River Musings
If music from the likes of Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis and Elvis Presley is your jam, it’s time to groove down the world’s most musical river.
WORDS Caroline Gladstone
Rivers have always held a certain fascination. People love to explore them, settle by them, watch them flow and weave them into songs and stories. But none has the immense appeal of America’s mighty Mississippi River. A force of nature, at 3780 km long and 18 kilometres at its widest point, it courses through 10 states from Minnesota to Louisiana.
Song writers have mined it for its full gamut of emotions, from pain and suffering in Ol’ Man River, to solace and refuge in the spiritual Down by the Riverside, while Proud Mary evokes the freedom of hitching a ride on a steamboat queen.
Historically, the river not only inspired songs, but transported the music from one town to another, where it was often embellished before moving on to the next.
The fertile Mississippi Delta, with its vast cotton plantations worked by enslaved African Americans in the mid-19th century, was a rich source of early blues, the soulful songs laced with notions of hardship and struggle.
The arrival of steamboats in the 1820s meant faster transport for cotton and export goods, heralding a new era of pleasure-boat travel and new musical influences. Well-heeled passengers, gamblers and fortune seekers travelled along the river on hundreds of vessels, which provided work for ragtime and jazz entertainers, who took their music far and wide.
Today, American Queen Voyage vessels follow in their wake, calling at vibrant Mississippi towns that revel in their musical heritage. If you’re looking to get into the groove – no matter your musical tastes – these are the famous music towns you should explore.
NEW ORLEANS
It’s not surprising that the Big Easy developed as a cultural melting pot with music in its DNA. Settled by French and Spanish and then sold by Napoleon to the Americans, the town on the crescent of the Mississippi has been home to French-speaking Creoles, African Americans and European immigrants. In the early 19th century, New Orleans became the South’s richest port and America’s largest slave-trading market. Jazz had its origins in Congo Square, where free and enslaved African Americans gathered to celebrate their heritage through drumming and dance. These rhythms, mixed with European harmonies and doses of ragtime and blues, evolved into jazz, which both Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton claimed to have invented. Whatever the truth, New Orleans produced a pantheon of talent, including its famous son, Louis Armstrong. The New Orleans Jazz Museum contains a vault of stories, while Frenchmen Street jazz clubs and Bourbon Street buskers provide the tunes night and day.
BATON ROUGE
Louisiana’s capital or the ‘Red Stick’ is a blues town – swamp blues to be precise, a style that originated in the 1950s. Chief proponents, with catchy monikers like Slim Harpo, Lightnin’ Slim and Lazy Lester, set the music scene on fire and influenced The Rolling Stones and ‘British Invasion’ bands a decade later. The city’s long-running blues festival takes place every April, but great music venues operate year-round, including Teddy’s Juke Joint and Buddy Stewart’s Memorial Music Foundation & Rhythm Museum – an old-fashioned record store and museum.
GREENVILLE
Deep in the Mississippi Delta, Greenville was the epicentre of blues music from the 1920s to the 60s, when Nelson Street vied with Memphis’ Beale Street for the highest number of blues clubs and juke joints. Although the music culture faded, its history and heroes are remembered with eight markers along the famous Blues Trail. Things are still pumping in Indianola, an hour away, where a gospel choir greets visitors at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Centre. Located at a former cotton gin where the orphaned King worked as a teenager, the museum traces the life and career of the man dubbed King of the Blues. Look out for “Lucille” a copy of one of his famous guitars, at the entrance of the museum, and also the reopening of Club Ebony, one the South’s most important African American nightclubs. King purchased the venue in 2008, subsequently transferring its ownership to the museum to ensure its preservation.
MEMPHIS
Any visit to Memphis, considered the holy grail of music aficionados, should start and end with “The King”. Head to Sun Studio, where DJ Sam Phillips nurtured a wealth of emerging talent and recorded Elvis’s first track, That’s Alright Mama, in 1954. Brush up on the struggles of Black musicians at the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum, and visit Stax Museum of American Soul Music, located in the recording studio that produced hit records from artists including Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes. Blues music is on tap at a dozen clubs along Beale Street and the Blues Hall of Fame, and set aside at least half a day for a pilgrimage to Graceland, Elvis’ ornate home and final resting place.
ST LOUIS AND ALTON
Although located just 30 minutes apart, St Louis on the left side of the river, and Alton on the right, are in different states – Missouri and Illinois, respectively. Alton-born Miles Davis, considered jazz music’s greatest trumpeter, moved to St Louis with his family in the 1930s, as did many famous musicians of the day. He is one of 150 brass stars in the city’s Walk of Fame on Lamar Boulevard, together with Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, Albert King and Scott Joplin. A little further up Lamar is Joplin’s former home, now a museum, where visitors are greeted with his ragtime hits, The Entertainer and Maple Leaf Rag, blasting from a pianola in the living room. St Louis offers year-round performances at the Jazz of St Louis centre, and concerts and exhibitions at the National Blues Museum, the latter just a stroll from the iconic St Louis Gateway Arch.
Music onboard the American Queen steamboat
There’s little chance of an early night on the Lower Mississippi New Orleans to Memphis cruise. The resident band starts around 9.30pm; masters of rock and blues, the band’s repertoire is as long as the river, and be assured Proud Mary is always on the bill.
If late nights are not your thing, there’s plenty of music around the boat in a variety of bars from mid-afternoon. Resident band the Steamboat Syncopators pop up with Dixie and Jazz standards in different locations. They also play each night during the big ‘show’. Held in the beautifully ornate Grand Saloon, the shows have a different theme each night: Southern Celebration with the best music from the South; Broadway Musical numbers; and Motown Hits are likely to feature. And here’s a tip – if Banjomania, starring multi-instrumentalist Will Kiefer, is scheduled, don’t miss it.
Long-time pianist Phil Westbrook, who’s been tickling the ivories up and down the Mississippi for 33 years, offers smooth tunes and sometimes singalongs in the Captain’s Bar before and after dinner.
Settle in on Sunday for a change of space and a chance to reflect at the non-denominational devotional service, where Westbrook plays gospel, spirituals and much-loved hymns.
American Queen Voyages
Cruise along the Lower Mississippi River aboard an American Queen Voyages vessel. Starting from $4,195 all-inclusive pp, there will be no shortage of music on or off board. Order a free copy of the American Queen Voyages 2024 flagship brochure or call the dedicated Australian team on 1800 076 290 to learn more.