The Blues Highway: A Rich Legacy For Music Lovers

Take an expedition into melody and journey deep into the cradle of the Blues.

Follow Highway 61 from Memphis, Tennessee along the Mississippi river down to the delta country where this American heritage sound was born. Deepen your experience with live performances and side trips to historic blues and jazz music sites, revered by musicians around the world.

Following the Mississippi River north and south, US Highway 61 has long been known as “The Blues Highway.” This home-grown American music genre has been woven together over time from many cultural strands that had their confluence along the river.

The sound flowed from the gulf coast and delta country up to Memphis, Tennessee then on to Nashville, Saint Louis, Chicago and outward to become renowned throughout the world. Indulge in memorable live performances of blues and jazz music in its home ground; a roots music experience your family will never forget!

Mississippi born

“To make good blues music, you have to be either really happy or really sad...” is one explanation for this sound born among the working people living in the vast area surrounding the southern Mississippi River.

Life was often hard for laborers in this hot and humid country, and their music expressed the pains and joys of their experiences. Sharecroppers, slaves, river boatmen, dock workers, small farmers and field hands sought a way of life beyond their compulsory activities, sharing their unique music with an audience. From this melting pot, a unique popular melodic form was born and spread out to eager listeners throughout the world.

Since “The Blues” came from so many diverse influences, people disagree when pinpointing origins and descriptions for the different forms.

Some musicologists think that Blues emerged from working peoples’ playing and singing to express their feelings, perhaps to relax after a day’s hard toil in the fields or a song to ease heavy work.

Blues historians claim the sound emerged from a combination of field-hollers, gospel songs and the music of the “creole” people of the region–a mix of African, Italian, Spanish, French, Sicilian and Native American folk music strains.

The Blues-related styles of Funk, Dixieland, Jazz, Rhythm & Blues, Zydeco, Memphis Blues and Delta Blues have become separate, distinct music categories with their own fans and festivals.

Even the genre’s name origin uses words still common in the southern states. “Funk” is an old English word for a strong smell reminiscent of farming and laboring people. “Jas” was defined in an 1860 dictionary as a slang term for “spirit, energy and vigor” and adopted as around 1910 for the lively, new music termed “jazz.”

In the early part of the 20th century, the fledgling recording industry centered on northern cities such as Saint Louis and Chicago. Hungry for hot-selling sounds, musicians migrated up the river and sought a livelihood far away from hard toil on the land.

Artists such as Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGee, Billie Holliday, Johnnie Lee Hooker, B. B. King and thousands of other performers followed the Blues Highway to a new life and musical immortality.

Said one blues traveler, “The worst day making music beats the best day chopping cotton.”

Modern musicians pay tribute to these blues traditions as the foundation of their sound. Such divergent styles as rock n’ roll, soul, funk, hip-hop, rockabilly, doo-wop, rhythm & blues, metal and hard rock all derive part of their genealogy from blues.

Following the blues

This blooming interest in “roots music” and “Americana” as a traditional heritage make great opportunities for travelers. Families can pack a bounty of rich entertainment experiences into a fabulous journey along the Blues Highway.

Here are ideas for performance locations, music museums, festivals and side trips to enrich your musical adventure!

The Blues Highway route

US Highway 61 is the heart of this journey; the pipeline that the music flowed through.

The northern end of the highway is the city of Memphis, Tennessee and the route follows the snaking Mississippi at a respectful distance. Annual floods of the vast, restless, winding river have altered the landscape for millennia.

At Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana, the highway blends into Interstate 110 and heads south to the city of New Orleans.

• Memphis, Tenn.

This city emphatically shouts one of the city’s travel and entertainment internet hubs. Here is where W.C. Handy, known as the “father of the blues,” first recorded a song using the title in his “Memphis Blues” of 1909.

In 1912, Handy wrote the first commercially successful blues song, “Memphis Blues.” Two years later he became famous for writing “St. Louis Blues,” a music sheet which sold more than a million copies.

Memphis is located near the confluence of the Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi rivers. The region is an historic commerce center where trends and culture dispersed to the frontier territories beyond.

Memphis Blues flourished between 1910-1930 and featured an earthy, jug-band sound. Sometimes it was produced with homemade instruments, harmonica and slide-style guitar, loud enough to draw crowds on the sidewalk.

Historically, the Beale Street region has been the pulsing center of the Memphis Blues and flourishes again today with places to listen.

After World War II, Memphis birthed another meteorically popular music revolution.

The small Sun Records Studio recorded blues legends such as Howlin’ Wolf, B. B. King and Ike Turner and “rockabilly” performers such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis. Their electric guitar rhythms ignited fans and dominated radio waves across the nation.

Visit Sun Records Studio Museum where these legends rocketed to stardom and contemporary bands still come to “cut a record” and hope for fame.

Another melodic milestone for the city came when Stax Records innovated the “Memphis Sound” into Soul Music, founded on strong electric guitar and a prominent horns section.

At the Stax Museum of American Soul Music you can tour the recreated soundstage.

The location included memorable performers such as Otis Redding who asked for “r-e-s-p-e-c-t” and shared his time “sittin’ on the dock of the bay.” Eddie Floyd reminded us that “you better knock, knock on wood.” Sam and Dave asked us to “hold on, I’m coming.” Wilson Pickett waited for the midnight hour while Ike and Tina Turner were “rollin’ on the river.”

Visitors can boogie and sing in harmony on a dance floor adjacent to fascinating displays, photos and memorabilia.

