The Robert Johnson Collection

It's easiest to compile all the posts into one to help others when seeking out the information (especially me!).  Click on the titles to visit the stories!  If I get more posts about Robert Johnson, I'll share those links below as well.

PLANNING THE TRIP - details about why the trip was necessary to me.

LEG 1 - Leaving and Living - Stopping at a few proposed "crossroads" and the Jim Henson Boyhood Museum.

LEG 3 and 2a - Emmett Till and Leaving Leland - I wanted to share Leg 3 first, about Emmitt Till because he deserved more story.  Then, I went back to share Leg 2a and the trip after leaving Leland.

LEG 2b - Dusty Roads and Headstones - visiting Charley Patton, Willie Foster, BB King, and Robert Johnson.

That marks the end of that trip.

ROBERT JOHNSON - Living in Memphis. 

This is the story about his life in Memphis and locating the houses where he lived at the time, based on the book Brother Robert by Ms. Annie Anderson, his sister.

Delta Blues Trip - Leg 3 and 2a (7/18/2020)

Previously in my posts:
Discussion about  a Mississippi Delta Blues Trip
First Leg of the trip

Leg 3 - The Emmitt Till Markers

In the previous post, I shared a bunch of travelling information from Memphis to Clarksdale to Rosedale to Leland, MS.  In this post, I'm going to share a visit to a place very important to the musical genre of the blues; but, first, I want to share a visit to the lands of the heartbreaking story of Emmitt Till.  While the visit to the Till markers was the last part of the trip, I put it here (out of chronological order) because it is sad, important, but not how I want to end my tales of the trip to the Delta.

Emmitt was a 14 year old child from Chicago, IL, with a stutter and a whistle to help him stop it.  buying candy at Bryant's Grocery it's said he used the whistle technique to stop a stutter, and Caroline Bryant told her husband, Roy, that Emmitt made a pass at her.  Roy gathered some folks who dragged the 14 year old child from his uncle's house out where he was brutally murdered by being beaten, mutilated, and shot.  When his body was found three days later, and dragged from the river, a fan blade tied to his neck with barbed wire.

At 72 years old, Caroline Bryant told a reporter that it wasn't true.  But, a 14 year old boy is still dead.

While there are 51 sites in Mississippi dedicated to Emmitt Till, here are only a few, and there is a museum where you can learn more.  You'll notice that one of the markers has been shot.  It can't be replaced without being shot again and again.  I figure people there are trying to assert their superiority, but my friend Matt Ogle wrote that in his experiences "people that feel the need to prove their superiority, aren't."  Highly agreed. 

Click on Emmitt's name above to read the whole story and think about being a little 14 year old kid from the North, just here visiting family and friends, and all these things happen to you.

Click to see full size photo to read it. 

Click to see full size photo to read it. 

Click to see full size photo to read it. 

This is the river location where Emmitt was found by fishermen.  A beautiful heron flew by as I stood and looked over the water.  I don't know if that's symbolic of anything; but, I hope there's some peace for Emmitt somehow.

Backing up in time:

LEG 2A - HEADING EAST (From Leland)

So, after having eaten at Fratesi's, we started on our road east to three graves of some blues greats; but, the first stop had to be the historic Dockery Farms in Cleveland, MS.  Started in 1895 on 40 square miles of land, this property became known as a birthplace of the blues.

Having read about this place in all of the blues history books, it's been such a dream to be there - and there I was.  Nerd-grin and all!

Click on picture to open it larger to read it.

Intrigued at the fact how many people performed on the stage
at Dockery Farms: Henry Sloan, Charley Patton, Willie Brown,
Howlin' Wolf, Son House, and Robert Johnson...

CROSSROADS #3

While doing some research about Robert Johnson, and hearing about all the visits to Dockery Farms, there was a suggestion from a guy about where a possible crossroads would be if Robert Johnson had done such a trip to meet the devil.  And just across from Dockery Farms is a gravel and dirt road called Lusk Road, which (after passing by a graveyard) is crossed by Walker Road. 

Dockery being a place to which Johnson would have gone from Greenwood, MS, this area could have been the Devil's Crossroads, a place to visit at midnight under a full moon.

While we didn't run into any devils this day, we did see someone waiting on us when we arrived.  No other animals, no other people - nothing, just this fellow.  We went, said hi and petted it; but, we did not try to cut any deals other than to say "hay" to him.

We made our u-turn in the crossroads, and headed back to highway 8, preparing for the trip to some graves.  At the highway, we looked straight across from Lusk Road for one more view of Dockery Farms.

And the next part of our trip would take us down some dirt roads, some paved roads, and into the sweltering Mississippi Yazoo Delta heat as we visited some graves of three of the most famous blues men in my collection:  Charley Patton, B.B. King, and (of course) Robert Johnson.  (Well, again, this particular post is not in chronological order*.)

I did worry a little as we drove to visit the grave sites when there were a few sprinkles here and there, but it passed and we continued to be blessed with beautiful (albeit hot) weather!

*After Leland, we went to see the grave of Charley Patton, followed by B.B. King, then around to Dockery Farms and Crossroads #3, and then to the grave of Robert Johnson, followed by visits to the Emmitt Till markers.

