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Mississippi Blues Trail Marker Unveiled In Tunica, MS

TUNICA, Mississippi (June 18, 2007)—The site of the old Clack Store in Tunica Resorts, Mississippi, was recognized on Monday, June 18, with a Mississippi Blues Trail marker that features Son House, who is known as the "father of folk blues."

"This historic marker will serve as a lasting tribute to Son House and his music,” Governor Haley Barbour said.  “Like so many Mississippi-born blues musicians, his life story is the stuff of which legends are made, and it is very appropriate for him to be honored as we continue our efforts to identify Mississippi as the birthplace of America's music."

The unveiling ceremony took place at 10 a.m. on Old Highway 61 North. Webster Franklin, president and CEO of the Tunica Convention & Visitors Bureau, says this marker will begin the Mississippi Blues trail along the historic Blues Highway 61.

“Tunica County has a rich blues history, and we are looking forward to visitors coming from around the world to learn about these inspiring musicians and historic sites,” Franklin said.  “This marker is the first of five markers that will celebrate the people and 
places of Tunica, which helped shape the blues and transform American music.”

“We are excited to unveil the first blues marker in Tunica,” said Alex Thomas, Heritage Trail Director. “Even though this site no longer exists, the memories that so many have about this place still makes it truly special.”

Son House was born near Lyon in Coahoma County on March 21, 1902, or 
by some accounts years earlier. Like other Robinsonville-area blues artists, including Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, and Willie Brown, House performed mostly at weekend suppers and dances held at sharecroppers’ houses.

Tunica County locals have recalled House living and working on the Harbert, Tate, and Cox plantations, though he preferred to sing or preach. When the spirit called, he would preach at various churches, only to resume his nightlife as a bluesman.

House was a tractor driver on the R. E. Neunlist plantation in 1941 when he was recorded for a Fisk University-Library of Congress study led by Alan Lomax and John Work III. On September 3, they recorded House, Willie Brown, Fiddlin’ Joe Martin, and Leroy Williams at Clack Store, a commissary and train station.  A second Library of Congress session in Robinsonville in 1942 would be House’s last recording in Mississippi.

In 1964 a group of blues aficionados, including Dick Waterman, drove to Robinsonville to look for House, only to learn he had long retired from music and had moved in 1943 to Rochester, New York. His subsequent “rediscovery” was reported in Newsweek, and Waterman would manage House’s comeback career, often booking him as the closing act 
at festivals. The most notable of the albums House recorded was the 1965 Columbia LP Father of Folk Blues. House performed little after the early ‘70s, and from 1976 until his death on October 19, 1988, he lived in Detroit with his wife Evie, whom he had married in Robinsonville in 1934. He is buried in Detroit.

The Mississippi Blues Trail markers are funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mississippi Department of Transportation, Delta State University and the Mississippi Development Authority.

About Mississippi Development Authority

Mississippi Development Authority is the State of Mississippi’s lead economic and community development agency. More than 250 employees are engaged in providing services to businesses, communities and workers in the state. While the agency is best know for its efforts to recruit new business to Mississippi, MDA provides services to promote tourism, help communities improve their quality of place, help existing employers identify and meet opportunities and challenges and help workers improve their skills – all with the goal of improving the quality of life and economic well-being of Mississippians. For more information, visit MDA’s website at www.mississippi.org.

About Tunica

Tunica, an area where cotton, rice, soybean fields and catfish ponds still
thrive, is "The South's Casino Capital."  Located 30 minutes south of
Memphis, Tunica welcomes more than 15 million visitors annually to its nine
world-class casino resorts, with more than 6,300 hotel rooms, over 40
restaurants, championship golf, outdoor recreation, museums, outlet and
antique shopping, and much more. For travel information, please visit the
Tunica website at www.tunicamiss.com, or call 1-888-4TUNICA.