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EXPERIENCE CLARKSDALE

Our recommendations for a day (or week!)
in one of the coolest cities in Mississippi.

This is where WE hang out, and bring our friends when they visit...

Take me with you:  

Save our Google map to your phone or laptop for recommendations on the go.

Choose your own adventure.

If you only have a few hours in town...

slow down, city slickers!  And stay a while.  Embrace "Delta Time."

If you can't, then here are THE classic local places we recommend.

Some Delta small businesses have inconsistent hours.  Here's what you can plan your trip around:

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For this week's music calendar, see www.cathead.biz/music-calendar

So many options!  Scroll through a

VIRTUAL TOUR

Weekly Calendar

LIVE MUSIC

Live Music

Open:  Monday happy hour (6pm music), and most weekend nights

Order:  snack on James' home cookin' with plenty beer to wash it down

Hopson Commisary

Hopson is a local hangout, especially at happy hour on Mondays when there's live music and James the owner cooks whatever he feels like for everyone, free.

This is the commissary for the plantation where they first trialed the International Harvester, which revolutionized mechanized farming.  If you see James, ask him to tell you more about the history of his family and the place.

You'll also find local legend Robert Birdsong working behind the bar.  He grew up on Clark St and has stories to tell.  He leads historic tours during our festival season, but sidle up to the bar and he may regale you for the price of a beer or two.

Hopson is also just a super, super cool space.

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Open:  Monday dinner (8pm music), Saturday & Sunday blues brunch (11am music)

Order:  Lovingly home-cooked Southern & Italian meals

Bluesberry Cafe

Owned by Art & Carol Crivaro, Bluesberry and Roger Stolle are partially responsible for Clarksdale's downtown revitalization: Roger noticed Cat Head's customers road-tripping to/from Memphis and New Orleans weekends, with nowhere to go on Mondays.  Art & Carol were game to try an experiment at Bluesberry, with the help of local blues musician Sean "Bad" Apple.  They joke that for the first few weeks, it was only Sean and Art, playing for each other.  After a few weeks they finally got a customer.  Then another.  Word spread, and roadtrippers through the Delta came to learn that on Mondays, there was now somewhere to go.  That was the genesis of Clarksdale's "Live Blues, 365 Nights a Year."

You can still find live blues at BluesBerry every Monday night.  You'll meet visitors and blues fans from around the world, who sometimes bring flags to show the love.  Art will tell you about visitors like Paul Simon and xx, and Carol may chime in with wisecracks from behind the brim of her blinged-out I'M THE BOSS rhinestone hat.  Also serving may be Maxine, who's sweet as Mississippi sugar -- and when he's not touring cross-country or playing on the Bluesberry stage, you may even get a coffee refill from Watermelon Slim himself.

#souvenir #protip: If you're inspired by the Jack Daniels soap dispenser in the bathroom, note the liquor bottle lamps on every table are for sale and handmade locally by Keith.

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Hopeless Case Bar Open:  Tuesday (8pm music), some weekends

Art Gallery Open: x

Order:  souvenirs signed by the artist

Hambone Art & Music

Artist and bluesman Stan Street was the next partner in making 365 nights of live blues a reality.  His art gallery now includes a full stage inside, an aptly named Hopeless Case bar, and an assortment of couches and tables occupied by tourists and locals alike.  You can hear live music there many weekends, but every Tuesday night it's guaranteed to be live blues.  Stan organizes a stage at the Portland Blues Festival every July 4th weekend, and does annual tours of Europe and elsewhere.  If you miss him, you'll still get to meet local musician Doug or friends Debbie and Ron tending bar.  If he's here, you can book a Shared Experience with Stan treating you to the behind-the-scenes Delta blues stories and reflections he shares when speaking on panels across the country.  He also walks groups through blues musical structure, inviting you on stage and building a song together.  If you're more artistically inclined, you're invited to a Wine & Paint experience (wine optional) in Stan's own personal studio in the back of the gallery.  Stan also does the paintings for the Juke Joint Festival posters.  

#souvenir #protip:  Hambone exhibits works by a variety of artists.  Stan's pieces cover a range of price points.  Buy one and you can get it hand-signed by the artist himself.

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Open: Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays (check schedule for time)

Order:  beer

Red's Juke Joint

Red's text goes here

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Open: Wednesday through Saturday nights live music (check schedule)

Open: Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner

Order:  classic Southern lunch and dinner -- lunch plates, tamales & fried catfish galore

Ground Zero Blues Club

Ground Zero is co-owned by Morgan Freeman but the real stars here are the blues musicians...and sometimes, you!  Every Thursday is Jam Night, when visitors and locals alike are invited onstage to jam with the best of them.

Great for groups of all sizes (tho let us help you call ahead if you're 10+!), they serve a solid plate lunch and all your Delta classics.

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Open: Weekends

Order:  mediocre food

Other Live Music

Levon's

Stone Pony

Shack Up Inn

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