ROUTE PLANNING
This book follows the Blues Highway from south to north for historical reasons and because the story of American music is best told in chronological order. Readers should note, however, that although the book starts in New Orleans and ends in Chicago, it could just as easily be followed from north to south. In fact, each city is tackled in adequate depth to allow readers to use the book for just one city or just one section of the route.
Although music lovers will find every section of the route interesting to explore, several specific route options can be recommended for readers unable to follow the entire Blues Highway. The whole trip could be made in three fairly comfortable weeks but it’s a matter of personal choice. Some readers will find three weeks just enough time to check out New Orleans while others will cover the 1000 miles from New Orleans to Chicago in days.
NEW ORLEANS TO BATON ROUGE AND LAFAYETTE
The Louisiana jazz and zydeco trail from New Orleans to Baton Rouge and on to Lafayette is a great chance to explore the routes of three original American music genres – jazz, zydeco and Cajun music – and allows visitors to soak up the swampy Southern atmosphere.
Early jazz developed in New Orleans and the city, forever synonymous with that style of music, has done much to trumpet its noisy past. For jazz lovers, a visit to New Orleans is something of a pilgrimage. New Orleans highlights include: the French Quarter; Congo Square and Louis Armstrong Park; the St Louis cemeteries; the Old US Mint jazz museum; Algiers Point; and, most important of all, the city’s many jazz clubs.
Baton Rouge is a quieter, more conservative town known more for blues than jazz. Local stars and out-of-towners keep the city’s few good blues bars roaring most weekends.
Lafayette, capital of French-speaking Cajun country, is the place where both zydeco and Cajun music grew up. Cajun music – a white, folk tradition – is closely tied to the Cajun identity and you’ll find music being listened and danced to all over this exuberant town. Zydeco music, a black blues-influenced style of music using accordions and washboards, is a more aggressive, driving sound. Lafayette highlights include: the Vermilionville cultural center; the Acadian Village reconstruction of an old-style Cajun community; the town’s swinging restaurant-dancehalls; and zydeco clubs.
Allow at least three nights in New Orleans, one in Baton Rouge and two in Lafayette.
VICKSBURG TO MEMPHIS AND NASHVILLE
The Mississippi Delta, Vicksburg to Memphis, is, for many, the most important cradle of musical development in the States. Vast, stark and gripping, Mississippi is a culturally rich state where blues lovers can feel the spirit of Robert Johnson at every lonely crossroads. The Delta – not a geographic entity but a cultural one – is said to be bound by Catfish Row, Vicksburg to the south and the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis to the north – a distance of 250 miles. From Vicksburg, Highway 61 passes through Greenville, Cleveland and Clarksdale before rolling into Memphis. There are several short diversions from Highway 61 which lead to other important blues sites like state capital Jackson or cotton center Greenwood. Other Delta highlights within easy reach include Indianola, Morgan City, Avalon, Moorhead, Holly Ridge, Leland, Tutwiler and Helena, Arkansas. It’s not all neglected grave markers and cottonfields, however. Blues is still lived and played in the Delta; this book will help you find tucked away juke joints and music clubs where raw Delta blues still thrives.
Memphis is itself another enormously important cultural and musical hub. Here, blues was recorded and distributed beyond the Delta. This is also where blues became an ingredient in rockabilly and rock & roll. After blues stars Howlin’ Wolf and BB King passed through Sam Phillips’ Sun Records studio, rock & rollers like Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash made their names here. The city also made a massive contribution to soul music through the record labels Stax and Hi.
The current music scene in Memphis is as lively as ever; the bars on Beale Street will keep you rocking all night. Memphis highlights include: Beale Street; Sun Studio; Graceland; the National Civil Rights Museum; Al Green’s Full Gospel Tabernacle; the Memphis Music Hall of Fame; Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum; WC Handy’s house; and Jerry Lee Lewis’ ranch.
