Southern Belle Magazine Digital #02 August 2013 | Page 7

Fo l l o w t h e Tr a i l a n d D i s c o v e r t h e B l u e s
by Shaun Williams

Dedication of the W.C.Handy Blues Trail Marker in Tutwiler, MS. W.C. Handy is known as the “Father of The Blues” for good reason. In 1903 Handy heard a guitarist at the Tutwiler playing slide guitar and singing a blues song that Handy adapted as his own “Yellow Dog Blues.”

The “Birthplace of The Blues,” Dockery Farms, Dockery, MS. Although impossible to pinpoint a spot to call the literal birthplace of the blues, it is widely regarded that the plantation at Dockery Farms was one of the main sources for the blues in Mississippi. Bordering the Sunflower River, for almost three decades Charley Patton called Dockery Farms his home. The influence of blues artists from the music created her is still being felt today.