Go to “Where to hear live music in Memphis? Answer: Everywhere” for a list of outdoor and indoor performances. Historic Beale Street area serves up shows and food every night in an impressive variety of clubs and restaurants. Some performances take place on the broad street.

BealeStreet.com tells travelers its story and lends an ear to the ground about what to see, hear and do.

• Muscle Shoals, Alabama

This sleepy, backwater town became a giant in the recording industry, drawing famous bands from around the world to record in its hit-making studio. Visiting Muscle Shoals offers a fun side adventure off Highway 61.

To get there: take Highway 72 east from Memphis across the Alabama line to the town along the Tennessee River. Circle back to the Blues Highway on Route 17 to Interstate 22 through Tupelo, Miss.

The studio hosted musically diverse performers, such as Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Bob Segar, Duane Allman and Willie Nelson.  It also was the location where The southern rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd paid tribute to the Muscle Shoals backup band known as “the Swampers” in its classic song, Sweet Home Alabama.

Multiple documentaries and films about both FAME Studio and the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio are available to view online. go to muscleshoalssoundstudio.org for events or to book a tour of the museum.

The annual December festival, “Down The Road For The Holidays,” benefits Muscle Shoals Sound Studio historic site.

Go to: Muscle Shoals Sound Studio

• Vicksburg, Miss.

Highway 61 passes this historic river port city. Vicksburg became infamous in the Civil War as the site of a horrific, pivotal battle to commandeer the port and control the flow of freight on the river. The National Battlefield Park at Vicksburg is packed with fascinating immersive exhibits.

Vicksburg was the most populous city in Mississippi during the late 1800s and early 1900s and contained the state’s largest Black community. Charlie Patton and Bo Carter were pillars of the blues scene. Patton has been called the father of delta blues and inspired a generation of other guitarists such as Honeyboy Edwards.

Concerts are sometimes held on the riverfront. Go to Visit Vicksburg.

• Jackson, Miss.

As the state capital of Mississippi, Jackson became a magnet for blues artists in the early 1900s. According to EarlyBlues.org, musicians traveled from nearly rural communities to play in the street.

The Farish Street Historic District contained several recording studios such as Ace Records, Trumpet Records and the Speir Phonograph Company. It also was home to numerous Black-owned businesses.

Jackson hosts numerous festivals including the annual Jackson Blues Fest.

Go to Visit Jackson.

• Natchez, Miss.

This town is famous for preserved cotton plantation mansions and home to many historic paddlewheel riverboats for an excursion tour into the past.  Blues music events are featured year round by the Natchez Historic Society at the many park venues in the area.

The Natchez Music Festival, held in spring, hosts days of concerts around the city from blues to classical. This gem of a preserved city makes time stand still, where history and music come alive.

Go to: VisitNatchez

• Baton Rouge and Bayou Country, La.

Baton Rouge is not only the capitol of Louisiana but a crossroads to access all things Cajun, as the french-speaking descendants of Acadian immigrants are called.

Cajun and Zydeco traditional sounds are a gumbo soup of french folk, creole and blues. Dance tunes feature driving fiddle, guitar and accordion sounds. The Cajuns are at home in the watercourses of swamp and island country centered around the city of Lafayette in the south of the state, a delightful side trip from Baton Rouge.

While there, sample local cuisine such as delicious Jambalaya, crawfish pie and filé gumbo–popularized in the Hank Williams Jambalaya (On the Bayou). There are many venues for dining and music in these cities, happening most weekends.

The city hosts many festivals including the annual Baton Rouge Blues Festival, Fourth of July Spectacular, Louisiana Book Festival and Red Stick Revelry.

Go to: Baton Rouge Festivals

• New Orleans

The former capital of Napoleonic-era French America and one of the busiest ports in the US is the meeting point of many kinds of uniquely American music: Delta Blues, Dixieland Jazz, Rhythm & Blues, and Cajun Zydeco to name a few.

This melting-pot city cooked up the sounds out of many international ingredients, but the product of this cuisine is recognized as a truly American musical menu. It is the birthplace of jazz in the late 19th century with a blending of Cuban music, blues, African religious hymns and ragtime.

Finding fabulous music here is as easy as walking down the sidewalk; enjoy street performers centered on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter of this truly unique city. Strolling along the riverfront “levées,” you can imagine four centuries of river city life while watching many storied steam paddle-wheel boats and huge, freight-laden barges sail by.

Linger in the outdoor French Market along the waterfront while you sip strong coffee and munch a sugar-dusted hot beignet, the official doughnut of the state of Louisiana.

Famous for its cuisine, diners will appreciate the many fine restaurants of New Orleans. Some eateries follow the French tradition of offering a limited “du jour” menu, serving what the chef has chosen to prepare that day: fresh, in-season, fantastic food.

Feeling adventurous? Cajun and creole restaurants have unusual entrées, such as crawfish boils, alligator tail fritters, seafood gumbo and snapping turtle soup.

Of the many venues to hear music in the city, some attract with playful names such as Ooh Pah Doo Pah Doo, Spotted Cat, Maison Bourbon and Mahogany Jazz Hall. Preservation Hall, founded decades ago to preserve the traditional music of the city, has live performances nightly.

It is an unforgettable place to experience jazz, right where it was born. The website has nightly listings, festival announcements, history and tickets.

The French Quarter Festival, an annual event in spring, is where you can hear it all in one place.

Go to: FrenchQuarterFest.org