Shackin' Up in Mississippi Blues Land

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A little over an hour north of Vicksburg starts the land of the Delta Blues. Clarksdale, MS is the small town version of Memphis when it comes to this subject, as many a local has made it to legendary status in the medium.

Clarksdale itself hosts the Delta Blues Museum, and Morgan Freeman's "Ground Zero" where blues can be heard every night, and you can even stay in the hostel above if you don't mind music seeping everywhere.

Clarksdale is also somewhat of a mixed bag. Impression-wise that is. It is definitely the land where old jalopies go to live out their final days, many of them making it far longer than anyone else in the country could possibly assume. A rusted blue Dodge Dart, with a doorframe that didn't quite close, missing paint on the trunk and sounded like it was missing a muffler, ran on by me as I drove down the highway, clunky wildly, with two young un's hands and heads sticking out the window waving at me as they passed. It definitely has some of that 'stereotypical picture' most non-Mississippians think of when picturing the deep south. But really, its just that, a stereotype, because even here, there are tons of layers. People are just as smart (and stupid), just as wealthy (and just as poor), and just as complicated, but they have different priorities. Whats important to them is vastly different than anything I'm used to.

My friend Andy, (who renamed himself Paul in college, but I still haven't adjusted to it), currently lives in Memphis and was gracious enough to meet me for a few beers and a quick tour of the Delta Blues Museum. I would say that unless you have a huge prior knowledge of the blues this place is difficult, as it just looks like a bunch of people whom you've never heard of singing songs you've never heard of. But still, it was a must do. So we did, then retired to the porch of my shack for the night. I can now say I know very little more about the blues than I started the day out with. Which is not something to be proud of...maybe its just the day and I just don't feel like trying very hard.

Thats right, tonight I am staying at the Shack Up Inn, a collection of old sharecropper shacks from the days when sharecropping was alive and well. They amount to corregated tin shacks with wood beams, some 'local' decor, and a barn which houses several other shack rooms. Befittingly, off in the distance is an abandoned silo, and a few rusted out ford trucks from 1950 are lying around with some old rusted farm equipment all over the grounds. Another good touch is the moonpies, one per pillow on the bed. I think I ate my first moonpie in about 20 years in Apalachicola just a while back, and now there were two more on the horizon! It was going to be a good day!

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Photos

Shack Up Bathroom
Indoor plumbing is a plus...

Some Shacks at the Shack Up
Home Sweet Home on the Farm

Check In at the Shack Up
Here's the lobby (i.e. the big shack)