Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues, Third Edition

Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues, Third Edition
by Steve Cheseborough

Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues, Third Edition
List Price: $22.00
Our Price: $16.06
You Save: $5.94 (27%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $12.45 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Steve Cheseborough
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-09-10
ISBN: 1604731249
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi

Book Reviews of Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues, Third Edition

Book Review: A Great Guide Book for Traveling Blues Fans
Summary: 5 Stars

In his 1991 masterpiece, Blue Highways, William Least Heat Moon takes the reader on a journey of American discovery, scrupulously avoiding the interstates in favor of the nation's rural back roads.

With Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues, blues guitarist and writer Steve Cheseborough takes us on a similar odyssey; only this one is regional, leading us along the "blue highways" of the Mississippi Delta.

Rich with hallowed Blues place names -- Clarksdale, Greenwood, Tutwiler, Dockery Plantation, Helena, Parchman Farm, Leland, Bentonia and Meridian are only a few of the places named - Blues Traveling is only partly a guide book. But it's a good one, according to those who have ridden the circuit, following the author's detailed travel instructions.

The trip begins and ends in Memphis. Scheduled destinations in Mississippi and Arkansas include birthplaces, graves, jook joints, museums, hotels, historic venues, famed highways, notorious streets, historic record shops and other bluesiana many of us have read about our favorite performers but could never quite locate on a map. Where telephone numbers, names and other travel information are available, Cheseborough helpfully includes them.

The writer conveys his considerable knowledge of Delta history with every entry. Each site - there must be 500 listed -- has at least a short biography of the blues performer associated with the site, along with a discussion of his or her work and significance as a performer. Cheseborough also delves into the subsequent history and mythology of the place and its importance to the reader.

The historically richest locations -- towns like Greenville and Clarksdale -- have entire chapters dedicated to the treasures within their borders. Along the way, the author's concern for traveler comfort expresses itself in safety and etiquette tips.

Cheseborough has no doubt created a perennial by crafting three books in one: guide book, pocket history and paean to the early Delta performers who left us their musical legacy.

The book is also a feast for trivia hounds. Even so-called minor luminaries - including a former "Ikette" -- are represented fully and with dignity. To his credit throughout, Cheseborough keeps a close eye on history and has possibly made some original contributions in this regard.

Guide books have a way of going out of style as soon as another becomes available. The author has anticipated that. This book, with its solid writing, easy directions, fine thumbnail history, excellent maps, good photos and helpful tips is destined, like the blues itself, to stick around a while. - originally published in Blues Revue Magazine, 2003


Summary of Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues, Third Edition

At a crossroads in the Mississippi Delta, Robert Johnson is said to have sold his soul to the Devil so that he could become a guitar virtuoso and King of the Delta Blues.

Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues will tell you where that legendary deal was supposed to have been made and guide you to all the other hallowed grounds that nourished Mississippi's signature music.

Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, Memphis Minnie, Jimmie Rodgers, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Howlin' Wolf, B. B. King, Little Milton, Elvis Presley, Bobby Rush, Junior Kimbrough, R. L. Burnside-the list of great artists with Mississippi connections goes on and on.

A trip through Mississippi blues sites is a pilgrimage every music lover ought to make at least once in a lifetime, to see the juke joints and churches, to visit the birthplaces and graves of blues greats, to walk down the dusty roads and over the levee, to eat some barbecue and greens, to sit on the bank of the Mississippi River, and to hear some down-home blues music.

Blues Traveling is the first and only guidebook to Mississippi's musical places and blues history. With photographs, maps, easy-to-follow directions, and an informative, entertaining text, this book will lead you in and out of Clarksdale, Greenwood, Helena (Arkansas), Rolling Fork, Jackson, Natchez, Bentonia, Rosedale, Itta Bena, and dozens of other locales that generations of blues musicians have lived in, traveled through, and sung about. Stories, legends, and lyrics are woven into the text so that each backroad and barroom comes alive.

