Visit the Mississippi Delta

28/09/2024

Come by the Visit Clarksdale booth at the at the Americana Music Triangle tent at the Pilgrimage Music Festival in Franklin, TN, this weekend!

20/06/2024

Happy Summer Solstice! Make Clarksdale your home base as y’all enjoy summer in the Delta. Plan your summer road trip at visitclarksdale.com/outdoors. ☀️

From what part of the world are y’all dreaming of Clarksdale? 💙🗺️💚

📷 Top-left and Top-right by Delta Bohemian Tours
📷 Bottom-left by - Instagram
📷 Bottom-right by .a.smith1980 - Instagram

06/06/2024

Check out this year's 🔥 lineup for B.A.M. FEST (Birthplace of American Music Festival)! This 3-day music festival in Clarksdale pays homage to the roots of American music, the Blues, and all the genres that grew from it.

📅 Friday, June 14th through Sunday, June 16th

🎶 See the full lineup and purchase tickets at bamfestms.com

🗺️ Plan your trip at visitclarksdale.com

13/05/2024

John Ruskey of Quapaw Canoe Company was named Mississippi's 2024 State Small Business Person of the Year! A Quapaw river adventure is a world-class experience worthy of a flight across the world and Blues road trip across the country. 🛫 🚗 🚣🏽‍♀️

Book your excursion on the Queen Mother Mississippi: island63.com.

📷 Mark River Peoples and John Ruskey pose with U.S. Small Business Administration administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman to accept the small business award in D.C.

20/04/2024

Buckle up! Clarksdale is on 🔥 next month!

Bones Fest XXVIII
📍 The Shack Up Inn's Juke Joint Chapel
📆 May 2-5, 2024

Clarksdale Caravan Music Festival
📍 All-day music beginning at Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Arts and ending at Bad Apple Blues Club
📆 May 11th, 2024

Women In Blues
📍 Downtown Clarksdale
📆 May 18th, 2024

Ground Zero Blues Club’s 23rd Anniversary
📍 Ground Zero Blues Club
📆 May 24th and 25th

Deak's Harmonica Block Party
📍 Deak’s - 13 3rd St.
📆 May 25th

Bad Apple Blues Festival
📍 Bad Apple Blues Club
📆 May 26th

🎨 Artwork created in part with DALL·E 2

06/04/2024

Looking for a place to watch the eclipse on Monday, April 8? The Gateway to the Blues Museum and Visitor Center welcomes you!

- Eclipse glasses will be available for purchase.

- Groovy Italian Ice food truck will be selling nachos, funnel cakes and Italian ice!!
on Instagram

- Buy One, Get One Free Museum Admission All Day.

- Bring a lawn chair.

02/04/2024

Happy birthday month to the legendary Charley Patton! 🎉 Most sources say Charley Patton was born in April of 1891, but the exact date is unknown. 🎸👞

Patton, hailed as the “Father of the Delta Blues,” significantly influenced the Blues scene in Clarksdale, especially mentoring Willie Brown and Son House. Patton, a pivotal figure in the Delta Blues, made seminal recordings with Brown and House in Clarksdale, initially facilitated by H.C. Speir. His teaching and style greatly impacted Howlin’ Wolf and other legendary artists like Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters, marking him as a crucial American musician of the 20th Century.

He developed his Blues style at Dockery Farms under Henry Sloan, showcasing a unique musical showmanship by playing the guitar in various unconventional positions. Patton's influence spread across the southern United States, with performances from plantations to major cities like Chicago and New York.

Y’all can visit Dockery farms in Visit Cleveland Mississippi where Patton started. It’s only a 45 minute drive from Clarksdale!

📽️ 🍿 Dive into the life of Patton and his only daughter, Rosetta, in a unique cinematic experience from Jimbo Mathus — bit.ly/PostcardsForRosettaFilm

05/03/2024

The 2024 Juke Joint Festival lineup just dropped!!! 🙌🏾 🎸 Who are you most excited to see play in Visit Clarksdale? Sound off in the comments!

🎶 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝟰/𝟭𝟯 - 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗗𝗮𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗽
jukejointfestival.com/stage_schedules.php

🎶 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝟰/𝟭𝟯 - 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗽 (𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱)
jukejointfestival.com/nighttime_venues.php

Don't forget to purchase a wristband for Saturday night jukin'! Word on the street is that wristbands are nearly sold out - so don't wait!

🖼️ Official 2024 Juke Joint Festival poster. Artwork by Cristen Craven Barnard

02/03/2024

Enjoy live music and good grub every Monday night at Hopson Hospitality just outside of Visit Clarksdale. The menu and talent change weekly, so be sure to follow Hopson Hospitality here on Facebook for updates.

📷 Hopson Hospitality

21/02/2024

No shade if y’all want to jump for joy when you make it Clarksdale! Plan your trip at visitclarksdale.com. 🙌🎸

📷 Fred Grasso at the The Shack Up Inn

17/02/2024

Don’t miss our FREE 1.5 mile audio walking tour through downtown Clarksdale. Travel between past and present in a stroll through downtown - guided by the stories & perspectives of over a dozen locals and experts who live here.

🔈 Free Audio Walking Tour — visitclarksdale.com/tours

07/02/2024

Y’all haven’t lived until y’all have gone on a food tour through the Mississippi Delta! Clarksdale makes a great homebase with many food stops all within driving distance to other can’t-miss Delta locales!

Plan your Delta trip and book your stay in Clarksdale at visitclarksdale.com/stay-all!

📷 Photos by each destination

10/01/2024

“Clarksdale is populated by a bunch of folk hellbent on making visitors welcome.” - Tripadvisor review by Brian R. from the UK

Well they don’t call it southern hospitality for nothin’! Plan your visit to the birthplace of the Blues ➡️ VisitClarksdale.com

📍 Find this mural painted by mural mates Bruna Pétalla and Madison Roy on the side of Nellie Mays on Delta Ave. in downtown Visit Clarksdale.

📷 Circa Wanderlust

05/01/2024

The 2024 Juke Joint Festival wristband presale has begun! 🙌🏽 Purchase a wristband asap to secure your spot for Saturday night jukin' in Visit Clarksdale. 💃🏽🎸🕺🏽

There are dozens of FREE Blues performances and family activities in addition to all of the street vendors (and even monkeys riding dogs and racing pigs) during the day on the Saturday of Juke Joint Festival weekend (April 23, 2024), but there is also the world-famous Saturday-night Juke Joint Crawl that requires a wristband.

There are a limited number of wristbands available, so don’t wait to secure yours!

🎶 Grab your wristband before they sell out — jukejointfestival.com/wristbands.php

📍 Juke Joint Festival
📷 rorydoylephoto.com

22/12/2023

Clarksdale’s 2024 festival lineup is STACKED! Plan your trip to the home of the Blues at visitclarksdale.com.

1/26-28 - 14th annual Clarksdale Film & Music Festival
4/11-14 - 21st annual Juke Joint Festival & Related Events
4/14 - Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Arts 22nd Anniversary Mini Blues Fest
5/11 - 14th Clarksdale Caravan Music Fest
TBD - Women In Blues Festival - womeninblues.org
5/24-25 - Ground Zero Blues Club anniversary weekend
5/25 - Deak's Mississippi Saxophones and Blues Emporium Block Party
5/26 - 4th Bad Apple Blues Club Festival
6/14-16- B.A.M. Fest (Birthplace of American Music)
TBD - Pinetop Perkins Foundation Workshop Experience, culminating in Friday public show
8/9-11 - 36th Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival
8/9-11 - Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Arts 22nd Anniversary Weekend
8/31 - 6th Red's Old-Timers Blues Fest
9/13-14 - Mighty Roots Music Festival at Stovall Farm
10/9-12 - King Biscuit Blues Festival & Symposium (near Clarksdale, MS, in HELENA, AR)
10/13 - Bluesberry CAFE's Blues Breakfast & October Fest
10/13 - Super Blues Sunday: Tentatively including... Cat Head Mini Blues Fest, Delta Blues Museum - Clarksdale, Mississippi special hours, Ground Zero Blues Club brunch, Hopson Commissary / The Shack Up Inn's Pinetop Perkins Homecoming Celebration... plus music at Levon's, Ho**er Grocer & Eatery Clarksdale, Red's Lounge, Bad Apple Blues Club and more!
10/17-20 - Deep Blues Festival
10/17-19 - 32nd Mississippi Delta Tennessee Williams Festival
10/24-27 - Hambone Art Gallery Festival & Related Events
10/25-26 - Cruzn the Crossroads Car & Truck Show
12/31 - Celebrate New Year's at the Crossroads

🖼️ This image was created with the assistance of DALL·E 2

03/12/2023

Don’t miss the Rockin’ Around Clarksdale Christmas Parade on Wednesday, December 6th at 7 p.m. The downtown parade will be followed by a spectacular fireworks show! The holiday magic doesn’t stop there. Y’all can look forward to holiday events all month long in the home of the Blues! 🎄 🎇

Visit Clarksdale is proud to be one of the sponsors for the Clarksdale Christmas Festival 2023. 🎅✨

11/11/2023

You're invited to the Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival Pre-Thanksgiving Party & Fundraiser at Ground Zero Blues Club!

📅 Wednesday, Nov. 22
📍 Ground Zero Blues Club
💰 Cover Charge: Just $15 for an evening packed with sensational blues!

🎶 𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗨𝗣 🎶
7:00 PM: Lucious Spiller
7:45 PM: Mark "Mule Man" Massey
8:30 PM: Bill Abel
9:15 PM: Sean “Bad” Apple
10:00 PM: James ”Super Chikan” Johnson
10:45 PM: Terry "Big T" Williams
11:30 PM: Anthony “Big A” Sherrod

🔜 Mark your calendars for next year's Sunflower River Blues Festival in August. More info at sunflowerfest.org and visitclarksdale.com

Join us for an unforgettable celebration of blues, community, and good times. Let’s keep the blues alive in Clarksdale! 🎉

🎟️ Grab your tickets at Ground Zero Blues Club and bring your friends – it’s a night you won’t want to miss!

03/11/2023

Did y'all catch Clarksdale on 60 Minutes this past Sunday?! 📺 🎶 Click below to give it a watch if you missed it.

Special shout out to Super Chikan, Sean "Bad" Apple, Ghalia Volt, Anthony "Big A" Sherrod, Morgan Freeman, Howard Stovall, and Christone "KINGFISH" Ingram for sharing their love of Clarksdale with the world!

🫶🏾 If you love Clarksdale, we want to hear from you too! Share your Clarksdale memories with us (or memories you hope to make) in the comments.

🎸 Plan your visit to The Crossroads and Birthplace of the Blues at VisitClarksdale.com

It's not topping the charts, but blues music is having a revival in the Mississippi Delta, an area where the music first flourished.