Eat Drink Delta: A Hungry Traveler's Journey through the Soul of the South

9. Sunflower County: Homegrown Legends

181 6 9 sunflower county Homegrown Legends Sunflower County is the longest county in Mississippi, a narrow, fifty-sixmile swath of flatland as deep into the Delta as you can go. Drive it top to bottom and you can view every archetypal snapshot of the region from your car window. Cotton, corn, soybeans, rice, and catfish all grow in abundance. Flocks of waterfowl fly over the Sunflower River. Rickety old railroad tracks, both traveled and long-abandoned, connect active communities to what amount to ghost towns. Big names sprang from these small towns. Blues master B. B. King, football superstar Archie Manning, and culinary icon Craig Claiborne all have childhood ties to Sunflower County. In Ruleville, the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial Garden honors the outspoken civil rights leader and native daughter with a grave marker inscribed with her most famous line: “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” The seeds of Delta blues took root and flourished here. Dockery Plantation, between Cleveland and Ruleville, attracts blues fans who come to feel the ghosts of Charley Patton, Howlin’ Wolf, and other greats who chopped cotton and made music on its ten thousand acres of cotton fields. At the northern end of the county is Mississippi State Penitentiary 182 Sunflower County at Parchman, where chain-gang chants gave rise to the sounds that would define the region. A Blues Trail marker across from the gates now awaits photo ops. It acknowledges the works of former inmates, including R. L. Burnside and Booker “Bukka” White, who recorded “Parchman Prison Blues” and gave his cousin, B. B. King, his first guitar. Riley B. King was born September 16, 1925, near Itta Bena in Leflore County. After the death of his mother, he eventually came to live with his father in Indianola, the county seat of Sunflower County. As a teenager, he chopped cotton and drove a tractor before hitchhiking to Memphis, where he changed his name to B. B. for “Beale Street Blues Boy.” Yet the Blues Hall of Famer and multi–Grammy Award winner has remained a tireless booster for Indianola, as well as the entire Delta. At least once a year for three decades, King has returned to the town to perform a benefit concert . In 2008, that homecoming celebration included the unveiling of the twenty-thousand-square-foot, $14 million B. B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center. Indeed, the blues legend’s presence in Indianola is inescapable. His image is plastered on billboards and cast in bronze in a park that bears his name. He looks down from a huge mural painted on the side of a downtown building . His footprints and handprints are impressed in a sidewalk. A Blues Trail marker commemorates the street corner where he performed in his youth for pocket change. And just as the museum has immortalized Indianola’s history and music heritage, the area’s eateries are doing their part to preserve its foodways. You can eat and drink well, in settings that won’t let you forget where you are—especially if take you take your time getting there. Y Club Ebony. 404 Hanna Street. 662-887-2264; 662-887-9915. Long before Indianola had the B. B. King Museum, it had Club Ebony. Shaded by old oaks in a residential neighborhood, this simple A-frame building has been a magnet for musicians and blues disciples since 1945. A Blues Trail marker standing beside the massive barbecue smoker in front ticks off an impressive list of celebrities who have graced its stage: Ray Charles, Count Basie, James Brown, Denise LaSalle, Ike Turner. B. B. King is not only an occasional performer; he bought the place in 2008 in a bid to ensure its legacy. King had countless times performed at Club Ebony—part of the network of black clubs known as the “chitlin circuit” —over the years. Sunflower County 183 Call ahead to see if there’s live music in the offing (performances are sporadic), but in any case you can order food Thursday through Saturday nights. Locals rave about the deep-fried pork chops. Or you can just grab a beer or a cocktail at the bar—otherwise known as the “Well of Perfection”— and bask in the vibe. Y Pea-Soup’s Lott-A-Freeze (aka Pea Soup Lott’s). 809 Highway 82 West. 662-887-1544. “Pea Soup” was the nickname a local high school...