Highway 61 Revisited

Perhaps the Mississippi Delta, which apparently isn’t really a delta at all, is best known for its diet of crawfish. And perhaps it’s best known for its dilapidated social condition amongst the most rich and fertile farmland in the country. Most of all, however, is the Delta recognized for its role in the development of what is considered “American” music. It was on the Delta, at the intersection of highways 49 and 61 where blues legend Robert Johnson famously sold his soul to the devil in a formidable trade for musical talent and the ability to play the blues. It’s quite appropriate then that last Saturday, a few friends and I ventured to Indianola, Mississippi out on the Delta for the B.B. King Homecoming Festival. We traveled hardly two hours from Jackson, but yet it felt like I had entered an area of the country which is to me just so foreign—and nevertheless quintessentially American. This picture says it all:


The concert turned out great! It was one of these very relaxed festivals, with families and blues fans coming from miles away. And despite the plague of bloodthirsty mosquitoes swarming in air so thick and humid that I thought I was at a fraternity party, there’s nothing like sitting back with a few friends in lawn chairs, listening to some great music, enjoying a couple cheap beers, and munching on some fried catfish. Yet another little sliver of Southern life!

Two days ago, a few of us went to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to do some research. For those of you who remember your state capitals, it’s up there with Pierre and Columbia as the most forgettable state capitals. Who names a city “Red Stick”? Anyway, the state archives turned out to be somewhat weak in content concerning Jews in Louisiana, so after a few hours in front of the microfilm reader we headed back to Jackson. Au revoir to Baton Rouge!

I just got back from a Mississippi Braves game. They’re the AA minor league team for the Atlanta Braves (duh!) and displayed some of the worst fielding I have ever seen. Still, the $1 beers (16 oz. Coors) were well worth the trip out to the park.