[The last leg of our road trip and my final holiday post. The return to reality looms…] West Point West Point is the home town of Howlin’ Wolf, a man with a voice rougher than sandpaper and more menacing than an old shotgun. He was a great singer but also had the good sense to work with a brilliant […]

[This is the penultimate stage of my holiday posting. Back to normal in a couple of days…] The Grand Ole Opry The Grand Ole Opry is both a Southern institution and a slick money-making operation. Where once it had been situated in the famous Ryman auditorium in downtown Nashille, now it is in “Opryland”, which is […]

(This is the latest in a series of holiday postings. Back to normal business soon.) Sun Studio–Whole Lotta Shakin’ Sun Studio must be the most famous recording studio in music. I have seen it on countless documentaries and so it felt slightly surreal to be driving up to that famous yellow guitar on the corner.  It […]

Note: I am still on holiday and so not posting about anything financial. I will be back on-topic shortly. Clarksdale–mecca of the blues And so our rented 4×4 finally rolls onto the hallowed ground of Clarksdale. This smallish town is to music what Tabasco is to food: small but delivering of a mighty punch. It has been birthplace or home to […]

Note: This post is the latest in a series of my holiday to the US. Worry not – I will be back on-topic shortly. Leland Leland is home to the Highway 61 Blues Museum. It is also, we discovered, the birth place of Jim Henson, creator of that talking frog. Noticing a small, quirky looking museum […]

Warning: Still on holiday and so still off-topic. Vicksburg Vicksburg has a strong whiff of picture postcard tourism about it. A woman in one of the shops summed this up when, after I said something complimentary, she replied “Well, after you’ve seen it once…” She then went on to talk–at great length–about the casinos in the neighbourhood and the […]

Warning: I am temporarily going off topic. Please vacate the building if you do not like: Louisiana Jazz Jambalaya I am going hijack my own blog here (try stopping me) to post an update for friends/family on my current whereabouts. It is holiday time and we have embarked on what–for me–is a musical pilgrimmage to the land […]