Travelers to the Arkansas Delta quickly discover an elusive Delta mystique that gives
the region its own distinct feel. We think it has to do with the fertile soil deposited here by the Mississippi River and the recognition that what nature gives, it can easily take away. This acceptance leads to a special resilience in the people and diverse cultures that inhabit this area.
To fully experience the diverse music heritage of the Arkansas Delta, plan a visit
around one or more of our annual festivals and events. Whether you choose the King
Biscuit Blues Festival on the Mississippi River levee in downtown Helena in October, West Memphis’ Blues on Broadway in May or the Lake Chicot Gospel Festival in September, nothing compares to live music just miles from where the sounds originated.
MUSIC HERITAGE SITES JOHNNY CASH
Mississippi County Road 924 West, Dyess When Ray and Carrie Cash moved to Dyess seeking opportunity during the New Deal, this house where Johnny and his siblings grew up was the family’s first new home. Much of the famous singer and songwriter’s inspiration came directly from the fields and his upbringing here in Dyess Colony. Johnny Cash was one of America’s most influential musicians with a career that spread across gospel, country and western, rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll genres and earned him induction into the Country Music, Rock and Roll, Songwriters, Rockabilly, and Arkansas Entertainers’ Hall of Fames. Interpretive marker only.
SOUTHERN TENANT FARMERS MUSEUM
117 Main St., Tyronza 870-487-2909 http://stfm.astate.edu The Southern Tenant Farmers Museum focuses on the farm labor movement in the South and the tenant farming system of agriculture. Born and raised in the Arkansas Delta, John Handcox served as the minstrel of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union and the voice of Southern sharecroppers as expressed through his songs and poems written for the union and the cause. Listen to Handcox’s songs and see the influence of music on the agricultural labor movement in the South.
BB KING’S “LUCILLE”
AR Hwy. 42, Twist Visit the site where BB King infamously named his guitar “Lucille” after a woman in a burning juke joint on a winter night in the rural Arkansas Delta. Interpretive marker only.
KWEM RADIO
231 E. Broadway, West Memphis Here at 231 E. Broadway in downtown West Memphis, emerging and talented local musicians played live on the air from 1947-1955. Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin’ Wolf, Johnny Cash, Ike Turner, Junior Parker and Albert King all graced the KWEM studio. KWEM Radio was an integral player in the development and dissemination of the Delta sound that morphed into American rock ‘n’ roll music. Interpretive marker only.
“PLANTATION INN”
3600 E. Broadway St., West Memphis The Plantation Inn opened in 1943 in downtown West Memphis as a restaurant and nightclub and quickly became one of the hottest after-hours clubs in the Mid-South. Known
ment of Parks & Tourism, the Mississippi Development Authority Office of Tourism, and the Memphis Convention and Visitors Bureau. Their function, though, is more of a support role—participating communities were encouraged to develop special events to fit within the mission of creating an “ultimate blues pilgrimage” that focuses on the uniqueness of the Delta’s art, music, food and sense of place. Events begin Thursday, Sept. 27, when the Vicksburg Blues Society presents Jackson guitarist Stevie J at the Ameristar Casino’s Bottleneck Blues Bar’s “Vicksburg’s Got the Blues” series. On Friday, Sept. 28, Bobby Rush appears at Indianola’s historic 34
SEPTEMBER 19, 2012
for its late night jam sessions featuring both Memphis and Delta musicians, the Plantation Inn was home to “Flying Calvin” Newborn and many other famous blues and soul artists like Willie Mitchell, Ike Turner and Isaac Hayes. Interpretive marker only.
ALBERT KING
Paradise Gardens Cemetery, AR Hwy. 147, Edmondson One of the “Three Kings of the Blues Guitar” (along with B. B. King and Freddie King), Albert King was a master of the single-string solo and was inspired by blues performers whom he heard while growing up in the Arkansas Delta. King was laid to rest in Paradise Gardens Cemetery in Edmondson, not far from where he spent his childhood and began his music career in Osceola and West Memphis. Interpretive marker only.
PEETIE WHEATSTRAW
Cotton Plant Peetie Wheatstraw, born William Bunch in Ripley, Tenn. on Dec. 21, 1902, is widely associated with Cotton Plant, Ark., the hometown which greatly influenced his songwriting and music. Self-titled Peetie Wheatstraw, the Devil’s Son-in-Law, Bunch went on to a prolific and acclaimed career as a recording artist and performer in the pre- and post-Depression era St. Louis, Mo. Interpretive marker only.
