Between blues and BBQ: On the road in Memphis
28. September 2025
Egypt – the new sympathy magazine
3. August 2025
In September 2025, the King of Blues would have turned 100. A good reason to travel to the state where B.B. King was born and became a legend. Here, in the vast former floodplains of the mighty Ol' Man River, there are sightseeing gems that even US fans are unaware of.
The fried catfish smells tempting in The Crown restaurant on Indianola's main street. ‘I always eat this fish when I visit here. It reminds me of my youth and my father,’ says Karen Williams. The 69-year-old is one of 15 illegitimate children of world-famous blues musician B.B. King – a legend who sold 40 million records, performed concerts in 90 countries and won 15 Grammys. Together with her daughter Landra (48), Karen has travelled from Las Vegas to the small town in Mississippi that shaped B.B. King like no other. Here she meets with members of the family to discuss the celebrations for his 100th birthday on 16 September 2025. These will take place at the impressive B.B. King Museum & Delta Interpretive Centre. Then all of his surviving children and countless grandchildren will travel to Indianola to visit the musician's grave at the large museum dedicated to B.B. King and the Delta. The blues titan was buried on the grounds in May 2015.
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- The B.B. King Museum & Delta Interpretive Centre in Indianola offers fascinating insights into the life of this exceptional musician. The blues titan is also buried here. The museum held a public party to celebrate his birthday on 16 September 2025.
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- B.B. King’s daughter Karen Williams, her daughter Landra Williams and another granddaughter of B.B. King, Tammi Stewart (from left to right) in front of the Ebony Club in Indianola, which was founded in the 1940s and purchased by B.B. King shortly before his death.
‘The Thrill is Gone’ was tattooed on his granddaughter Miche King's forearm out of grief at the time – the title of one of his greatest hits. ‘B.B. King was a family man, even though he was almost always on tour. At home, he was relaxed, never played music, but enjoyed playing cards and dominoes,’ says Karen Williams. Even though B.B. King called Las Vegas home for the last 40 years, Indianola in the Mississippi Delta always remained his homeland: that vast, flat former floodplain of the Mississippi between Memphis and Vicksburg behind the levees of the great river of the USA.
This is where the blues originated, the music of black field workers on the cotton plantations of the South. "Until the American Civil War (1861-1865), the Delta was a deserted wilderness. Afterwards, it became a magnet for former slaves, who found ideal conditions for growing cotton on the fertile land flooded by the Mississippi. They leased fields, had to buy seeds from the landlord and give him a large part of the harvest. Although slavery had been officially abolished in 1865, they still lived like serfs. We call this the sharecropping system," says Robert Terrell of the B.B. King Museum & Delta Interpretive Centre in Indianola. The destitute smallholders had to give large portions of their harvests to the landowners.
Among them were B.B. King's parents, Albert and Nora Ella King, who leased a piece of land in tiny Berclair near Itta Bena. If you drive the few kilometres from Indianola to get there, you end up in the hot Mississippi nowhere between fields and swamps. Robert Terrell parks his car on a dusty gravel road – surrounded by endless cotton fields that bloom white in September and are ready for harvest. At the side of the road stands one of the 200 blue markers of the Mississippi Blues Trail. The signs mark important places in the history of the blues.
On 16 September 1925, Riley B. King, who later adopted the stage name B.B. King for Blues Boy, was born here in a simple field hut. His parents grew cotton – like so many in the Delta, they had a hard life, which the blues made more bearable. But they separated. B.B. King was four years old at the time. He moved in with his mother and grandmother. When he was twelve, his mother died – a tragic childhood. He then worked on a cotton farm owned by a white family, drove a tractor and bought his first guitar – a milestone. From then on, he played in churches and on the streets, such as at the corner of Second Street and Church Street in Indianola. There is another marker here, where B.B. King's music once made the asphalt shake. Always with him was ‘Lucille’ – that's what he called his guitar, to which he also dedicated a song. Later, B.B. King would say, ‘You don't forget the nights on Church Street,’ where he was one of the ten best guitarists in the world.
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- The blue marker in the tiny village of Berclair near Itta Bena marks the birthplace of the musician, where a simple field hut once stood.
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- B.B. King statue with his beloved guitar ‘Lucille’ on the grounds of his museum
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- Southern charm amid swamps, cypress trees and fields: this is where B.B. King was born on 16 September 1925.
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- It is possible that B.B. King attended Sunday school in this small wooden church. It is located a few hundred metres from his birthplace.
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- Cruising through Las Vegas in luxury: B.B. King’s 1978 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II is on display at his museum in Indianola.
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- Deep in the south of the USA lies the pretty town of Greenwood with its brick churches and southern mansions.
Even today, you can still get carried away by the thumping bass of the blues: one of the top spots in Indianola is B.B. King's own club, Ebony, which now belongs to his museum and reopened in June 2023 after a two-year renovation. At the weekend, local bands set off musical fireworks on the small stage of the mint green-painted building, bringing the origins of the blues back to life. Tip: On 13 and 18 September, B.B. King will be seen on stage there for the first time since his death. He will appear in the club as a hologram.
