“HIGHWAY 61 BLUES”
Highway 61, known as the “blues highway,” rivals Route 66 as the most famous road in American Music lore. Among the dozens of blues artists who recorded songs about Highway 61 were Mississippians Sunnyland Slim, James “Son” Thomas, David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Big Joe Williams, Joe McCoy, Charlie Musselwhite, Johnny Young, Eddie Burns, Blind Mississippi Morris and Mississippi Fred McDowell. The road was also celebrated by Bob Dylan via his influential album “Highway 61 Revisited.” Highway 61, which ran from downtown New Orleans to the Canadian border, was a major route for Southerners migrating to northern cities. Although many blues songs by Mississippi artists suggested that it led to Chicago or New York, the route actually ran through cities including Baton Rouge, Memphis, St. Louis, Davenport, Ohio, and St. Paul Minnesota.
