The next day we drove to Memphis, TN. It is not a very long drive from Clarksdale, only 70 miles or so. We took a lot of detours and it wound up taking us the whole day.
The first stop was Helena, AR. Helena is the home of radio station KFFA which broadcasts the King Biscuit Flour Hour. This program was started in the 1940's and is till on the air today. It is credited with bringing the Delta Blues to whites. It seems if you were black in those days it was much easier to get your music heard if the public did not know the color of your skin. Sonny Boy Williamson (whose grave we saw yesterday) was one of the first performers on the show.
The drums used by Sonny Boy Willamson's Band
In front of the KFFA studios
From Helena we drove back into Mississippi and visited Lula. Lula was home to many of the blues greats, but you could not tell it from the state of the town today. The best two words to describe Lula is economically depressed. It's not hard to imaging someone having the blues living here!
Downtown Lula
Leaving Lula we headed for Walls, MS in search of Memphis Minnie's grave site. Lizzie Douglas Lawlers, better known as Memphis Minnie, was one of the few women playing the blues. Her guitar playing is respected even today. She was said to be able to out-drink, out-fight and out-cuss many of the men in her day. Today she rests peacefully in a church cemetery just outside Walls.
If you look close you can see the guitar pick I left for Minnie
The frau was getting kind of tired of hanging out in cemeteries so I promised here just one more grave and then we would head to Memphis. We drove to the west of West Memphis, AR to see Albert King's fina resting place. Albert King was famous for his left hand Gibson Flying V guitar. Below is a video of him playing with Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Another guitar pick left as a tribute to Albert King
As I promised the frau, that was it for the day and we would head for the hotel in Memphis to rest up. The Nugent's were getting ready to take on Beale Street!
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