16th – 22nd June 2017
We picked up our car from New Orleans airport and headed north. The journey was long and fairly uneventful, until we closed in on our destination of Clarksdale. About 10 miles out, a truly ferocious storm came in from over the horizon.
The rain was beyond belief; I could barely see more than a few feet in front of the car, even with the wipers going full pelt. Lightning illuminated the sky, thunder rolled over us and an emergency broadcast came over the radio, warning residents to take shelter on the ground floor of a building, and that damage to vehicles from hail was a high probability (not what you want to hear having just picked up a rental car). We decided staying on the road would almost certainly lead to our deaths, so we pulled over into a petrol station and waited for it to pass (maybe not the safest place on a lightning storm but we didn’t have a great deal of choice).
When we finally got to Clarksdale, we found a small, fairly dilapidated town containing many abandoned factories, warehouses and storefronts, showcasing a kind of forgotten Americana that you sometimes glimpse on TV shows and movies.
Clarksdale is famous for its blues music. We decided to head to Red’s, a “juke joint” that hosted blues bands most evenings. When we got there, we found that the son of blues legend B.B. King was playing. It was a small, intimate venue, and the music was incredible.
Watched by a mix of locals and tourists the band went through a series of blues classics. B.B. King’s son played the guitar with his teeth, and had a voice that was reminiscent of his more famous father. The local cop showed up under the pretence of checking all was ok, but he was clearly a massive fan and posed for photos with the band. It was a fantastic evening, and one of the highlights of the trip so far.
Our musical journey continued as we headed north to Memphis. Here we would visit Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley.
Graceland is now a museum dedicated to the life of the King. His home is just part of the experience; the public can walk round it, knowing it looks the same as it did when Elvis died in 1977. This means some of the decor is very retro. The famed ‘Jungle Room’ has carpet on both the floor and the ceiling. Em was so interested in what we’d learned she spent some time researching Elvis when we got back to our accommodation. Apparently he met Prescilla when on tour with the army, when she was 14 – this wasn’t mentioned in the museum (still, this was nothing compared to his peer Jerry Lee Lewis, who committed career suicide by marrying his 12 year old cousin).
Whilst in Memphis we also toured Sun Records, the studio where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee and others recorded their first hits, and Stax Studio, which produced some of the great soul songs of the last century. Both were very interesting. We also visited the famous Beale Street, taking in some famous Memphis barbecue and some live music.
There was one stop in Memphis that was unrelated to music; the Civil Rights Museum. Housed in the back of the motel where Martin Luther King was assassinated, it chronicled the struggles of the black Americans during the 60’s. Although Em and I knew a bit about the subject from books and films, we learned a lot more in the museum, and were both shocked at some of the stuff we saw and read, especially considering that this took place only 50 years ago.
From blues and soul, we then headed to the heart of country music; Nashville. Neither of us are big fans of country, but we thought that as we were so close (well, only a 4 or 5 hour drive away), we would see what it was like. It was a far more modern and developed city than Memphis or Clarksdale.
Although not country fans, we are Johnny Cash fans, so we went to the Johnny Cash Museum, rather than the Country Music Hall of Fame. The guy certainly had an interesting life, and it wasn’t all easy. But at least he didn’t marry his 12 year old cousin.
We did take the time to see some country music bands, but it only confirmed that we don’t really like country. Lots of people do though. We went to the White Horse Saloon, which has a huge dance floor, full of people line dancing. We were tempted to join (they did have instructors) but it seemed like a serious business and I knew I would embarrass myself, so we restricted ourselves to watching. This was a lot of fun in itself. I have to say, I’ve never seen “Cotton Eye Joe” get such an enthusiastic response from a crowd. Each to their own I guess.
(Posted by Ben)
Emma & Ben... Far From Home 