King Cotton

The sun is as yellow as a daffodil floating in a sea of blue. From high above, it reaches down to warm a vast expanse of smoky-black earth that smells like river. The cotton is flourishing — clear-to-the-horizon fields of it are broken by groves of pecan trees, whispering to each other in a rustle of leaves. And though you can't see Old Man hidden behind the levee, you can feel his presence--the twisting, turning, mighty, muddy presence of the Mississippi River. -Valerie Fraser Luesse, Delta Journal

I wish they'd had electric guitars in cotton fields back in the good old days. A whole lot of things would've been straightened out. ~jimi hendrix

Cotton is a major crop in Mississippi. It ranks third behind poultry and forestry in state commodities with $598 million dollars of revenue produced each year.
Mississippi producers plant approximately 1.1 million acres of cotton annually. This number seems to fluctuates depending on weather, price of production and current commodity markets.

I was influenced a lot by those around me - there was a lot of singing that went on in the cotton fields. ~willie nelson

Cotton remained a key crop in the Southern economy after emancipation and the end of the Civil War in 1865. Across the South, sharecropping evolved, in which free black farmers and landless white farmers worked on white-owned cotton plantations of the wealthy in return for a share of the profits. Cotton plantations required vast labor forces to hand-pick cotton, and it was not until the 1950s that reliable harvesting machinery was introduced into the South (prior to this, cotton-harvesting machinery had been too clumsy to pick cotton without shredding the fibers).

When I was a little bitty baby
My mama would rock me in the cradle,
In them old cotton fields back home;
Oh, when them cotton bolls get rotten
You can’t pick very much cotton,
In them old cotton fields back home.
~LeadBelly

I was a typical farm boy. I liked the farm. I enjoyed the things that you do on a farm, go down to the drainage ditch and fish, and look at the crawfish and pick a little cotton. ~sam donaldson

From the time of its gaining statehood in 1817 to 1860, Mississippi became the most dynamic and largest cotton-producing state in America.

After all those days in the cotton fields, the dreams came true on a gold record on a piece of wood. It's in my den where I can look at it every day. I wear it out lookin' at it. ~carl perkins

Delta Backroads

"knows the cure is to go buzzing around these delta backroads with my camera, a cold beverage, and pandora on the airwaves. come on cooler weather. please."

i posted this as my status on facebook earlier today. and there's no truer statement. i've gone down delta backroads many a time to cure what ails me. and the rare times i couldn't be fixed, the ride sure made me better than i was.

riding the roads of the delta is something i've done near daily for the past 49 years. the ride is a ritual. it is in my blood. not sure that i could exist without riding delta backroads. i can do it solo or with a loved one. i've just got to do it.

i hear so many comments from those visiting the delta for the first time about how flat and vast the land is. many think that what they see is the way the delta has always looked. definitely not so. many, many changes have taken place. wish i could print the picture i see in my mind so they could see how it was when i was just a small girl. seems you could just look out and see flat land for days.

i've watched the cycles of planting and harvesting in the fields. depending on the time of year, the view is either lush spreads of green, solid fields of white, or barren winter brown. i've seen the delta land go from being dusty, bone-dry, and thirsting for rain to later covered over with water from the melting northern rivers and flashfloods.

i've seen tenant shacks, massive barns, grain elevators, beautiful old homes, backroads, and hundreds of acres of cropland vanish before my eyes and replaced with massive monster-like casinos, shopping centers, hotels, parking lots, and subdivisions. Not to mention miles and miles of highway.

i've deeply expanded my appreciation of music because of my delta backroad trips. remember that music is definitely an intregal part of any delta backroad trip. i've gone from having just AM radio, to FM radio, 8 tracks, cassettes, cds, satellite, and currently my favorite, pandora. just as the scenery changes on every backroad trip, so should the musical background.

i've traveled delta backroads both as a passenger and as the navigator. and i must say i favor being the navigator. navigating is my cup of tea. especially when i don't know where i'm going. on really good trips, there is no dictation of direction. and usually, no road goes the same place twice. for sure, no matter where i go or how far, i always find my way home.

if you happen to visit the mississippi delta, come on down to clarksdale, my hometown, and treat yourself to a ride on one of my delta backroads. i'm sure it'll cure what ails you. so come on and ride those blues away.

and remember, all delta backroad trips are guaranteed memorable adventures!

{all photographs taken by me during my backroad ventures}

Gotta Start Somewhere!

There's no place like home. My home, Clarksdale, Mississippi. Coahoma County. The Delta.

No where else I'd rather be. I love it here. The good, the bad, and the ugly. The new, the old, and the in-between.

We still have several life-long residents here. We have also had many transplants to join us. And our number of visitors grows daily.

It's a mystical, musical, and magical place. No where on earth like it! No place like home!

And, the intent of this blog is to share stories of Clarksdale, my home, with you.