From Memphis, you might also choose to take in Nashville, home of country music. Nashville, an engaging and ultra-modern city, is nicknamed ‘Music City USA’ because of the number of record labels and studios based here. Sometimes it feels like everyone in town is trying to make a buck in the music business. There’s live music everywhere. Main highlights include: the Grand Ole Opry; the Ryman Auditorium; Music Row; the Country Music Hall of Fame; RCA Studio B; and scores of downtown music bars. Vicksburg to Memphis – or vice versa – could be driven in a day but four days would be enough to get a good feel for the place.
Allow at last three nights in Memphis and two in Nashville.
CHICAGO TO DAVENPORT AND ST LOUIS
A northern tour from Chicago to Davenport and St Louis covers the later stages of the Great Migration and, musically, the places where jazz and blues came of age.
In Chicago itself blues was adapted by masters like Big Bill Broonzy and Muddy Waters to become the roots of modern rock. A little earlier, jazz was honed by ex-New Orleanians like Louis Armstrong and ‘King’ Oliver. Today Chicago is blasted nightly by great blues clubs all over town but particularly on the city’s sprawling South Side. Highlights include: Bronzeville; blues and jazz clubs; soul food; the ‘Maxwell Street’ market; the Blues Heaven Foundation; the ‘Loop’; and all the more traditional tourist highlights from the Sears Tower to the Lakefront.
Davenport, Iowa, a 175-mile drive west from Chicago, has an important place in the story of jazz; this was home to Bix Beiderbecke. It’s also the point where this book picks up Highway 61 heading south or leaves it heading north. Davenport highlights include: the Beiderbecke family home; the Col and Danceland ballrooms; and Arsenal Island.
Further south, St Louis was a key staging post for bluesmen heading north to Chicago. Indeed, the city is even better known for its role as a staging post during the American expansion westward. With a deep jazz and blues legacy – Miles Davis, Scott Joplin and Chuck Berry all got started here – St Louis today boasts one of the most lively music scenes anywhere along the Blues Highway. An impressive stock of local talent keeps bars and clubs pumping night after night. Highlights include: Scott Joplin’s House; the St Louis Walk of Fame; the Gateway Arch; the Soulard district with its funky clubs and venues; and the University Loop.
Allow at least four nights for Chicago, one for Davenport and three for St Louis.
WHEN TO GO
Climate
The Blues Highway weaves through two distinct climatic zones: that of the sub-tropical South and the continental Midwest (see temperature and rainfall charts opposite).
The Southern states, particularly Louisiana and Mississippi, are hot and humid all year. Summers can be ferocious and winters mild. New Orleans, particularly, is famous for its stiflingly hot and sticky summers when, in July and August, the intense humidity can be almost choking. Such steamy nights seem to add to the city’s lazy and licentious air. Thunderstorms regularly alleviate the dripping humidity. Hurricane season lasts from July to October. Since damaging hurricanes are rare this isn’t a reason to stay at home – just keep an eye on long-range weather forecasts. When hurricanes hit they are usually powerful but short-lived.
The continental Mid-west sees a greater change between seasons. Summers are dry and can be very hot while winters are often freezing and snowy. Even when bitterly cold, however, winter weather in the Midwest is frequently brightened by clear blues skies.
COSTS
Transport costs aside (these are covered in the ‘Getting around’ section), the Blues Highway is a relatively inexpensive destination. Hotels and motels are good value – particularly so in the rural South and Midwest. Expect to pay anywhere from $30 upward for a double room (but double that in cities) or $10-15 for an RV pitch. Hostel dorm beds usually go for around $10-12. Main tourist draws New Orleans, Memphis and Chicago are, predictably, more expensive. Indeed, cheap places to stay are quite difficult to find in New Orleans and very difficult to find in Chicago.
You’ll find food plentiful and cheap. Just $12 a head will buy a decent meal in any town and, in fact, it would be difficult to spend more in many of the smaller towns along the Blues Highway. For $25 a day per person, you could eat quite well but with few frills. Allow at least $40 a day in larger towns and cities. Music venue cover charges – a far more important expense – are generally around the $5 mark unless a well-known act is playing.
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