April 2026
Delta Blues & A Whole Lot More
A Springtime Tour Through Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama
Deep in the heart of winter last December, we suddenly got a message from our European buddies, Toni and Berit. They had decided to head back to the States for a bit this spring. They wanted to fly into Atlanta, spend a couple of days in that city seeing the sights and then head in our direction.
They would be renting a van to travel in, and did we want to join them in traveling to see Tennessee and Mississippi, with bits of Arkansas and Alabama thrown in for good measure. Almost 3 weeks would be set aside for the adventure. They listed their most important destinations to be Nashville,
Memphis (Graceland), and the Mississippi Delta region... And Music, Music, Music!
Did we want to go? Of course we did! We’d had a similar adventure with them back a couple of years, and YES! It was time to step out again.
We would be in charge of settling on the route, offering a series of places for camping, visiting, and eating (the single most important item, of course). They’d already purchased their plane tickets (a very smart move, as it turned out), and they would be arriving in Atlanta on April 6. Yikes!!!! We needed to get started making plans.
We won’’t bore you with all the petty/pesky details, other than to say that we would be towing our trusty Honda along; something we seldom do because we really don’t like to be towing something. In this case it was justified, even necessary, because we would be exploring several cities and that is really, really hard to do in a motorhome.
In Nashville, we camped in a small COE (Corps of Engineers) park northeast of town, driving in to spend time visiting various places of interest; actually, Toni and Berit got to see more than we did. We were having a problem with our inverter, and spent much of Nashville getting it looked at. But we all went to visit the fantastic Country Music Hall of Fame, filled with photos and tons of info about a multitude of singers and performers, their clothes and instruments, and the history of “country” — it was a very interesting trip. We also stopped to enjoy the entry area to the Grand Ole Opry. T&B added a full day on their own taking a guided bus tour of the city.
South of Nashville lies Shiloh, home of some beautiful rolling countryside and our favorite Civil War site. But before we even got there, Rick had tracked down the Most Perfect Place to hang out, eat, and enjoy the a riverside setting before heading to the Shiloh National Military Battlefield and Cemetery. There’s a really good visitor’s center, with an excellent accounting of the brutal battle that took place there over several days, and many monuments to the various troops. It helps to know what happened, and some of the why it happened here.
The Shiloh site is beautiful and quiet — and amazingly unchanged since we were last here more than 20 years ago — and we spent a lot of time there. On our way back to our resting place for the night, we explored the countryside — pretty nice area! We were returning to our really cool overnight spot: Hagy’s Catfish Hotel and Diner. Fantastic place — we were parked alongside the Tennessee River where those catfish were being caught; we had a quiet place for the night; the catfish (and everything else) was excellent; and there was a walking trail near the water. The restaurant was filled with locals enjoying themselves — what could be better.
Shiloh is almost on the Tennessee/Mississippi border, and we could have moved on south, but we were looking to head for Memphis for a bit first. So we angled northwest, aiming for Elvis country, along with a bunch of other wonders.
Our main goal was Memphis, but we also enjoyed some other spots in the area. Berit and I had noticed that in Brownsville (almost a Memphis suburb) there was a museum honoring Tina Turner. Couldn’t pass that one up! The singer had grown up in this area, and there was lots to enjoy. All right!!!
Before leaving Brownsville we dropped back down south of I-40 to a refuge we’d seen information on in the Turner museum: the Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge. What a great choice! We were wandering a little road through a section of protected river bottomland land where the Hatchie River that runs through it had never been altered or moved. It was woodland, full of budding flowers and Cypress trees (you know the ones with the knobby knees?). We really liked it. It’s open for fishing and the like, but no developments or campgrounds
We spent some time at the Nash Museum at Chucalissa outside Memphis. This is on the location of an abandoned ancient (15th century) mound settlement of a tribe of the Choctaw. We were interested in what we managed to see, but had to take off without seeing it all — a large storm had begun and we were getting too damn wet. Another time!
