CHASING
THE BLUES
A Travel-Study Trip to the Mississippi Delta and Memphis
Led by Mark Greenberg
Sponsored by the University of Vermont’s Division of Continuing Education
& the ALANA U.S. Ethnic Studies Program

Information: markgvt@yahoo.com

In January, 2006 and 2007, Chasing the Blues explored the music and history of the Mississippi Delta and visited such blues landmarks as the “blues crossroads,” the Delta Blues Museum, the Riverside Hotel (where Bessie Smith died), the Stovall plantation (Muddy Waters), the Tutwiler train station where W.C. Handy first heard a farmhand singing the blues, and Mississippi John Hurt’s cabin. In Memphis we visited Beale Street, the Civil Rights Museum, Sun Records, and The Center for Southern Folklore. Along the way, we heard live music and met with local musicians and with blues photographer and former blues musician manager Dick Waterman and musician/blues scholar Andy Cohen.

Keep an eye on this page for information about the next Chasing the Blues opportunity.

January, 2007
Click on a picture for a larger image
Howl-N-Madd at Ground Zero, Clarksdale, MS (photo: M. Greenberg) Howl-N-Madd & the Blues Chasers (l to r: Bob, Greg, Ivey, Howl-N-Madd, Lauren, Michael, Jean, Josh) (photo: M. Greenberg) Razor Blade (rt) & 14 year old guitarist at Ground Zero
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Red's Jook Joint, Clarksdale, MS (photo: M. Greenberg)
Blues Chasers at Tutwiler, MS station (photo: M. Greenberg) Friars Point, MS
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Mailbox at John Hurt's cabin, Avalon, MS (photo: M. Greenberg) Blues Chasers at Mississippi John Hurt Museum (photo: M. Greenberg)
Mark at Mississippi John Hurt's Cabin (photo: I. Inman) Blues Chasers at Fred McDowell's grave, Como, MS (photo: M. Greenberg) Blind Mississippi Morris & Brad Webb, Center for Southern Folklore, Memphis (photo: M. Greenberg) Morris, Brad, & Ivey
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Morris & Michael
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Corey Osborne at B. B. King's, Memphis (photo: M. Greenberg) Blues Chasers at Sun Studio, Memphis Andy Cohen, Memphis (photo: M. Greenberg)
 
January, 2006
Click on a picture for a larger image

Delta Blues Museum, Clarksdale, MS (photo: A. Doolittle)

Clarksdale, MS (photo: A. Doolittle)

Ground Zero Blues Club,
Clarksdale, MS
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Big T at Ground Zero
(photo: M. Greenberg)

Big T & the All Stars
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Big T & the Blues Chasers
(l to r, rear: Kyle, Big T, Moses,
Amy, Steve; front: Eric, Emily)

(photo: M. Greenberg)
Riverside Hotel (where Bessie Smith died), Clarksdale, MS (photo: M. Greenberg) Blues Chasers at Muddy Waters marker at Stovall
Plantation, outside Clarksdale, MS
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Cotton Field,
Stovall's Plantation

(photo: M. Greenberg)
Stovall's Store
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Blues Chasers at the site of the
Tutwiler, MS train station (where W. C. Handy first heard the blues)
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Tutwiler, MS
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Tutwiler, MS (photo: M. Greenberg) Tutwiler, MS (photo: M. Greenberg) Main Street, Friars Point, MS
(photo: M. Greenberg)
John Hurt marker, Avalon, MS
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Mississippi John Hurt's grave, Avalon, MS
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Mississippi John Hurt's home/the John Hurt Museum,
Avalon, MS
(photo: S. Jamele)

Store, Avalon, MS (photo: S. Jamele)

Robert Johnson marker,
Greenwood, MS
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Blues Chasers at Robert Johnson's grave, Mt Zion
Church, Greenwood, MS
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Blues Chasers at Sun Studios, Memphis, TN
(photo: M. Greenberg)
Andy Cohen session, Memphis, TN (photo: M. Greenberg) Memphis, TN (photo: S. Jamele)
Mark in Tutwiler, MS
(photo A. Doolittle)
Click on the above images to get the story.
All photos© 2006, 2007
For information:
markgvt@yahoo.com
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