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.