We are so close to Clarksdale, Mississippi that we cannot give up the chance to visit it. It will add about a hundred miles onto the trip but it is “Ground Zero” for the Delta Blues! It was here where, legend has it, Robert Johnson made his deal with the Devil!
"Undisputed facts about Johnson's life are few and far between. More often than not, his legend has obscured the few grains of truth which can be discerned. According to the myth, the young bluesman desperately longed for fame and fortune. Johnson was not satisfied with his own musical abilities and felt that he needed more talent to achieve success. He was already bitter toward his creator, blaming God for the death of his beloved wife and unborn child. Despondent and irrational, he made a momentous decision. At the stroke of midnight, he walked down to the windswept crossroads at the junction of Highways 61 and 49 in Clarksdale, MS. Reciting an ancient incantation, he called upon Satan himself to rise from the fires of Hell. In exchange for Johnson's immortal soul, the devil tuned his guitar, thereby giving him the abilities which he so desired. From then on, the young bluesman played his instrument with an unearthly style, his fingers dancing over the strings. His voice moaned and wailed, expressing the deepest sorrows of a condemned sinner."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd60nI4sa9A
ReplyDeleteHi Croft: I was in Memphis in 1992 with a girlfriend. I met a couple of Americans on the plane going from Terrace to Rupert (going fishing in Alaska) and they said "If you'all goin to Memphis you'all got to go to the Peabody Hotel and see the Duckwalk and you'all got to go to the Rendezvous for ribs." Did both of those things (super ribs!) as well as seeing Beale street, Graceland and an exhibit of the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire at the Memphis Pyramid exhibition hall. A wonderful city and a memory for ever. Have fun. We sure did!
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