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Delta Roots Roadtrip
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Delta Roots Roadtrip |
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Subject: RE: Delta Roots Roadtrip From: catspaw49 Date: 28 Mar 02 - 07:07 PM You two are a riot. BTW, if you come to Lancaster Ohio, you'll find that Smith-Wills is a funeral home. Khandu, do you always have folks honking at your Mom's house and such? Ain't no wonder she disowned you......... Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Delta Roots Roadtrip From: khandu Date: 28 Mar 02 - 07:01 PM OOOPS!! Thank you again, pattyClink! It has been five-six years since I lived in Jackson, and I am getting old, and I am suffering from reading Spaw's post, and I have been confused about Smith-Wills and Smith-Robertson ever since I watched The Land of the Giants which had a character named Will (Robinson? or was it Robertson?), and I have had a hard day, and when I posted that, the sun was in my eyes and my Lucky wife, Cheryl, has a headache! *BstupidG* Seriously, thanks for pointing out my fox pass! khandu |
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Subject: RE: Delta Roots Roadtrip From: pattyClink Date: 28 Mar 02 - 09:53 AM Um, Smith-Wills is a baseball park. We're going to have Doc all turned around! I think it's called Smith-Robertson, an African-American museum. |
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Subject: RE: Delta Roots Roadtrip From: khandu Date: 27 Mar 02 - 07:30 PM My Dear (yet, somewhat odd) Spaw, I love the story. I loved it when you posted it in 2000. I will love it when you post it again. Thanks, pattyClink, good advice! I had forgotten to mention Hal & Mal's. (I once thought the name was "Howlin' Mal's). Some great artists have played there and the food is fine! Also, there is "Martin's" on N. State street which has some entertaining talent on "open mike" night, which I believe is Wednesday nights. There is also the Smith-Wills Museum in Jackson which, I am told, has a lot of blues history in it. Doc, too bad you can only extend two days. There is a full week of look-see you can do just in the surrounding Jackson area. (Don't forget to toot your horn at Mom! :-D) khandu
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Subject: RE: Delta Roots Roadtrip From: pattyClink Date: 27 Mar 02 - 04:07 PM And, coming up on the left, the famous Tallahatchie Bridge. Under the bridge lives a troll named catspaw. Laugh loudly at his story, it is the only way he will let you proceed. |
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Subject: RE: Delta Roots Roadtrip From: catspaw49 Date: 27 Mar 02 - 02:59 PM BTW, following khandu's route above, you come close to the infamous Tallahatchie Bridge of Bobbie Gentry fame. Actually the song was a rewrite and the story of Billie Joe was based on a true tale from an earlier period. The story of Billie Joe is based in truth but stylized to some degree. It is an old story, dating back to the the late 40's when the only daughter of John Hatch, a Mississippi Klansman of some note, was in love with the first black attorney in the state. Jubilee Simmons was the grandson of slaves and had gone to school at the University of Chicago and returned to his family's home state, taking up residence in Carroll county in 1948. John Hatch's daughter was known to be a bit wild and young Kelli had already incurred her father's wrath on numerous occasions. Kelli was living with two other 22 year old women in the small town of Campton, Mississippi when she met and began dating Simmons. Her father learned of it a few weeks later and came into town drunk with some Klan buddies to hunt down and kill Simmons. Simmons law offices were in a storefront across from the county courthouse and from an open window he could hear the drunken invectives hurled his way from across the square. He slipped out a back door and went to Kelli's house to take her away and save them both from the murderous rancor of her father and his "brethren." Not finding Jubilee in his office the Klansmen split up to search for him and John Hatch went to his daughter's, presumably to beat her or possibly worse. He arrived before the pair had left and headed in the back porch door adjoining the kitchen. Seeing him coming, Simmons grabbed a kitchen knife and jumped atop the counter and then onto the top of the refrigerator that stood by the door. As John Hatch passed, he didn't notice Simmons who then jumped him safely from behind and in the ensuing struggle, Hatch was stabbed with the knife. The lovers bagged his body and threw it off a bridge on their way out of town. They were on their way to Chicago when they were arrested in Clarksville, Tennessee and returned for trial in Mississippi. Jubilee represented both and thanks to the testimony of one of the roommates and Mrs. Hatch who had suffered abuse for years at the hands of her husband, both were acquitted and moved to Chicago where he established a moderately successful practice on the south side. The original song told the story as it was, but owing to legal considerations, the Gentry version was done instead. The original was titled, "The Day that Jubilee the Barrister Jumped Off of Kelli Hatch's Fridge." Sorry..............(and sorry to khandu, but ol' Buddy, I hate to waste a good story) Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Delta Roots Roadtrip From: pattyClink Date: 27 Mar 02 - 02:52 PM Okay, it's called the Farish Street Blues Museum, 405 N Farish, 944-0000. If you are by any chance coming around May 5 you will catch a great music festival called Zoo Blues. If around May 17-May 19 you will catch a fairly enormous one (multi-genre) called Jubilee Jam. |
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Subject: RE: Delta Roots Roadtrip From: pattyClink Date: 27 Mar 02 - 02:35 PM Yeah, what khandu said! The Irish bar in Jackson is spelt Fenian's. When you hit town pick up the Planet Weekly for current music listings. There is now a little blues museum in the Farish Street area (adjacent to downtown), I'll see if I can dredge up a phone number for ya. If you need a place to just walk in and start asking questions, report to Hal & Mal's downtown, a bar/restaurant open from lunch on thru the night which also hosts a truckload of music. The route you're looking at is fine but I like staying on 61 myself all the way from I-20 north, goes through the rural delta more. Once your route gets into Greenwood, you're actually up & out of the Delta. Maybe you could make a loop where you catch both routes. |
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Subject: RE: Delta Roots Roadtrip From: Rolfyboy6 Date: 27 Mar 02 - 12:51 AM Here's the B&N page for Steve Chesborough's Blues Travelling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues. When you go to the Delta, put a harmonica on Sonny Boy's grave for me. And a guitar pick on Charlie Patton's. And here's Bluejeans' Blues Tour |
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Subject: RE: Delta Roots Roadtrip From: Tweed Date: 26 Mar 02 - 11:12 PM Good for you Doc! Hope you have a hellacious good time down there. Go check out Junior's Juke Joint for the ultimate jukejoint planning guide and tour book (complete with maps). Junior's site has been featured on CNN and is about the best written travelogue about the delta country as you will find anywhere. He makes the whole place on a laptop set up in his kitchen. You'll find good places to go to eat, drink and listen to live blues, and advice on how to behave while your visiting these establishments. Here's link to Junior's Juke Joint. Worth a visit and several readings even if you ain't goin' down to the Delta. He sez this about the mood in them places.. "Without exception, the owners and customers of those places welcomed this redneck white boy."
Hey, Junior! What's the difference between a juke joint and a honky tonk?
Go and check him out. You'll get lost in there for a couple hours easy! |
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Subject: RE: Delta Roots Roadtrip From: khandu Date: 26 Mar 02 - 11:05 PM Good path to follow there, Doc. In Greenwood, on Hiway 82, there is the Delta Blues Museum. Not a whole lot to it, but worth a quick stop. 15 miles east of Greenwood, on 82, you will come to Carrollton, a historic town by it's own right. Though you will find little relating to music there, it is worth a visit. Entering the town is like a trip back in time. While there, stop in at the public High School and say hello to the headmaster, Mr. Whitfield. Tell'em khandu sent you. He is my brother. By the way, in Carrollton, you are only 10-12 miles from the grave of Mississippi John Hurt. Let me back up a bit. In Greenwood, on Money Road a few miles out, you will find a grave that (like many others!) claims to be the resting place of Robert Johnson. The stone has a replica of a handwritten letter supposedly written by Johnson, saying that he has escaped the deal he made with the devil and he accepted Jesus! (The Blues Museum can tell you exactly where the grave is.) (For a newspaper article of the Johnson letter, PM me.) Moorhead is the home of Johnny Russell who attended the J.R. Festival often. Two or three miles out of Carrollton on 82, you will see a redwood house on the left, blow your horn...it is my mom! *BG* At Winona, you hit I-55. 40-50 miles down 55, you will find the Casey Jones Museum at Vaughn. I would tell you more about it but every time I have stopped there, it has been closed. *sigh* While in Jackson, check out Field's Cafe (some great blues has been played there!), or, if you'd like a pint of Guinness, there is Finian's Pub on Fortification Street. Historic Farrish Street has undergone a bit of renovation in the last few years. It was a rich area for music. Check it out. Welcome to Mississippi, Doc! Enjoy your trip and tell us about it! khandu |
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Subject: RE: Delta Roots Roadtrip From: catspaw49 Date: 26 Mar 02 - 10:34 PM I think there's some decent info here at the 'Cat......Click Here Also Doc, there's a really excellent book that came out awhile back and we talked about it here, but I can't remember the title or the thread. It was a "Blues Travelogue" sort of thing.....I'll keep looking but I can't come up with it yet. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: Delta Roots Roadtrip From: Steve Latimer Date: 26 Mar 02 - 10:26 PM I can't help with your planning, but I sure wish I could go with you.
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Subject: Delta Roots Roadtrip From: Doc Date: 26 Mar 02 - 09:42 PM I have the good fortune to be going to Jackson MS and would like to extend my stay and travel through Clarksdale and parts of MS that I have read and heard about. I can only extend by 2 days, but am considering whether it is a better trip from Memphis to Jackson or South to North. I really love blues and play harp and guitar for about 10 years now - Muddy Waters is probably my favorite singer. Given limited time I am thinking about Highway 61 Memphis to clarksdale, 49 to moorehead, to quito and then to Greenwood and I55 to jackson. Stay in Memphis overnight and maybe in Clarksdale. I can't make the Handy Awards - too bad. What do you think? |
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