The second top address in the area is an hour's drive further north: right next to the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale is a ramshackle building with graffiti on the façade, a flea market sofa in front of the door and a ‘Ground Zero’ neon sign. Anyone who doesn't know what's inside would hardly set foot in there voluntarily. But once inside, you won't want to leave: almost every evening, several bands provide rousing blues, soul and rock “n” roll. Accompanied by rustic Southern cuisine featuring fried green tomatoes and juicy spare ribs, the audience sways and dances along. ‘Are you here for the music or for Morgan Freeman?’ asks one of the locals. The famous actor is one of the owners of the Ground Zero Blues Club, which he opened in 2001. ‘He sometimes stops by; he has a farm 40 miles from here,’ says waitress Mandy, proudly showing a photo of them together. Morgan Freeman's roots are also in Mississippi, in the picturesque town of Greenwood, 35 minutes' drive east of Indianola. While magnificent Southern mansions under magnolia trees and brick churches with mighty towers line the heart of the city, beyond the railway line there are some simple, somewhat dilapidated wooden houses. This is the poor neighbourhood of Baptist Town, where Freeman grew up and graduated from high school in 1955. Another blue marker commemorates this. The neighbourhood became famous as the filming location for the feature film ‘The Help’.
Blues fans also make pilgrimages to Greenwood's city gates. Nestled between corn, soybean and cotton fields, where the occasional alligator strays, stands an inconspicuous little wooden church: the Little Zion Church, where Robert Johnson's (1911-1938) funeral ceremony is believed to have taken place. His grave – one of three claimed to be his – lies right next door, shaded by large trees. The guitarist is considered the forefather of the blues (e.g. ‘Sweet Home Chicago’) and influenced many musical greats such as B.B. King and Bob Dylan. He is also considered the first member of the ‘27 Club’ – a sad community. Most of them are blues, soul and rock musicians who all died at the age of 27, often due to a self-destructive streak. Johnson is said to have seduced a married woman and been poisoned by her jealous husband. The exceptional guitarist earned his money at times on the Dockery Plantation. Another blues legend, Charley Patton (1891-1934, e.g. ‘Pony Blues’), worked there for three decades, as did many other Americans with African roots.
The cotton plantation, covering more than 10,000 hectares, was one of the largest and most successful on the Sunflower River and is considered the birthplace of the blues. Today, the cotton farm near Cleveland, founded in 1895, is a freely accessible open-air museum and a place of pilgrimage for blues fans. Between the mighty barns used to store the bales and the cotton gin machinery that separated the fibres from the seeds, you feel as if you have travelled back in time, brought to life by audio stations with history and blues music.
And finally: a visit to the GRAMMY Museum Mississippi in Cleveland, the only other one besides the famous main building in Los Angeles. Why here of all places? No other state has had more nominees for the Oscar of music than Mississippi. On the tour, you can admire Taylor Swift's spectacular red carpet outfits and meet B.B. King again, who once said: ‘The blues are the three L's – living, loving and hopefully laughing.’
Then it's back to Memphis, Tennessee, and before flying home, a visit to the cool B.B. King Club on Beale Street – for living, loving and laughing.
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- A shabby place on the outside, but great concerts and a fantastic atmosphere on the inside: Morgan Freeman’s Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale.
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- One of three alleged graves: Blues legend Robert Johnson is said to be buried at Little Zion Church outside Greenwood.
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- Just like in “Gone with the Wind”: plantation owners still live in magnificent Southern mansions like this one in Greenwood, which is home to Whittington Farm. It was used as a filming location for the feature film “The Help” and was the home of the main character Skeeter (played by Emma Stone).
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- Das GRAMMY Museum Mississippi in Cleveland
The trip was supported by Visit Mississippi.
Further information:
www.mississippi-reisen.de
Best time to travel: In autumn for the cotton harvest or in spring for the magnolia blossoms
Getting there: For example, fly with United Airlines from Frankfurt, Berlin or Munich via Chicago, Houston or Newark to Memphis. From there, hire a car and drive south.
Accommodation:
Indianola: best hotel in town, functional, clean rooms: Hampton Inn Indianola, double room with breakfast from approx. 170 US dollars
Greenwood: very nice hotel in the heart of the city, charming rooms with marble bathrooms: The Alluvian, double room from approx. 230 US dollars.
Outside Greenwood, surrounded by fields: rustic, simple cabins with authentic Southern flair for self-caterers: Tallahatchie Flats, overnight stay in a cabin for 4 people from approx. 110 US dollars.
Clarksdale: in the middle of town, a few minutes' walk from the Ground Zero Blues Club in a renovated old brick building, bar only, no breakfast, modern, simple rooms: Travelers Hotel, double room from approx. $230
Excursions and tours:
Canoe tour: guided by Quapaw Canoe Company on the Mississippi
Information: www.island63.com
Photocredit: Petra Kirsch (15)
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- In spring, the many magnolia trees are covered with delicately scented blossoms. The state is also known as the Magnolia State.
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- Cotton in bales – ready for export or further processing. Cotton cultivation has declined sharply, with competition from Asia producing more cheaply.
