US road trip heads north

We arrived in St Louis in a rainstorm so didn't do much on our first night apart from having a meal at Chuck Berry's former club Blueberry Hill and checking out his statue opposite. Next day we went to the city's biggest landmark the Gateway Arch. I've been up before so gave the trip to the top a miss but it was a first time for Alan and John S. From there we drove to the cemetery out of town where Chuck's mausoleum is located.

In the evening we went to Hammerstones bar in the Soulard district for the John McVey blues band. John is a big man who plays and sings Texas blues and his band comprises bass player Tecora Morgan and her brother Riley who manages to combine drumming with playing keyboards at the same time, tucking a drum stick under his arm while doing so.

Before leaving St Louis next morning we did a tour of the National Blues Museum which is glitzy and colourful if a little superficial. On the road heading north again we went to Hannibal, boyhood home of Mark Twain where there are many touristy reminders of his time there. We also visited a small museum called Jim's Journey (organised by Alan). Founded and curated by a lady called Faye Dant it is devoted to the struggle for equality undertaken by African Americans and was featured on a Channel 4 series about the Mississippi with Nick Knowles.

The following day we continued our journey north stopping off at Fort Madison where the Chicago to LA railway crosses the river. There are up to 80 very long freight trains passing every day plus a couple of Amtrak passenger trains and a webcam showing the activity is viewed by hundreds of people every day. Two very enthusiastic ladies made us welcome and we had a good brunch at a newly opened restaurant and bar on the river front. Continuing alongside the river we stopped off at Burlington, Iowa, where there is another preserved loco and a curious road which is claimed to be the second most crooked street in the US.

The Road Trip continues

Travelling back north by an indirect route we had a look at Helena where the King Biscuit Festival is held and it was dead. So too was Brinkley, birth place of Louis Jordan. We had a Mexican style lunch in a small town called Palestine. Very peaceful compared with the real thing. Back in Memphis we headed straight to Silky O'Sullivans on Beale Street where Johnny Rawls was playing again, alongside the self styled 'Queen of Beale Street' Barbara Blue. She was OK and Johnny was excellent again, this time doing Stax material. His daughter Destini also did a few numbers. The band was very good featuring, as

it did, at least one member of the Bo-Kays. In the evening we made a return trip to Wild Bill's where Big Don Valentine was playing again, this time with a different guitarist. Next day we checked out the Overton Park Shell where Elvis made early appearances and soul and blues artists played in the 60s and 70s.

In the evening we had a real treat, especially for the two Johns, when we went to the Blues City Cafe to see the Rockin' 88s. They are a four piece who play Memphis rock and roll and feature Gunnar Sansom on piano, Brian Stuhr on guitar, Steve Clark on upright bass and Rodney Pole on drums. Gunnar - named he said after Ricky Nelson's son - has the look and style of young Jerry Lee Lewis and was note perfect on a wide selection of his songs. Steve meanwhile has a voice that's a dead ringer for Johnny Cash and Brian was great on songs made famous by Elvis, Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent and others. The bar was crowded and the bar manager Keith, the spit of Danny DeVito, kept things in order. He didn't repeat his feat of drumming on the counter as he did last time I was there. The Rockin'88s were great and deserve wider recognition I think. Next morning we headed north again, this time towards St Louis, stopping off at Osceola. There were markers there for musicians who came from the town including Reggie Young, Billy Lee Riley, Albert King, Jimmy 'Popeye' Thomas and Son Seals, but as ever there was a lack of people around. More on our road trip soon.

Mississippi at last

We continued south into Mississippi, the most southerly part of our road trip, driving through Sledge, birth place of Charlie Pride, and Tutwiler, where W C Handy first heard the Blues. The area around the murals near the train tracks is as derelict as ever. The same can be said of Clarksdale, where we visited next, although there are a few bars and restaurants there catering for blues tourists. After a quick look around the town, with its many blues markers, we went to Red's Juke joint, which has survived unchanged despite the death of its eponymous owner last year. The Blues artist performing was Terry 'Harmonica' Bean, who does some good hill country blues.

Next day we headed to the Delta Blues Museum which has some fine blues photographs and Muddy Waters' cabin. The Clarksdale Caravan Music Festival is on so we watched a bit of Randy Cohen and Big A Sherrod playing outside the Cathead store and much enjoyed Stan Street and Guitar Frenchie at the Hambone Gallery. The evening was one to remember and a real highlight of the trip. First we went to the Bluesberry Cafe to see Watermelon Slim. He's a colourful character who plays slide guitar and harmonica and has a strong gritty voice which he puts to good use on a variety of mostly blues material including

'Baby Scratch My Back' and 'Highway 61'. From there we went on to the Hambone again to watch singer/guitarist Johnny Rawls. This proved to be the gig of the trip so far and one of the best I've been to in years. He's an excellent guitarist with a soulful voice as he showed on songs such as 'Stoop Down Baby' and 'Stand By Me', but as the first of two sets went on it became more of an R and B Revue. There were songs by his daughter Destini, including 'I'd Rather Be Blind' and 'Chain Of Fools'. There were also songs from a couple of other excellent female blues singers including one who did a raunchy 'Get Your Black Draws On'. And he was joined on stage by guitarist Dave Keller from Vermont, blues Music Award artist harmonica player Bob Corritore, renowned bluesman John Primer and fellow blues man Billy Price who joined with Johnny on 'Can I Change Your Mind'. Johnny himself was great on southen soul songs such as 'Stroking' and 'Red Cadillac', the title of his 2008 album, which brought the house down and closed both sets. Brilliant stuff which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Memphis blues

