Mississippi Blues Trail
Start wherever you like. The Blues Trail is
an outdoor museum with no set beginning
or end. It identifies more than 140 places
and people that tell the story of the blues.
Markers appear at birth sites, cemeteries,
train depots, cotton fields and roadsides where
significant blues structures once stood.
Looking for the distinctive blue markers
scattered across the state is like a treasure hunt.
A marker for bluesman Tommy Johnson stands
in a park beside the railroad tracks in Crystal
Springs, where he grew up. Singer-guitarist
Robert Johnson, born on the outskirts of
Hazlehurst, has two markers, one downtown
and another near Greenwood, beside a
cemetery where it’s believed he’s buried.
Club Ebony in Indianola has a marker. The
legendary nightclub, which showcased
performers such as Sonny Boy Williamson,
Howlin' Wolf, Ike Turner and Count Basie,
is now owned by B.B. King. A marker
also stands outside the Riverside Hotel
in Clarksdale, which was a hospital when
singer Bessie Smith died there after an
automobile accident on Highway 61.
For information about sites on the trail
and upcoming marker dedications,
visit www.msbluestrail.org.
Country Music Trail
Country music has roots in the blues, and in
Meridian two markers honor pioneer country
singer Jimmie Rodgers, one on the Blues
Trail and another on the Country Music Trail.
Elvis Presley also has a marker on each trail.
He was born in Tupelo, and his boyhood
home and the church his family attended are
preserved there at the Elvis Presley Birthplace.
The trail also honors artists such as singers
Conway Twitty, Marty Stuart, Charley
Pride and Tammy Wynette; songwriter Paul
Overstreet, who penned such classics as “On
the Other Hand”; and country comedian Jerry
Follow the Trails Through Mississippi
Whether your interest is music, food, civil rights or literature, Mississippi
has a trail for you. Find maps and details at
www.VisitMississippi.org.
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VisitMississippi.org » 1.866.SEE MISS (733.6477)
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