Delta Blues | Oxford | Cat Head | Charleston | Ruleville

If You Go

What to Know: The tour is conducted as a part of the annual Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, held this year from July 18 to 22. For more information on the conference, visit http://outreach.olemiss.edu/events/faulkner/. Cost of the conference is $275 prior to July 1, then $300 after that date. The tour is an additional $95. To drive the tour yourself, follow the guide below and check in with the good people at Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art (662-624-5992, www.cathead.biz), who sell folk art, books, and recordings of Delta Blues in Clarksdale.

TOUR ESSENTIALS
Total mileage: 214 miles

Start:

Oxford to Charleston (48 miles)

Charleston to Avalon (30 miles)
Home of legendary bluesman Mississippi John Hurt

Avalon to Money (9 miles)
Stop at a church in Cedar Grove en route; stop in Money at the ruins of Bryant’s Grocery, where Emmett Till was murdered

Money to Ruleville (26 miles)
Visit Fannie Lou Hamer’s grave

Ruleville to Drew (6 miles)
Home of the Staple Singers

Drew to Tutwiler (16 miles)
Stop at the town railroad station; visit Sonny Boy Williamson’s grave

Tutwiler to Clarksdale (16 miles)
Stop at the Rest Haven diner, the Riverside Hotel, the Delta Blues Museum, and Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art

Clarksdale to Oxford (63 miles)

End.