We've reached Memphis on our road trip. After Kansas City we stopped off at Sedalia, something of a one horse town but with two record shops almost opposite each other. We stayed overnight in West Plains, a small town which was rocked by a mystery explosion which killed 37 people in the 1920s. When we arrived in Memphis I went to the Blues Foundation office to pick up a media pass which I had hoped would get us access to events surrounding the Blues Music Awards which are taking place. It didn't really work out that way although I did get into part of a reception at the convention centre where there were speeches being made. One was about a book about early blues women by Angela Davis and another about early blues singer Lil Green. In the evening we went to a blues jam fundraiser at Alfred's on Beale (the media pass saved me $5 on entry). There was a long list of blues artists taking part, many of them nominees for awards, interrupted by auctions and raffles. The highlights included Terrie Odabi, looking fabulous as she always does, who sang just two numbers including one called, l think, 'Justice for All'. Other good acts included guitarist Chris Cain, the very popular Mr Sipp who did only one number, and a local group called Southern Avenue with an exciting lead singer called Tierinii Jackson. Other artists included Beale Street regular Vince Johnson and younger blues rock artists Mattias Lattin, Dylan Triplett and Tony Holiday. There was also Canadian band the Blackburn Brothers.

Next day we paid our respects at some of Memphis's iconic music locations. The Stax museum and academy complex is looking great these days and I recalled my visit in the 90s when there was just a marker and waste ground. Sun Studio was busy as usual but I hadn't realised that the cafe there closed down some years ago. Royal Studio was closed but still operating I think, but Aretha Franklin's childhood home is still in the same state of disrepair as it was the last time I was here. A disgrace really.

I n the evening we went to Wild Bill's Juke joint which I was pleased to see was as authentic as ever, if slightly larger than I recalled. Playing there was Big Don Valentine with left handed guitarist Miss Chloe. They were excellent as were a couple of female singers who did a few numbers each. A great evening once again.

Kansas City here I come

The road trip continues. We headed south towards Des Moines and checked out some of the Bridges of Madison County made famous by the Clint Eastwood film. These are dotted around the town of Winterset which also has a John Wayne Museum which we didn't bother with. Next day we headed for Omaha and had a Cajun meal in Mouth of the South and a drink in Billy Froggs bar in the Old Market area. We also visited a rather poor railway museum in nearby Council Bluffs. Continuing our journey south we had a look at the excellent Pony Express museum in St Joseph, which is near where Jesse James was killed. We carried on to Kansas City and sought out the corner of 12th Street and Vine made famous by Wilbert Harrison and others. The area's been redeveloped but there's a small monument there.

In the evening three of us (minus John Howard) went to Kansas City's top music venue Knuckleheads. The band playing was MarchFourth, a colourful ensemble comprising about 15 people wearing assorted circus and Marching Band type clothing. The music was a mixture of funk, soul and world music, with several horn players, drummers and guitarists complemented by stiltwalkers, jugglers and gymnasts. The music wasn't really our cup of tea but visually they were excellent and it was an entertaining show.

US road trip...Albert Lea and Clear Lake

After leaving Minneapolis we headed south to see what traces we could find of several fifties Rock and roll artists with local connections. First stop was Albert Lea in south Minnesota where Eddie Cochran was born. There's a very nice exhibit featuring him at the local museum that includes several of his gold records, photos and press cuttings related to the car crash in England that killed him. There's also a street named after him in the town. While there we met a guy called Mike who proudly showed us his hot rod which he named 'Nervous Breakdown' after one of Eddie's songs.

From there we went to the crash site just north of Clear Lake in Iowa where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper lost their lives. Close to the site there are a large pair of Buddy style glasses and a few minutes away by a muddy field there is a rather unimpressive memorial to the three men and the pilot who was also killed.

The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, where they played their final concert, still stands. It's an impressive place holding over 2000 people and has a display of photos of artists who have played there, guitars and lots of info about the three stars. We were there to see a show by Ray Wylie Hubbard, a singer songwriter, now aged 77, who has a unique style and is as much a story teller as a singer. Backed only by his son on second guitar the audience lapped up his songs about red necks and the human existence. Songs such as 'Snake Farm' and 'A Desperate Man' went down a storm and this was a fantastic show in what is truly an iconic and historic venue. Support act Mary Cutrufello, very much in the mould of Tracey Chapman, was less to my taste.

Back on the road...Minneapolis

I'm off on my latest US trip along with Alan Lloyd, John Howard and John Stowe. We flew in to Minneapolis having changed planes in Chicago and spent a day and a half exploring the city including its extensive Skyway shopping and office complex in Downtown, the Minnehaha waterfall and the enormous mural featuring Bob Dylan, who spent a lot of time there in his youth. Our first gig was at the Turf Club in St Paul, a historic and very pleasant venue that was built as a dance hall in 1945. Main act was surf guitar instrumental band Los Straitjackets who are celebrating 30 years in the business. Wearing their trademark Mexican wrestling masks they were note perfect on a range of driving numbers, many of them made famous by the likes of the Ventures and Dick Dale. Their shtick is to maintain silence with only leader Eddie Angel speaking in Spanish rather than English. He introduced a new member of the group who he called Taco and also brought on stage for several numbers Danny Amis, aka Daddy-O Grande, a founder member of the band who grew up in Minneapolis. As ever their act, which included a brief tribute to Duane Eddy who died yesterday, was good fun and ended with a raucous version of 'The Bird's The Word'. Other numbers included 'Slaughter On Tenth Avenue', 'Squad Car', 'Perfidia', 'April Showers', 'Love Potion No 9' and 'Batman'. The support act was Wasted Major, an excellent young six member band from Knoxville who have four guitarists including three who sing well both individually and in harmony. Their songs include southern rock, Country and some Americana and they made a very good impression. A band to watch I think.