, which is some odd 200 plus
miles southwest, away from Chicago.
For those of you that got some interest out of America’s Blues
Highways, there is a MapQuest Reference below for you.
America’s music Highways are Route 66, Highway 49 & 61.
Although the Interstate system has fragmented the old Highway
system, many parts of these old blues roads are still
there, where Southern and Union Pacific Railroads crisscross
them continuously. I’ll talk about blues trains in a future article.
Now you know the rest of the story about blues highways in
America.
MAPQUEST: www.mapquest.com/?le=t&hk=6-fq8i&vs=h
Wikipedia, encyclopedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Highway_49
The Mississippi River is the state line between Arkansas and
Mississippi. The infamous Blues Highway 49 crosses the
Mississippi River, and winds up in the historic blues city of Helena,
Arkansas home to King Biscuit Floor Power Blues KFFA Radio,
and the King Biscuit Blues Festival. They can’t call it the King
Biscuit Blues Festival anymore, as some New Jersey
carpetbaggers legally stole the name wanting thousands of
dollars for usage. The kind folks in Helena, AR had to start
calling the festival the Blues & Heritage Festival. I know, sounds
like real Nazi crap, but that is the way the laws are written
apparently.
The reason Arkansas didn’t get on the blues map back in the turn
of the 20th century, is the Smithsonian Institute in their quest to
record American Folk Music starting in 1902, headed down the
Appalachian Trail, wound up in Tennessee and then on down
Mississippi to New Orleans. They never crossed the Mississippi
River, heading westward, and thus Kansas City Blues, Texas
Blues, St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Blues, Oakland Bay Blues,
San Francisco Blues, Seattle Blues and Arkansas Blues didn’t
make the grade.
From there anyone trying to make a buck on blues starts at
Clarksdale, stops in Memphis, and winds up in Chicago. You can
get that info on any album liner notes, or blues mag. Don’t get
me started, and enough said for the moment. Today, I am
focusing on Arkansas Blues – You know, the west side of the
Mississippi River Valley and Delta. The Arkansas River joins the
Mississippi River, just South of Helena, Arkansas and Blues
Highway 49, a little ways Southwest from Clarksdale, Mississippi.
Welcome to Arkansas Delta Blues: Keep on jammin’ them blues,
it’s music to my ears.
Arkansas Blues Legends: www.bluesguitarnews.
com/ArkansasLegends
Blues Guitar News FaceBook: www.facebook.com/home.php?#!
/pages/Blues-Guitar-News/130791946935789?ref=mf
Ozark Blues Society: www.ozarkbluessociety.org
Arkansas River Blues Society: www.facebook.com/home.php?
#!/profile.php?id=100001082993923&ref=ts
Ft. Smith Arkansas Blues: www.riverfrontbluesfest.org
Arkansas Blues & Heritage:
www.bluesandheritagefest.com/sbbs
Arkansas Delta Cultural Center:
www.deltaculturalcenter.com/education_programs
Spa City Blues Society: www.spacityblues.org
Arkansas Blues History: www.encyclopediaofarkansas.
net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=599
Arkansas Blues on WikipediA: http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/Arkansas_Delta
Arkansas Musicians in the Blues Hall of Fame:
www.blueshalloffame.
com/Local_Blues_Talent/Local_Blues_Talent_of_Arkansas.html
Arkansas Blues Radio: www.kabf.org -
www.kffa.com - www.kasu.org - www.kuaf.org
Arkansas Delta Boogie: www.deltaboogie.com
Arkansas Blues DJ’s: Queen of Arkansas Blues DJ’s Deb’s,
Blues House Party: http://www.facebook.com/search/?
post_form_id=bdfb03ea4bf896719df7c38fe714f8e1&q=kabf&init=
quick&ref=search_loaded#!/profile.php?
id=100000656863994&v=info&ref=search
Paul Kelso on KAUF: http://www.facebook.com/search/?
post_form_id=bdfb03ea4bf896719df7c38fe714f8e1&q=kabf&init=
quick&ref=search_loaded#!/profile.php?
id=560134626&v=info&ref=search
Arkansas Blues Highway 49
Blues Highway 49 begins at Gulfport, Mississippi, which is 20
miles W/O Alabama, 20 miles E/O of Louisiana, and about 50
miles from New Orleans. Gulfport, Mississippi is a true delta city,
which is on the Gulf of Mexico, and besides Florida, is the most
southern part of the United States. For those of you that have
never had a plate full of Turnip Greens, Black Eyed Peas and
Cornbread, here we go:
Traveling north, the first big town is Hattiesburg, MS, but north of
that is Mississippi’s main major city; Jackson, Mississippi home to
some of the worlds best, and most famous Gospel groups, and
Gospel and blues radio programming too. Home to the Jackson
Southernares, one of the bes Gospel groups on earth.
North of Jackson, is Yazoo City, a much worn out blues word.
Highway 49 splits at Yazoo with 49w heading northwest, and 49
northward. They join again at the crossroads of Hwy 49 and Hwy
3 in the middle of nothing but cotton fields as far as you can see.
The closet small towns are Rome and Dublin miles away.
After passing the crossroads, you will enter Clarksdale,
Mississippi, which lays claim to be the epic-center for blues
worldwide. So be it. Leaving Clarksdale you are on joint
Highway 49 and 61, and they split in ten miles with the closest
little berg being Rich, Mississippi.
Highway 61 continues north, crosses the Mississippi State line
into, Memphis, Tennessee. I was in one of the worst
thunderstorms of my life on this stretch of highway back in
1996. Highway 49 turns west and crosses the Mississippi River,
into Helena, Arkansas. This is home to the King Biscuit; KFFA
historic Sonny Boy Williamson blues radio show. We are still in
fertile cotton, and farming country. We didn’t really call it delta
when I was a kid, but referred to it as bottom-land or river
bottom.
Traveling north, you pass West Memphis, Arkansas by about 20
miles, and head into Jonesboro, Arkansas. My daddy was born
here in house along side Highway 49 back in 1913, and he was
raised on a cotton farm between Jonesboro, and Paragould,
Arkansas. From here if you stay north on 49, and you will cross
Arkansas into Missouri around Moark, Arkansas.
49 and 67 are joint highways in Missouri for a few miles. 49 will
branch off around Williamsville, Missouri, and Highway 49 will
continue to the north, and finally end at the historic Route 66 in
Cuba, Missouri, which is now Interstate 44.
Highway 67 continues northeast and eventually joins Interstate
55, just south of St. Louis, Missouri, which is some odd 200 plus
miles southwest, away from Chicago.
For those of you that got some interest out of America’s Blues
Highways, there is a MapQuest Reference below for you.
America’s music Highways are Route 66, Highway 49 & 61.
Although the Interstate system has fragmented the old Highway
system, many parts of these old blues roads are still
there, where Southern and Union Pacific Railroads crisscross
them continuously. I’ll talk about blues trains in a future article.
Now you know the rest of the story about blues highways in
America.
MAPQUEST: www.mapquest.com/?le=t&hk=6-fq8i&vs=h
Wikipedia, encyclopedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Highway_49