Berit and Toni spent tons of time in Memphis, seeing and hearing and wandering the various music museums, along with a great trip out to Graceland. We all had a really nice evening in town, at the B.B. King barbecue place on Beale Street. Yummy food, splendid
music, and a very cool street to walk up and down. They even had a big statue of Elvis for us to enjoy. It was a fun experience. We felt like we were really in the middle of Blues country now.
We’d reserved three nights in a state campground on the edge of town. I’d been a little concerned about staying there, because Memphis has areas that are not too friendly, nor too well maintained. But it was a terrific spot, and we even extended our stay for a fourth night; I’d recommend it to anyone (T.O. Fuller State Park).
We did have one little adventure we’d neither anticipated nor enjoyed. Max, our cat (whom we always brag about) had been okay in each of our spots as we traveled. Always fascinated with what’s outside the motorhome and desirous of going outside to explore the area, we’d been able to keep him inside so far, but not here.
Due to his ability to move faster than Superman, he figured out how to get out the door before we could stop him. Not once but twice. He never went all that far, but we were only able to lure him close enough to grab him by offering him a bunch of treats.
Varying levels of hysteria ensued. Since then we’ve done certain things to forestall his whisking by and flying down the steps — so far. In his own defense he would point out that in this particular spot, not only were there birds… and squirrels…, but several other cats to be seen just wandering about completely on their own! So he figured if they could do it, he should be able to as well. Not!!
We finally moved on from Memphis. You know the drill; things to see, time growing shorter, reservations to be kept, and ultimately airplanes to catch for some.
Leaving the city, we had planned to stop and enjoy Mud Island, an open air exhibit with a replica of the Mississippi River’s course and the sites along it. Sadly, not to happen — our only knowledge of Mud Island was from a Sydney Pollack film from over 30 years before — “The Firm”. Once we began looking into how to visit — you know, hours, parking, little things like that, we learned that it had been closed down back 7-8 years before. Huh! There you go, it’s no wonder we don’t try to make lots of plans ahead of time; we’re not very good at it.
We also had hoped to be able to travel along the Mississippi River as we started down into the Delta region. Frump. It’s hard to get very close unless you are crossing a bridge — and there are not many of those. If you look at pictures of the way the river flows, you’ll see that it meanders greatly, looking like a really huge snake, and the roads have been constructed “inland” several miles, and on higher ground as a result of massive
We had a lot of towns and sites we would have liked to see, but naturally we had limited time and energy, and had to make choices. We wanted to experience the history of this area, which had begun as a series of very large plantations — cotton mostly — worked by slaves and owned by their masters. The richness of the River supported the plantations, and the music the area produced underlay the survival of those who did all the work.
B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, just a few of the big names from the area. They had museums; there were Halls of Fame and Welcome
Centers in many towns; and lots of nightclubs and restaurants to enjoy.
We could have hung out in the area for several weeks. Our problem was a lack of time, attached to all of us getting more tired each day, accompanied by an additional issue: were a little early in the season and many things weren’t open as many days as we would have liked. We went where we could make it work within the time frame and talked about returning again another year.
Our first stop was in Helena/West Helena, across the river in Arkansas, and it was a hoot. Now, Helena isn’t much really, but it does have a lovingly created and maintained Delta Cultural Center, which not only features the musical heritage of the region, but also hosts the long running, “King Biscuit Time” live radio show that runs at noon five days a week. We had extended our Memphis stay for an extra day so we could be here to see the show. It was a lot of fun and nothing would do but that the host interviewed one of us on air. With absolutely zero consultation three of us pointed at Kathy and she did a fine job as our representative.
From Helena it’s just a hop, skip and jump back across the river to Clarksdale, Mississippi, which was without doubt the highlight of the whole trip for all of us. It’s high on everyone's list of great places to go, and is regularly referred to as the Blues Capital of the World. It advertises that there is live blues music to enjoy every night of the week, year round (totally true!), and we loved it.
