I never reached Po’ Monkey’s, but I did reach a few other shrines of the Delta blues, including Leon’s Juk (spelling is correct and rhymes with yuk) just off the Blues Highway, U.S. 61, at Panther Burn.
That hamlet in southern Washington County was the home of Leon Dixon, a juk owner and legendary tractor driver on the McGee and Dean farm, where the soil is as fertile as in the Nile Valley.
I reached Edward’s BBQ Inn on U.S. 51 in southern Pike County, where the blues and pork ribs reigned on Sunday afternoons of my adolescence. My comrades and I would join the Baertown locals for cold adult beverages and toe-tapping. We were not square dancing, either. (At my advanced age, I feel freer to divulge some previous unmentionables of my life’s journey.)
Farther south on 51 at Magnolia, one of my best buds and I first encountered the Delta blues at a drive-in whose jukebox played nothing but that music. No Elvis, no Beach Boys, no Beatles, just Delta blues.
We were introduced to the blues by Robert Johnson, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, the Staples Sisters, Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Mississippi Matilda, Scott Dunbar, Son House, Son Thomas, Dorothy Moore, Howlin’ Wolf and other Mississippians who delivered the genre to the world.
The blues put Mississippi on the map, and that’s why we must save Po’ Monkey’s at Merigold, the renowned juke joint that also was the late proprietor Willie Seaberry’s home.
There is a move afoot to move the fabled juke joint to the prestigious Grammy Museum in Cleveland. It must be saved for the sake of the blues, for art, for Mississippi and for Mr. Seaberry.
It can be done. The Rhinestone Cowboy’s house on the edges of Pike and Amite counties, instead of being razed, was moved to a Wisconsin arts center for display to the world, and it wasn’t in much better shape, if any, than Po’ Monkey’s.
The Rhinestone Cowboy, born Loy Allen Bowlin, was better known as “Rhinestone” because tiny, colorful gems were implanted into his teeth and covered every inch of his existence, including his home’s wall and ceiling space.
Myriad entities are working to preserve Mississippi’s history as the “Birthplace of America’s Music” as advertised by state government and various cultural arts-aligned organizations. Even storied crooner Frank Sinatra sang about the blues. Surely Ol’ Blue Eyes understood that Mississippi is where it started.
Sidebar: Congratulations to Castro Coleman of McComb, who performs the blues all over the world as “Mr. Sipp.” A Mississippi Blues Trail historical marker in his honor was recently planted in McComb. The trail is a collection of some 200 markers and locations citing the music’s import.
Whoever heard of a utility naming a facility for a music genre? Entergy Mississippi has done just that by naming its new $1.2 billion, 750-megawatt unit in Greenville the “Delta Blues Advanced Power Station.” Thank you, Entergy.
Don’t forget Columbus newspaperman Birney Imes’ beautiful 2012 book, “Juke Joint,” still available.
Merry Christmas to the Blues.
