If you decide to go on a road trip from Memphis, these are some blues destinations well worth your time.
Delta Blues Museum
photo by SueReed99, Flickr
About an hour’s drive south from Memphis, this homespun museum in Clarksdale covers important musicians from the Mississippi Delta like Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, Pinetop Perkins, Charlie Musselwhite, and many more. They have some great displays and artifacts, including the remains of Muddy’s cabin from Stovall Farms where he lived as a sharecropper and tractor driver.
Delta Blues Museum
1 Blues Alley, Clarksdale, MS 38614
Phone: (662) 627-6820 http://www.deltabluesmuseum.org/high/index.asp
Ground Zero Club
Also in Clarksdale, MS, the club owned by Morgan Freeman showcases modern blues musicians. You might see him when he’s between movies and back in his home town.
If you are driving south to New Orleans, the two cities are about 800 miles apart. You can motor through Mississippi along the Blues Trail and see many historic blues landmarks and museums along the Mississippi Delta.
Along the Blues Trail, the impressive B.B. King Museum in Indianola, MS is a shrine for blues lovers. http://www.bbkingmuseum.org/
photo by paintoutloud, Flickr
Mississippi Blues Trail – MDA Tourism
P.O. Box 849, Jackson, MS 39205
Phone: (601) 359-3449 http://msbluestrail.org/
If you want to know more about the history and culture of the area, these are helpful documentaries and movies:
Eyes on the Prize
Multi-part PBS documentary about the Civil Rights movement. Superb archive footage and insightful interviews. A must-see. Aired on public television in 1987 and was finally released on DVD in 2010. http://www.shoppbs.org/eyes+on+the+prize
Boycott
Well-told drama about Martin Luther King Jr. (Jeffery Wright) leading the sanitation workers strike in Montgomery, Alabama. (2001.) http://www.allmovie.com/movie/boycott-v234660
Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story
Music-filled documentary about the rise and fall of Stax Records and its important place in the history of American soul. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. Highly recommended for the archive footage of all the big stars like Otis Redding, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, Sam & Dave, Rufus Thomas, The Staple Singers, Isaac Hayes, and many more! (2007.) http://www.amazon.com/Respect-Yourself-Stax-Records-Story
West of Memphis
Director Amy Berg’s documentary examines the West Memphis Three–teenagers who seemingly were falsely convicted for the murder of three little boys. (2012.) http://www.allmovie.com/movie/west-of-memphis-v553701/
Features interviews with childhood friends, first girlfriends, and early bandmates to build a complete picture of the well-mannered Southern boy with a talent for singing. It’s the story of Elvis’s dirt-poor upbringing in Tupelo, MS, his job as a Memphis truck driver with musical aspirations, and his rapid rise to stardom in 1956. Even if you know a lot about Elvis, this documentary is still full of surprises. (Elvis was actually blonde!) (2008.) http://www.amazon.com/Elvis-Return-Tupelo-Presley
Other movies filmed in Memphis and nearby:
21 Grams (2002)
3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)
The Angel Doll (2000)
Black Snake Moan (2007)
Cast Away (2000)
The Client (1994)
The Delta (1996)
Elizabethtown (2005)
Elvis (2005 TV Movie)
Elvis and Me (1988)
A Family Thing (1996)
Finding Graceland (1998)
The Firm (1993)
The Grace Card (2011)
The Gun in Betty Lou’s Handbag (1992)
Forty Shades of Blue (2005)
Great Balls of Fire! (1988)
Heart of Dixie (1989)
Highway 61 (1991)
Hustle & Flow (2005)
Leningrad Cowboys Go America (1989)
Making the Grade (1984)
Memphis (1992 TV Movie)
Memphis Beat (TV Series)
Memphis Belle (1990)
Mystery Train (1989)
Nothing But the Truth (2008)
A Painted House (2002)
The People Vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
The Rainmaker (1997)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Soul Men (2008)
Take Me to the River (2014)
This is Elvis (1981)
Trespass (1991)
Tricks (2007)
Walk the Line (2005)
Wheelin’ on Beale: How WDIA-Memphis Became the Nation’s First All-Black Radio Station and Created the Sound that Changed America http://www.amazon.com/Wheelin-Beale-Wdia
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