Musical Interlude: Delta Blues Festival

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Why Fact-Checkers Drink: According to lore, this is the crossroads in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where blues legend Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for a total mastery of the guitar.Why Fact-Checkers Drink: According to lore, blues legend Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at this crossroads in Clarksdale, in exchange for a total mastery of the guitar. Or maybe, as the gentleman in front of Church’s Chicken insisted, it was the crossroads a little further up the way. Or maybe, as some say, Johnson never went to any crossroads at all. Or maybe he did, only to discover that there was no Devil to sell his soul to anyway. Or maybe it was all just an elaborate metaphor (Photo: Tim Murphy).Clarksdale, Mississippi—In the rare moments when we’re not battling wildlife and evading the revenuers, we do try to have a little bit of fun on this trip. So last weekend, we took a detour through the Delta to catch a little bit of the (free!) Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival in Clarksdale.

Anyway, here’s Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm:

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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