Danny Hill - Gutbucket Blues

The Road Goes On Forever and The Party Never Ends

So after a warm rest in The Bin, we
awoke to some cold drizzle. The high
that day was 39!

Undaunted by weather, we went sight
seeing in Clarksdale.

So much to see in such a small town.
Just about everything there has to
do with the preservation of Blues
Music. It's like Blues Heaven in
Clarksdale!

We hit the Delta Blues Museum.

WOW!

I could have spent half the day in
this place. So much blues history
right in one museum.

They even have a portion of the cabin
where Muddy Waters lived on Stovall
Farms. And in that little cabin is
a pretty lifelike wax statue of Muddy
sitting there playing a Les Paul.

If you ever find yourself in Clarksdale,
this is one place you definitely want
to have on your itinerary.













Next stop was Cat Head Delta Blues and Folk
Art. This place is packed to the rafters
with Blues "Stuff". You can get Blues
CD's, Blues Videos, T-shirts, mojo bags,
records, you name it, they have a little
bit of everything Blues in here. Be
sure and check out some of the local folk
art in here. It's pretty amazing. I
kept wishing I had an extra grand to
spend.

Just For Laughs

I found this on another blog and even though
it has nothing to do with Blues Music per se,
it is way too funny so I thought I would
share it.

He's pretty good for a nerdy white guy.

Have fun!

The Great Club, Ground Zero

After grabbing a quick shower, we headed
out to Ground Zero.

Guitar Mikey was playing that night and
it was great.

I had a chance to meet with his manager
and we sat and talked for a great while.
The conversation was so good combined
with the great music coming from the
stage that the whole evening was just
as close to perfect as I could have
wanted.

We got to the club a little later than
we had expected but where able to order
some dinner before the kitchen closed.
Danny got a fried catfish Po Boy and
I opted for the Shrimp Po Boy. There
wasn't a lot on the menu that would
work with the diet I'm on, but hey,
how often do I get to take a trip to
The Mississippi Delta? It was a
special occasion, so I went ahead and
ate it...the food is really good at
Ground Zero.

Guitar Mikey had the crowd wailin' and
up on their feet. I'm not a big drinker
so after having a Guinness Stout, I switched
over to water. Fear of being jailed so
far from home was weighing pretty
heavily on my mind. Besides, this was so
much fun, who needed a buzz anyway?

I got the opportunity to talk with Mr.
Guitar Mikey and what a great guy. It
was easy to decide that he would be the
next Featured Artist on Blues City Radio.

It was one of those nights where you just
didn't want the music to stop, but all
good things do come to an end.

We headed back over to the bin where we
were staying and it was toasty warm
inside. The room looked so inviting
and I was a tired camper. Sleep came
quickly, but not as quickly as the
morning sun.

We had a whole new day to spend in
Clarksdale!

At The Crossroads...

The weather was cold and damp as we pulled
into the Shack Up Inn's parking lot. But
we could feel the history of this place
warming us as we walked into the lobby.

We were greeted as if we were old friends
stopping by to chat. My eyes were trying
to take in everything, but there is so
much at the Hopson Plantation that it takes
a while to see all or it.

We had the choice of a smaller shack or one
of the bins that are describe in the video
on the last post. If you haven't seen that
video, please grab a beverage of your choice
and take a look at it. It's pretty great.

Not dressed for this weather, we went and
looked at the shack first. It was cool.
They have cleaned out these old shack,
updated them with indoor plumbing and a
small kitchen with everything you need.
I felt like I was soaking up the history
that was permeating this old shack.

While we thought the shacks were totally
great, we had concerns about the weather
and our ability to stay really warm. When
we left Texas, it was 83 degrees and I
was in cargo shorts.

So we went and took a look at the bins.
While not as rustic as the shacks, these
bins still had a charm and feeling of
history that was hard to beat. And it was
so warm in there!!

Ok, we opted for the bins. It was a wise
choice.