The evening we were in town we had dinner out the back end of a small restaurant in town, “Bluesberry,” with good food and a remarkable sort of at home atmosphere. There was a musician, Reverend Robert, who was nothing short of phenomenal.
He is the real deal; he played three different guitars, all made of steel, that are called resonator guitars. They each had a different sound and he chose them depending on the music selection. Then his left foot rested on a homemade-looking wooden box that created a bass drum sound to give the beat; while his right foot — he was wearing flip flops — wore a set of jingly metal discs like you’d find on a tambourine. And of course he sang too. He was simply marvelous.
He could have performed as a one man band quite capably, but he had a sideman with him doing various sorts of percussion, from a conga drum, to some small latin items to a washboard and even a triangle.
We all loved it — Nashville eat your heart out!
In the second half of the show several guys came out asking if they could sing with the ‘band’ and that was a lot of fun too. The first fellow was an old black man using a big walker; old as the hills, very few teeth, but he was seriously good. A real blues man and that’s for sure. And the crowd ate it up.
Oh, and then there’s the setting… Clarksdale, the old downtown section of it down by the tracks, is clearly a poor area and the setting for this wonderful music would have to blush if we called it Rustic. Tumble-down would be closer, but that was all a part of the charm. It was a lovely evening, we were on a partly covered patio and there were only about thirty folks in attendance; it felt really special. We
could go on, but this is probably enough. If we've piqued your interest in the Delta Blues experience, you can come join us next April for the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale. See you there!
We had one very important stop to make before crossing from Mississippi into Alabama. We wanted to get to Tupelo — the boyhood home of Elvis Presley. And this time I had made an error in my planning. Rick and I had been in Tupelo back many years ago. At that time it was a pretty small town. We had stopped to see where Elvis grew up, and also to enjoy a small statue of him at about the age of 9 or so. Not all that interesting, so this time we didn’t join our friends in their wander. But all has changed since then. Major city, several venues to be checked out, to say nothing of the statues. Based on their report, we really blew it; we’ll have to come back again!
Leaving Tupelo, we also stopped at the Strawberry Plains Audubon Center outside Holly Springs. We were a bit early for the season to have really gotten underway, and the butterfly garden wasn’t active yet, but it was a lovely spot for walking through the woods and garden areas, and checking out the antebellum home, all of which had been donated to the Society in order to protect the land in its current state. Apparently the owners were afraid that, as the city of Memphis continued to grow, the former cotton plantation “would be covered with asphalt and cement.” We are lucky they made that decision.
Heading east for sure now, we drove to Demopolis, Alabama, staying in a COE park a bit west of there. We’ve stayed here together before, and really enjoy the area. We wandered the park, which is along a section of the very pretty Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway. A lovely place to catch your breath and use as a base for local exploration.
Demopolis is only about 50 miles from Selma. We’d never been there, and everyone wanted to go. So we spent a day seeing a very good museum and welcome center, walking across the Edmund Pettis Bridge and learning about Martin Luther King’s time there.
We met up with some local teens who were part of a group working toward improvements to the downtown area. They were great fun to chat with.
Our visit to Selma concluded with a splendid lunch at Lannie’s Bar-B-Q Spot. We unexpectedly saw much of the town of Selma trying to get there; our GPS got quite confused as to which roads were actually usable and which simply wishful thinking, but we arrived in good time and it was well worth the chase!
Then it was on to Montgomery the next day, with its never-ending supply of museums and interesting spots to see. But not today. We were all pretty worn out and felt the need to move along and get settled in our next lakeside COE park.
flooding incidents over the years. But we got a few views while we were wandering the area. We left Memphis heading south on Hwy 61, known as the “Blues Highway” (even on Sirius/XM where the name of the Blues station is “Highway 61 Revisited”).