Playing Country and Singing the Blues

For more information on the Mississippi Blues

and Country Music trails, scan the bar code with

your smartphone or visit VisitMississippi.org/

trails.aspx

T wo meandering outdoor museums trace Mississippi’s music. The Mississippi Blues Trail and the Country Music Trail ramble the

state. Distinctive markers, blue for the blues

and red for country music, commemorate

places where old clubs and juke joints once

livened up the nights, and where the famous

and infamous were born, sang, played and died.

Look for the first marker on

the Country Music Trail in

Meridian beside Oak Grove

Cemetery, where Jimmie

Rodgers is buried. He’s called

the Father of Country Music,

but Rodgers’ early work was

planted in the blues. He

influenced bluesmen such

as Muddy Waters, Tommy

Johnson and Howlin’ Wolf, and

is honored also with a marker

on the Mississippi Blues Trail.

Blues and country music cross

paths again in Tupelo, where

the life of another legend is chronicled at the

Elvis Presley Birthplace. Elvis turned his roots

in blues, gospel and country music into such a

phenomenally successful sound that the world

crowned him the “King of Rock and Roll.” He

too is honored with markers on both trails.

Start anywhere you like along Mississippi’s

music trails, and head in any direction.

You can even jump from blues to country

and back again. One place the two grew

up side by side is the Mississippi Delta,

where it seems that almost every town and

crossroads has at least one trail marker.

There’s a Mississippi Blues Trail marker at

Dockery Farms near Cleveland, home to a

number of bluesmen, including Charley Patton,

Tommy Johnson and Roebuck “Pops” Staples.

One stands outside the State Penitentiary at

Parchman, one honors Muddy Waters in his

hometown of Rolling Fork, and one marks the

intersection of Mississippi Highway 10 and

U.S. 61 in Leland, where

musicians once entertained

passengers on the train

that stopped daily on its

way to New Orleans. For

information about sites

on the trail and upcoming

marker dedications, visit

www.msbluestrail.org.

Among the Country Music

Trail markers in the Delta

are those honoring Charley

Pride, from Sledge, and

Conway Twitty, born in

Friars Point as Harold Lloyd

Jenkins. In Hollandale,

one is dedicated to Ben Peters, who penned

such songs as “Kiss an Angel Good Morning”

and “Before the Next Teardrop Falls.”

As you follow the trails, take time to listen to

live music in clubs or at one of the festivals that

feature the music stars of today and tomorrow.

And come back any time to the birthplace of the

blues and the heartbeat of country music.

Themed Travel

Like first cousins, the blues and country music share a family heritage.

They also share the spotlight in Mississippi’s music history.

1) The Jimmie Rodgers Memorial Museum, Meridian

2) Crossroads (Highways 61 & 49), Clarksdale

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VisitMississippi.org » 1.866.SEE MISS (733.6477)

Themed Travel