A quick unload of the car filled with guitar
gear and our personal belongings and an ice
chest full of food to cook out on the grill,
and we were off to see Clarksdale.

We drove around getting a feel for the layout
of the town while it was still light out. We
knew for sure that we wanted to see the
intersection of Highways 61 and 49, The
Crossroads. And we wanted to make sure that
we would be able to find Ground Zero Blues
Club in the dark.




I snapped this shot in the famous Ground Zero
Blues Club. There is very little in here that
has not been written on.

We drove around and took in everything
before heading back to the bins to get
ready for the evening...

Life got Better In Clarksdale, MS

After getting back to the hotel from the awful
restaurant experience, I decided that moving
on was our best bet.

I sent out a quick email to the awesome guys
at The Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale to see if I
could get another night there. Two nights in
Clarksdale would be a great boon for us.

Like rapid fire, I got an email back saying
that the Shack I had reserved would not
be available, but there was another one
that I could get or I could stay in one of
"the bins". BONUS! We could get out
of Jackson and be on our way to the
Crossroads!



First thing Wednesday morning, we got
packed up and I hit the front desk hoping
that I would not have to pay for a second
night that I wasn't going to be able to use.

The woman at the desk was quite nice and
asked how was my stay. I said it was fine
except for that gang of cockroaches in the
bathroom that partied all night. She was
horrified and promptly said that my stay
was free and apologized profusely! Yeah,
that was the highlight of my stay in that
town!

We hit the road for Clarksdale.

The weather had turned cold and wet.
I'm an avid fan of the Weather Channel
and had been keeping vigilant watch on
what we could expect on the trip. This
was not in the forecast! EGAD!

No problem, I had a couple of long sleeve
shirts but no Winter shoes to speak of.
It would all work out just fine.

We got to Clarksdale and found our way
to The Shack Up Inn. Check out this
great video!

The Road Trip That Rocked

We left Southeast Texas on March 10 to
head out through Mississippi and into
Memphis, TN.

I was traveling with Danny Hill, the
Featured Artist this month on Blues
City Radio. It was a great opportunity
for Blues City to Sponsor his trip and
looks for Sponsors for the station at
the same time.

Our first stop was Jackson, MS. I hope
to never go to Jackson again! We stayed
at a hotel that had a bad ass gang of
roaches in the bathroom. We were going
to spend two nights in Jackson and hit
a couple of Blues Jams. Sudden change
of plans.

We went to the jam at Shucker's in
Jackson/Ridgeland. First of all, the
service was about the worst I have gotten
anywhere, ever! The food was even worse.

Our waitress spent most of her time crouched
down hiding out in the smoking section. It
took nearly an hour to get our food order.
I ordered a cooked oyster dish, and raw
oysters on the half shell. I think the
dishes were prepare right away, but sat
there for a very long time before the
waitress bothered to go them.

The cooked oyster dish had gotten cold and
the melted cheese topping had hardened.
And the raw oysters had gotten way too
warm and had a film starting to coat their
little oyster bodies. I feel certain that
food poisoning would have been in my near
future had I eaten that crap.

The house band...can't remember their name
but then they WERE pretty unforgettable.

The patrons seemed to like the band and the
food which showed that they had no taste
whatsoever, not even in their mouths.

When it was Danny's turn to play, people
sat up and took notice. It was the first
real blues music of the night. The band
took notice as well and decided that he
played too loudly. Then they decided that
while he was playing it would be a good
time to announce their upcoming Crawfish
Festival. Hell, we live in the land of
crawfish, the festival goes on for months
here!

Well, I got angry and got the check. $53
for food that I wouldn't feed to a stray
dog, and no they had no real apology for
the lousy food, music or service.



STAY CLEAR OF THIS PLACE!

Like I said, I hope to never be in Jackson,
MS EVER again except to pass through on
my way to some place better.

Come back tomorrow when we battle the roaches
and move on to Clarksdale, MS! Now that's
a GREAT town.