Jimmy “Duck” Holmes plays his guitar in front of the Blue Front Café in Bentonia, Miss. JACKSON, Miss. — Blues is inspired by place — the railroads, fields and slaughterhouses where the musicians once ...

In the third episode of a six-part series presented by American Songwriter and Renasant Bank, Rivers of Rhythm takes a deep look at the popularity of blues music as we celebrate Black History Month.

It’s agreed among all that from Memphis down to Vicksburg is the cradle of the Delta Blues Music, a genre of American root music that has left an indelible mark on country, jazz, rhythm and blues, and ...

A region of warm hospitality and deep spirituality that embodies the essence of the American South, the Mississippi Delta is marked by an extraordinary musical heritage. Born out of adversity, the ...

JACKSON, Miss. — A small town in the Mississippi Delta that has ties to the civil rights movement will soon be home to the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame. Project planners hope to finish ...

Today’s audio update: Tim Cahill picks cotton. NATCHEZ, MISS.—I was joking earlier, quoting the Blues Brothers movie, of course, when I said this journey to the heart of the land where the blues was ...

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Clarksdale, Miss. — “SOME call it boogie-woogie, some call it blues; I got my rhythm from a fox-trotting mule!” croons James “Super Chikan” Johnson as his golden retriever twirls between his stomping ...

Growing up in Maine, the closest I got to the blues was when BB King played the Bangor Auditorium. Seeing that show as a fourteen-year-old was a full on event in my life. One of those flashpoints ...

As the National Museum of African American Music opens its doors, journalists from the USA TODAY Network explore the stories, places and people who helped make music what it is today in our expansive ...