Touring Mississippi with Blues Traveling is like having a knowledgeable and entertaining guide at your side. Even people with no immediate plans to visit Mississippi will enjoy reading the book for its photos, descriptions, and lore that will broaden their understanding and enhance their appreciation of the blues.

Steve Cheseborough is an independent scholar and blues musician. His work has been published in Living Blues, Blues Access, Mississippi, and the Southern Register.

Music Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Music Books
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain ImageMusicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain
by Oliver Sacks
Knopf Publishing Group; Published: 2008; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.17
Listen ImageListen
by Joseph Kerman, Gary Tomlinson
Bedford/St. Martin's; Published: 2007-02-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.00
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century ImageThe Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century
by Alex Ross
Picador; Published: 2008-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.93
Price in other shops: $19.00
Forever Young: Photographs of Bob Dylan ImageForever Young: Photographs of Bob Dylan
by Douglas R. Gilbert, Dave Marsh
Da Capo Press; Published: 2006-10-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.55
Price in other shops: $18.95
Heroes And Villains: The True Story Of The Beach Boys ImageHeroes And Villains: The True Story Of The Beach Boys
by Steven Gaines
Da Capo Press; Published: 1995-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.15
Price in other shops: $17.95
Handbook for Sound Engineers, Third Edition ImageHandbook for Sound Engineers, Third Edition
by Glen Ballou
Focal Press; Published: 2002-01-21; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops: $125.95
Jazz Anecdotes ImageJazz Anecdotes
by Bill Crow
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1990-05-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $24.18
Lovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams ImageLovesick Blues: The Life of Hank Williams
by Paul Hemphill
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2006-08-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops: $16.00
How to Train Singers/Book and Tape ImageHow to Train Singers/ Book and Tape
by Larra Browning Henderson
Parker; Published: 1991-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $29.95
Price in other shops: $44.95
I, Tina: My Life Story (icon!t) ImageI, Tina: My Life Story (icon!t)
by Tina Turner, Kurt Loder
It Books; Published: 2010-06-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops: $13.99
Similar Books and other products
Barrelhouse Words: A Blues Dialect Dictionary ImageBarrelhouse Words: A Blues Dialect Dictionary
by Stephen Calt
University of Illinois Press; Published: 2009-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.50
Price in other shops: $26.95
Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music ImageDelta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music
by Ted Gioia
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2009-11-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.19
Price in other shops: $17.95
The Land Where The Blues Began ImageThe Land Where The Blues Began
Release date: 2009-12-08; DVD
Best price: $24.95
M For Mississippi - A Road Trip Through The Birthplace Of The Blues ImageM For Mississippi - A Road Trip Through The Birthplace Of The Blues
Release date: 2010-06-08; DVD
Best price: $18.25
Price in other shops: $22.99
Hidden History of Mississippi Blues ImageHidden History of Mississippi Blues
by Roger Stolle, Photography by Lou Bopp
The History Press; Published: 2011-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.26
Price in other shops: $19.99
Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads ImageDeep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads
Sony; Release date: 2003-07-22; DVD
Best price: $7.56
Price in other shops: $11.98
The Blues Highway: New Orleans to Chicago: A Travel & Music Guide ImageThe Blues Highway: New Orleans to Chicago: A Travel & Music Guide
by Richard Knight
Trailblazer Publications; Published: 2001-10-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.50
The Search for Robert Johnson ImageThe Search for Robert Johnson
JOHNSON,ROBERT; Release date: 2000-10-31; DVD
Best price: $5.10
Price in other shops: $9.98
Explorer's Guide Memphis & the Delta Blues Trail: A Great Destination (Explorer's Great Destinations) ImageExplorer's Guide Memphis & the Delta Blues Trail: A Great Destination (Explorer's Great Destinations)
by Justin Gage, Melissa Gage
Countryman Press; Published: 2009-05-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.67
Price in other shops: $19.95
Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta ImageDeep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta
by Robert Palmer
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1982-07-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.08
Price in other shops: $16.00
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories