Home > Mississippi Death Records > Mississippi Highways and Crossroads ??

Mississippi Highways and Crossroads ??

February 6th, 2010 Leave a comment Go to comments

This is a video slideshow tribute to The Mississippi Delta region which is considered to be the birthplace of the Blues.

The most widely known legend surrounding Robert Johnson says that he sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 61 and U.S. Highway 49 in Clarksdale, Mississippi in exchange for prowess in playing the guitar. Actually, the location Johnson made reference to is a short distance away from that intersection. The legend was told mainly by Son House, but finds no corroboration in any of Johnson’s work, despite titles like “Me and the Devil Blues” and “Hellhound on My Trail”. With this said, the song “Cross Road Blues” is both widely and loosely interpreted by many as a descriptive encounter of Johnson selling his soul. The older Tommy Johnson (no relation, although it is speculated that they were cousins) also claimed to have sold his soul to the Devil. The story goes that if one would go to the crossroads a little before midnight and begin to play the guitar, a large black man would come up to the aspiring guitarist, retune his guitar and then hand it back. At this point (so the legend goes) the guitarist had sold his soul to become a virtuoso (A similar legend even surrounded virtuoso violinist Niccolo Paganini a century before.)

Seventy or so years ago, a man who was then known as Robert Johnson passed away. He was poisoned, presumably by a houseman/barkeep whose wife had been flirting with him on an August Evening. Around the same time, a king pin of the then small, homely music industry sent out a middle man to find Johnson, in hopes of striking a record deal. It took until almost a year after Johnson’s death for word to get back to the industry that Johnson was, in fact, deceased. This is not a surprise, considering that the spread of news at the time, let alone in poor black Mississippi (or really, where ever he may have taken up residence at the time), was reserved to word of mouth.

Robert Johnson is arguably the most important, influential, and respected blues artist of all time. Back in the days when Johnson was still with us, recording equipment was sparse. Johnson recorded a grand total of forty one cuts, twelve of them alternate takes.

In 1900, Bill and Annie Patton and their 12 children took up residence at Dockery Farms. Their nine-year-old, Charlie, took to following guitarist Henry Sloan to his performances at picnics, fish-fries, and social gatherings at boarding houses where the day laborers lived. By 1910, Patton was
himself a professional musician, playing songs such as his own “Pony Blues,” often with fellow guitarist Willie Brown. Within the next five years Patton had come to influence Tommy Johnson, considered one of the best ragtime-blues guitarists of the day, who had traveled to Dockery. He had also joined the Chatmon brothers who recorded using the name the “Mississippi Sheiks” at their musical jobs throughout the area.

Even though there were no juke joints on the farm, Charlie Patton and other bluesmen, drawn to Dockery by its fame, used the plantation as their base. They would travel the network of state roads around Dockery Farms to communities large enough to support audiences that loved the blues. One of these roads, Highway 61, from Memphis to Vicksburg, was immortalized by 1960s folk/rock icon Bob Dylan. This was “blues country.” The plantation was located between the towns of Cleveland and Ruleville, just south of the state prison at Parchman and north of Indianola, the birthplace of the blues guitar great B.B. King. Shops in the area sold “race records.” These were typically blues sung by women like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith and produced presumably for African-American buyers. In 1929 Charlie Patton recorded 14 songs for Paramount Records, featuring his gruff voice and rhythmic, percussive plucking. They immediately became top sellers, and resulted eventually in his second recording sessions, producing 26 titles, for the ARC company in New York in 1934.

But it was Patton’s live performances that inspired and influenced fans such as Robert Johnson, Bukka White, Ed ‘Son’ House, Chester Burnett (also known as Howlin’ Wolf), and Roebuck ‘Pop’ Staples. These important artists in blues history either lived at or passed through Dockery Farms. Bluesmen Sonnyboy Williamson and Leadbelly were among ‘guests of the state’ at nearby Parchman Prison during the same era.

Besides his blues guitar playing and singing, Patton was well known for his stage moves. He danced while playing and swinging his guitar around, often playing it behind his back. These crowd-pleasing antics imitated by rock stars including Jimi Hendrix have survived today in the acts of bluesmen such as Buddy Guy.

Enjoy 🙂
Quinoacat

Duration : 0:6:48


[youtube qJoKyLqTm8g]

  1. RevPace
    February 6th, 2010 at 22:24 | #1

    Greenville, …
    Greenville, Mississippi the unofficial capital of the Mississippi Delta

  2. matthewchops
    February 6th, 2010 at 22:24 | #2

    dont worry its just …
    dont worry its just a metaphor for drugs

  3. Asymmatrix
    February 6th, 2010 at 22:24 | #3

    Nice job.
    Nice job.

  4. BloodyMary1601
    February 6th, 2010 at 22:24 | #4

    I looove Blues!^^
    I looove Blues!^^

  5. LapRound
    February 6th, 2010 at 22:24 | #5

    it’s because of all …
    it’s because of all the slavery, and ! the pain will always remain there ;(
    fuck racism

  6. temautube
    February 6th, 2010 at 22:24 | #6

    Thank you!) I cant …
    Thank you!) I cant find anything regarding this song, have no clue who sings it and if it is available in MP3, if someone knows, please let me know! The song is Amazing!

  7. quinoacat
    February 6th, 2010 at 22:24 | #7

    It was a song …
    It was a song available via Youtube audio-swap when YT killed the Robert Johnson track originally used on this video creation. I believe The original Aberdeen Mississippi Blues was by Bukka White but this track is different.

  8. temautube
    February 6th, 2010 at 22:24 | #8

    Guys… who Exactly …
    Guys… who Exactly singing this song? And which album I can find it at?… Please let me know. I’m just in love with this performance!

  1. No trackbacks yet.