About Us

A friend and I are blues fans.

We have both been listening to Mississippi Blues, and music based on, or directly influenced by, Mississippi Blues, since we were both about thirteen years old, more years ago than either of us care to think about.

So recently we decided to travel to Mississippi, and the adjacent States of Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana and Alabama to explore some of the places where this great music actually came from.

We really enjoyed our trip so we decided to put up this website to help fellow blues fans who may also be interested in exploring the sources of the blues in Mississippi and the neighboring states. This website will show some of what we found. Please note that this website is currently being developed so please keep checking back as we add more material to the website.

For several years, the State of Mississippi has been actively assisting music lovers to explore Mississippi’s musical heritage.

Mississippi Blues Trail marker for Robert Johnson, Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church, Money Road, Leflore County, Mississippi
Mississippi Blues Trail marker for Robert Johnson, Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church, Money Road, Leflore County, Mississippi

For blues fans, the State of Mississippi has created the Mississippi Blues Trail; for country music fans, it has created the Mississippi Country Music Trail. Major sites throughout the State of Mississippi associated with the Blues and with Country Music have been, highlighted with commemorative markers. New commemorative markers are being added regularly.

Mississippi Freedom Trail marker for Bryant's Grocery, Money, Mississippi
Mississippi Freedom Trail marker for Bryant’s Grocery, Money, Mississippi

The State of Mississippi has also created a similar system of commemorative markers for a much darker chapter of the State’s history: its Civil Rights record. Mississippi has put up a series of Freedom Trail markers at sites associated with significant events in the struggle for Civil Rights.

In our search for places associated with the Mississippi Blues we often came across sites associated with the Mississippi Country Music Trail or with the Mississippi Freedom Trail. We will be including those places on this website.

Apart from the Mississippi Blues Trail, the Mississippi Country Music Trail and the Freedom Trail, we frequently came across interesting connections to other local sites and people, historic buildings and architecture, historical events and other encounters with subjects that caught our attention and interest or aroused our curiosity. We have added a page of Interesting Connections to pass these on those of our readers who may also be interested in them.

Mississippi Department of Archives & History marker for William Faulkner is located 20 paces from William Faulkner's grave in Oxford, Mississippi.
This Mississippi Department of Archives & History marker for William Faulkner is located 20 paces from William Faulkner’s grave in Oxford, Mississippi.

The State of Mississippi Department of Archives & History also maintains a series of commemorative markers throughout the State highlighting notable historical events, people and places. We have included many of the the Mississippi Department of Archives & History markers we came across, along with links to a similar system of commemorative markers maintained by the Tennessee Historical Commission.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Mississippi looking for places associated with the Blues and we plan to go back soon. For fellow blues fans thinking of visiting Mississippi in search of the Blues, or just exploring the music without leaving home, we hope this website will help.

Please note that this website is currently under development. We will be adding much more to it in future so please keep checking back.

 

 

 

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