Delta Blues Trip - Leg 1 (7/18/2020)

This is a story about leaving and living.  The grave visits will be after the next update.

My previous post told about this trip and finally Saturday, July 18, 2020, came around, and I was so super excited to make this trip that I woke up early on in the 6 o'clock hour (AM).  As with anything one does that he's longed for, I felt a bit of weepy-joy but didn't let it happen because I make ugly cry-faces.  Still, realizing I was headed down historic Highway 61 - traveled by so many blues men and women - I couldn't help but feel excellent!

CLICK HERE to see the trip from Memphis, TN, that started at 8am and ended at 9:30pm!  My friends Lisa McGeorge and Jack Chapman joined me on this journey.

But, why did I want to go on this trip?  As a kid, a fan of Muppets, Disney, and other fun kiddy music, I was turned onto new sounds by The Blues Brothers, and suddenly began to make connections to music I heard being played around.  It started with Sam and Dave because of "Soul Man" by The Blues Brothers.  Eventually, I had a copy of 'Briefcase Full of Blues' by The Blues Brothers, and they introduced the names of the blues performers whose songs they were covering, and I did more research.  In my teens, I learned about Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, and others, and fell deeply in love with their stories (as big a fan of theirs that I am, I will crown Muddy Waters as my top favorite).  Then, I learned that Robert Johnson was buried somewhere in Mississippi, and for some reason never looked on a map for how close or far the grave was - assuming it was way down and out of reach.

Then, per my last post, I found that all these areas are only about 2 hours away from Memphis, TN, and I could make my way there, and so: this trip!  While I don't believe Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil to learn how to play guitar, I do believe that it's a fun story to tell, and creates a legend that we can hold onto.    That said, there were three crossroads to visit, three graves, three historical places.  A trinity of the blues!  (There is a book called Brother Robert by his 94 year old sister Annye Anderson published June 2020.)

FIRST STOP - Crossroads 1b and 1a

Clarksdale, MS, and the crossroads.  Highways 61 and 49 cross twice, and the first one we stopped at wasn't as fully traveled or as populated as the one marked as 'the crossroads.'  IF the legend was true, I consider this first set of 61/49 to be where it would have been more likely to have happened.  I have named this Crossroads 1b, because the 'marked' crossroads is most famous and so earn the title 1a.

But, pulling over for this quick photo was brief as we headed down to downtown Clarksdale, MS, to the marked Crossroads 1a, next to Abe's BBQ where I would have loved to taken lunch (especially the tamales).

The Clarksdale plaque at the marked Crossroads 1a read:
Clarksdale

County seat of Coahoma County, was founded in 1869 by John Clark, for whom the town was named. Situated in one of the most fertile regions of the world, it has grown into one of the leading cities of the Yazoo Mississippi Delta.  It has a just pride in its library, its schools, and its churches, and is an important market for long staple cotton.

Placed by Rosannah Waters Chapter, D.A.R. 1938

We passed by the hotel where Bessie Smith died and went to Ground Zero in Clarksdale, next to the blues museum I've visited before.  Everything was closed that early in the morning (we'd reached Clarksdale about 9 am).

SECOND STOP - CROSSROADS 2

Not only did Robert Johnson sing about Rosedale, but Jim Henson
was born in Greenville.

I guess it is in some of the folklore mostly out of Europe and in some other genres of music that, possibly because he sang about Rosedale, MS, Robert Johnson must have met the devil at these crossroads, also Highway 1 and 8.  (Side note, as we made our way around the Delta, we found ourselves on both HWY 8 and HWY 49 a few times!)  I'll share my thoughts on Johnson's legend in another post one day.

Highway 1 heads straight north and south, parallel with the Mississippi River, and Highway 8 dead-ends into it.  I personally think that a crossroads should be one road going through the other; but, a T shaped intersection is considered a crossroads as well, I guess.

With nothing really to see here, we made our departure to our next stop.  I'll share Crossroads #3 in my next update when I go to a few VERY special places!

THIRD STOP - Jim Henson Delta Boyhood Museum

We went forward to Leland, MS, and the Jim Henson Delta Boyhood Museum.  We drove past the old theater in Leland where Jim Henson watched The Wizard of Oz, and the Leland Elementary School where he may have attended.  Then, on to the museum itself.

"Ukelele" Jack Chapman likes
the frog with a banjo!

Lisa McGeorge remembers a time when
Kermit met Elton John on The Muppet Show.

My Fozzie replica made by Carl Chadd.

#memphismonster

Of course, following a Cookie Monster replica puppet image, I have to share about:

Third Stop Part 2 - LUNCH!!

Some of the best food there is can be found at a gas station called:

Even greeted by a sleeping cat on top of the minnow bin :D

Lisa had to get a photo with the sleeping cat who was
dreaming of delicious minnows!

The large cheeseburger was delicious, partnered with season fries.

After lunch, it was time for our next part of the trip.  Deep into the dusty fields of the Mississippi Delta to visit the grave sites of some great and legendary blues performers.  Although this was the second leg of our trip, I'm going to dedicate my next post out of order and discuss the third leg of our trip to the Emmitt Till markers.

I just didn't want to end the stories with one which breaks my heart.

Until next time...

Just seen on side of the road and loved it.