The birthplace of the Delta Blues

Drive south on Highway 61 from Memphis and the city soon gives way to what was once cotton country, and the way the way it was managed, the effect it had on people, society and politics is all still evident today.

Given that we are in the south, evidence of slavery, civil rights, civil war and of course music can be seen at almost every juncture along the road.

Travel just over 100 miles and you come to Dockery Plantation a place that is recognised by many as where the Delta Blues started. A former timber farm it was, over a number of years, converted to cotton and during this process the area began to attract many black workers.

Access to an area like this was difficult given the swamp like terrain, but eventually a rail line was developed which attracted even more workers. This not only effected Dockery but also all the plantations from around the area.

In 1900 Charlie Patton, an American Delta Blues musician and considered by many to be the ‘Father of the Delta Blues’ moved with his family to the area. He in turn influenced Blues luminaries such as Robert Johnson and Howlin Wolf, all residents at Dockery. The 1920’s saw the area at its peak as the centre for informal entertainment and the influence of many of those musicians is still seen and heard today.

Manufacturing, mechanisation and the lure of the dollar in more favourable living and social conditions saw many of the settlement population disappear and move to the factories of the northern USA in the early 1930s’.

With cotton’s importance in the economy declining, the need for mass labour had also dissipated but the influence of music lived and lives on. A few miles down the road from Dockery in Cleveland, Mississippi is the new modern shiny Grammy Museum.

The first Grammy museum outside of Los Angeles, it is sited at the Delta State University, which in turn is home to the Delta Music Institute. As their web site so succinctly puts it: "The Museum features a dynamic combination of public events, educational programming, engaging multimedia presentations, and interactive permanent and traveling exhibits, including a Mississippi-centric display that introduces visitors to the impact of Mississippi’s songwriters, producers and musicians on the traditional and modern music landscape".

It is also great fun, with an opportunity to embarrass yourself by learning, in public, how to record your dulcet tones (Arlene) to a variety of backing tracks. Once done, it being a 21st century museum, you can email your efforts to the privacy of your in-box.

If you have even the slightest interest in modern music, its roots, its history, its heritage, its heroes , it heroines and its development right up to the present day, a visit to this part of the world is a must.

Graham was hosted by Visit Mississippi who are exhibiting at WTM stand NA150

Related News Stories: