In 1941, John Work and Alan Lomax made the first recordings of Muddy Waters (i.e., McKinley Morganfield) on Stovall Plantation outside of Clarksdale. The site of Muddy’s cabin is marked by a blues trail marker and a holy place to tip your glass and toast something very special.

Inside The Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale rests the actual cabin of Muddy while he lived on Stovall. It’s decorated with Muddy (himself in wax) and cool Muddy-ana.

The Delta Blues Museum has accumulated a broad array of blues artifacts in a very comfortable setting. Music dress suits from performances, instruments, photos and blues history abound in this wonderful place to spend an afternoon. Our pal, Shelley, has done a fine job of making this museum alive and comfortable.

The Delta Blues Museum is not just about artifacts of the past but the home of the today’s blues. The well-designed music stage hosts music events and the Sunflower Music Festival in August as the blues of 2010 lives on.

Click here to read about the studies of John Work and his notes and photographs of Muddy Waters during the 1940s.

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