On Practicing Guitar

After we returned from Avalon, we stopped off at Hick’s Tamales & Barbeque in Clarksdale, where Bill Clinton was known to feed his prodigious appetite on occasion. The atmosphere was rather dismal but the tamales were indeed excellent. We then checked into the Delta Cotton Company, a lovely pension-style hotel above the Ground Zero Blues Club.

I had wanted to experience the Mississippi River up close and personal, so with a few free hours before the show at Ground Zero that night, we set off with directions from the local Firestone Service Center for Friars Point, the only place along the river in Coahoma County with public access to the shore.

A slightly scary attempt at crossing over the levy on a gravel road led us back to the shore road, where we spotted a very friendly policeman who offered to show us the perfect spot for viewing the river (top photo). Later, we happened upon the historical marker for legendary guitarist Robert Nighthawk, who spent a lot of time in Friars Point.

Barely turning around to check out a post office about seventy five yards down the street, I came upon a marker for Conway Twitty, who was born in Friars Point. It made me realize how thick with talent the state of Mississippi is, and how much fun a further investigation would be, just following the Mississippi Blues Trail.

That night, we went down to the Ground Zero, which is partly owned by Morgan Freeman, to catch David Dunavent and the Evol Love Band. The club was barely half full on a Wednesday night but still a great venue. Dunavent is a solid singer and guitarist but the rhythm section seemed to be more in a subdued fusion vein. However, it was the first time that I noticed an arranging idea that I would see more of in Nashville and later recognize on the radio when I returned to New York. The technique is to graft together themes from different songs and even artists, for example a Hendrix riff spliced onto the front end of a Santana song, with the sequence repeated later. This struck me as a product of the hip-hop era. All in all, it was a full day of music, sight-seeing and barbeque.