Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues [Hardcover]

Steve Cheseborough (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001

At a crossroad in the Mississippi Delta, Robert Johnson is said to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for becoming a guitar virtuoso and King of the Delta Blues. Blues Travelling will tell you where that legendary deal was supposed to have been made and guide you to all the other hallowed grounds that nourished Mississippi's signature music. Robert Johnson; Mississippi John Hurt; Memphis Minnie; Jimmie Rodgers; Bessie Smith; Muddy Waters; Mississippi Fred McDowell; Howlin' Wolf; B. B. King; Little Milton; Elvis Presley; Bobby Rush; Junior Kimborough; R. L. Burnside; and many more; A trip through the Mississippi blues sites is a pilgrimage every blues fan will want to make - real, or armchair.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues, Steve Cheseborough prescribes a course for getting one's fill of Mississippi blues. This localized, detailed and lively guidebook to blues music in Mississippi recommends following (by car) "a rough circle beginning and ending in Memphis" for a comprehensive tour, although those with less time can choose from the long list of blues sites. With maps, specific directions and succinct historical tidbits, Cheseborough describes blues venues as well as points of special interest, like the Clarksdale station, where Muddy Waters boarded the train for Chicago along with thousands of other African-Americans in the 1940s. A recommended listening section completes the picture. ( Mar.)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Independent scholar and blues musician Cheseborough has compiled a detailed guide to blues music landmarks in Mississippi and Memphis. Providing excellent maps and driving instructions, he begins the trip in Memphis and then directs the reader down the western part of the state to Vicksburg, across to Jackson and Meridian, and then north to Tupelo and Oxford. Along the way, Cheseborough provides details on the towns, homes, and grave-sites of famous blues musicians, buildings where they played, radio stations, sites of music festivals, and current clubs and restaurants that feature the music. Similar to Christine Bird's The Jazz and Blues Lover's Guide to the U.S. (LJ 3/15/91), this guide may also be read as a history of the blues in Mississippi. Essential (at least in paperback) for all libraries in Mississippi and surrounding states and for large public and academic libraries in the rest of the country. John McCormick, New Hampshire State Lib., Concord
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 235 pages
• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1578062314
• ISBN-13: 978-1578062317
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,253,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #29 in Books > Travel > United States > States > Mississippi

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blues Travelin by Steve Cheseborough, March 31, 2001

By 

Donna S. Chesborough "illustrator / designer" (Charleston, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues (Paperback)

Since he was a 12 years old, Steve has had a passion for blues
music. He has listened to it, read about it, played it, and most
recently, lived it. Residing and traveling in Mississippi has given body
and soul to what was once only spirit for him. This book is an
opportunity for anyone who can't be with Steve personally to get a
guided tour of a region and its people by a man who can now call these
music sites "home". I am his sister. This is a great book.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A review by a 2004 Blues Traveler, June 29, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues (Paperback)

I highly recommend this book for anybody considering a Blues trip into the Delta. It is the best available resource on the market. Looking at its competitors, they all miss the mark due to either outdated, incomplete, or just plain incorrect information.

I have just completed a Delta blues trip and read the book after I returned. Having actually done such a trip provides a very authoritative vantage point from which to judge any such work.

Our trip was preceded by 6 months of online research into every aspect of the Delta and surrounding areas. Over 100 pages of information were accumulated prior to departure. The trip itself covered nearly a 1400 mile loop by car that began and ended in New Orleans. So many of the stops we made along the way ~ Jackson, Ms.; Greenwood, Ms.; Clarksdale, Ms.; Helena, Ark.; Memphis, Tenn.; all the historic gravesites; the prisons and the plantations were all covered in Steve's book. He certainly did his homework. (For goodness sake, he moved there as part of the overall immersion process, LOL!)

We met Steve in Helena while he was lecturing and playing at the `Blues on Main Street' exhibit opening at the Delta Cultural Center on Cherry St. He is proficient at both. It was there we bought the book that got carried home and subsequently read after the fact.

If you don't have 6 months to do your own research, just buy his book and read it in a week. He covers everything. Then take it with you and use it as a guide on the road.

(p.s. Plan your trip so it somehow involves the WC Handy awards in Memphis in late April, as well as the Beale Street Music Festival that follows that weekend).

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 Stars - Much Needed Reference, January 6, 2002

By 

JD Schaefer (San Rafael, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues (Paperback)

A work of love. Major Kudos. Thanks very much.

The opportunities to make an important American history connection that are contained in this book are inspirational.

I just got back from the Delta (there's only one, isn't there?) last month (12/01) and had the opportunity to visit 8 sites. I drove a small car with my 15 year old son, and the information this book and my experience with the blues provided, prevented the mayhem one frequently associates with excessive exposure between generations from the same family.

We started in Leland and went to Clarksdale and came down to Greenwood and back to Leland.

While I expect to continue to use this book for years to come as my family and I go back to annually visit the in-laws, my sole complaint is the directions. I've driven from Guatemala to Vancouver and been in 26 countries, so I have a well seasoned sense of direction. Perhaps I'm overly pedantic but some of the directions did not anticipate some of the predictable confusion I experienced.

While the directions to Zion Church in Greenwood were good, confirmation such as a green roof or easily visible from a mile away just after the curve to the right would be helpful. It was a lovely church but I was a somewhat self conscious about parking in the driveway. Fortunately there wasn't anyone else there at the time.

The graveyard for Mississippi John Hurt was fascinating but the directions could have been a bit better. When a turn is called out and the driver makes it, I'd prefer to see right away that one should park right after 1.0 miles. By the time my son read the preceding information, before the distance,to me, I wasn't sure how many tenths of a mile we'd gone. So, do we turn around to the mail boxes or try to guess? We tried the latter and should have tried the former (it was getting late in the day). It was well worth it since the graveyard was fascinating in how natural, secluded and private the sites were. Thanks for the tip about wearing bright clothing due to hunters, but I wish that had been in a section in the front: Preparing for Your Journey. That section could include common sense photographic suggestions such as extra film, batteries, a flash and a tripod.

I'd suggest adding to the Sonny Boy Williamson grave directions to make the first right after 2nd street (instead of turn at the gas meter, not all gas meters in the country are the same) on the named street, I'm going to guess Bruister (starts with a B anyway) Street. The locals walking that road saw me 4 times in a half hour, probably livened up their day.

I'm sure I expect too much, but I would have liked some idea about the driving time between sites with a line item complete itinerary in the back with the driving time between the site you're looking at and the site on the line above. That way if you wanted to skip some of the less interesting (varies from person to person) sites, you can plan your day more efficiently.

I wish I had unlimited capital and could pay the author to try to find out who else is buried in these various graveyards. Were they family or neighbors? I wish there were money to pay someone to go to these graveyards annually to spruce them up a little, secure lopsided gravestones etc. I'd want to see all the individuals in the graveyard get equal treatment.

Go slowly and make notes in the book in case you ever want to redo the trip or take another blues enthusiast on the trip of their life that wouldn't be available if it weren't for this excellent book.