CENTRAL DELTA DEPOT
100 W. Cypress St., Brinkley 870-589-2124 www.cddm.org The Central Delta Depot Museum is housed in the Brinkley Union Train Station constructed in 1912 at the heart of the Lick Skillet Historic District. The museum displays a wide variety of exhibits interpreting the natural, social, agricultural, and cultural history of the Arkansas Delta. A permanent exhibit explores the life and career of noted jazz trumpeter and big band leader Louis Jordan, a Brinkley native.
JOHN WESTON
Courthouse Square, 15 E. Chestnut St., Marianna Marianna native John Weston is recognized as a talented blues musician whose gift for songwriting made him unique among Delta blues musicians. Self-taught on guitar and harmonica, or blues harp, Weston didn’t perform publicly until the 1970s when he frequented the Marianna Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and quickly built up a national following. Interpretive marker only.
Club Ebony, a mainstay on the “chitlin’ circuit,” the historic network of African American-oriented venues, since the late ’40s. The following evening the club will feature Southern soul star T.K. Soul. B.B. King’s second wife, Sue Evans, was the daughter of the club’s owner and he continues to play there during his annual homecoming celebration. Several years ago he bought the club in order to preserve it, but recently transferred it over to the nearby B.B. King Museum and Interpretive Center, a state-of-the-art facility that examines blues via King’s long life and career. Friday afternoon is also a good time to visit the Highway 61 Blues Museum,
A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO ARKANSAS TIMES
LEVON HELM
AR Hwy. 243, Turkey Scratch Levon Helm was born in 1940 near Elaine, Ark. and grew up in Turkey Scratch, west of Helena. Helm gained fame as a founding member of The Band, a group that fused blues, country, rockabilly and folk music to create a distinctly unique sound at a pivotal time in the development of American rock ‘n’ roll music. Interpretive marker only.
DELTA CULTURAL CENTER
141 Cherry St., Helena 870-338-4351 www.deltaculturalcenter.com The Delta Cultural Center, located in historic downtown Helena, is dedicated to telling the story of the Arkansas Delta. Current exhibits include “Helena: Main Street of the Blues” which gives a unique perspective on the Delta’s rich blues music history and heritage. The Visitors Center at the Delta Cultural Center features the “Delta Sounds” music exhibit, the studios of KFFA radio station and its daily live broadcast of King Biscuit Time — the longest running daily radio show in history, rotating and visiting exhibits of regional interest, and the Museum Store.
WILLIAM WARFIELD
Court Square Park, 600 blk. of Cherry Street, Helena West Helena-born William Warfield made his mark as one of America’s greatest operatic baritones and became an international star during a time that offered few opportunities for African American singers. Warfield is best known for his moving and powerful rendition of “Ol’ Man River” from the Broadway musical Show Boat and his lead role in George Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess. Interpretive marker only.
KVSA “THE VOICE OF SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS”
US Highway 65 South, McGehee 870-222-4200 KVSA, “the Voice of Southeast Arkansas,” has been serving up tunes in the Arkansas Delta for more than 55 years. The Spanish-style architecture of the radio station building immediately made it an icon on the Delta landscape with red clay roof tiles and a stucco exterior. With a nationally significant collection of vinyl LPs and the original turntables, the broadcasting booth has changed little since the station went live in 1952. The Studio A Dance Party, held every Saturday morning in the front of the station, hosted artists and bands traveling the region, including Elvis Presley and The Townsel Sisters.
which features many personal artifacts from local blues and soul artists, including the folk art sculpture of bluesman James “Son” Thomas. From 4 - 6 p.m. that day the museum will be hosting a booksigning for Belgian brothers, blues fans and musicians Marc and Luc Borms, who recently came out with the travelogue Catfish & Cotton. The nearby Hobnob gallery will host a booksigning at the same time for Lamar Thomas’ “Da Delta, Black Music and Me.” And there’ll be a pre-party for the festival beginning at 7 p.m. at Bud’s Blues House at 901 N. Main St. in Leland, featuring local artists Pat Thomas, Eddie Cusic, and John Horton. On Saturday, Sept. 29, Indianola hosts
the Indian Bayou Arts Festival, and the Highway 61 Blues Festival in nearby Leland gears up around noon. The festival’s mission is to celebrate blues artists from the mid-Delta region, and this is most evident through its regular booking of local blues elders. This year they include 86-year-old Eddie Cusic, the mentor of locally bred Little Milton Campbell, the always colorful nonagenarian T-Model Ford, south Mississippi multi-instrumentalist L.C. Ulmer, and Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, who keeps alive the unique Bentonia style of blues made famous by preWWII legend Skip James. Also performing are Albert King acolyte John Horton, who rarely leaves the