Blues in Clarksdale

Beautiful weather yesterday as we arrived in Clarksdale and spent the day immersed in the blues.  The town's downtown area is pretty run down but the blues brings in a lot of visitors. We looked at the Sam Cooke blues marker and other blues sites and I bought some more 45s. My friend Alan and I were accosted by local bluesman Razorblade who spun us a story about the dollar sign and persuaded Alan to buy his C D. We enjoyed some southern home cooking in Delta Amusements and had a beer in the Stone Pony.
In the evening we went to the New Roxy to see the excellent Robert 'Bilbo' Walker. The place is a shell with no roof but as a music venue it's pretty good. Pity there weren't more people there to see a varied set which ranged from straight blues like Big Boss Man to Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode and Memphis Tennessee, There Is Something On Your Mind, Lucille and Sam Cooke's Let's Go Steady Again. Bilbo is a good guitarist and sometimes walked around the sparse audience, and was joined on stage for a few numbers by his wife Audrey who plays bass guitar. Later we went to Red's juke joint to see Deak Harp, a very good one man band. Red's is the real deal and provided a suitable ending to a blues filled day.
Nick Cobban.