Featured Image: Visit Ripley
There’s a small town in north Mississippi you might not have heard of. And then, there’s an alley in that town that’s worth the trip alone.
Behind Stella Boutique on West Walnut Street in historic downtown Ripley, Mississippi, are 10 of the most important names in American roots music that look down at you from the walls: Jessie Mae Hemphill, Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside, T-Model Ford, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Cedric Burnside, Garry Burnside, Lil Joe Ayers, Kenny Brown, and Otha Turner.
Jackson muralist Sam Ryan Ingram painted most of them, with Kenny Brown painted by Annie Simpson Rivers. Each is grandiose and colorful, surrounded by guitar installations, painted lyrics, string lights, and seating so you can sit down and stay a while. This stunning—and significant—public art space is affectionately known as Blues Alley.
To understand why it exists and why here, let’s back up to a lesson in Hill Country Blues. Where does it come from? Right here, in the red clay hills of North Mississippi, where Ripley lives.
Hill Country Blues is a style distinct from Delta Blues. Music scholars trace it back to West African percussion and pre-Civil War fife-and-drum traditions, but what it evolved into over generations of juke joints, house parties, and Saturday-afternoon picnics sounds like a genre all its own.
And the artists on the walls of Blues Alley represent some of Hill Country Blues bests. These artists hail from the surrounding area and, thanks to the Ripley Main Street Association, are now memorialized in a way that draws visitors from all over to honor them.
The alley itself has a storied history of its own. During Prohibition, this stretch of downtown was believed to be home to a popular speakeasy, and nearby Gus Brown’s Café was a hub for the local African American community.
If you need a reason to plan around a visit, the aptly named Burnside Music Festival takes place annually in early June. Born in 1926 in the red clay hills beyond Ripley, R.L. Burnside played juke joints and house parties for most of his life before a late-career surge brought him international recognition. This year’s festival celebrates what would’ve been Burnside’s 100th birthday. The annual festival in his honor includes plenty of live blues music, a barbecue rib cookoff, food trucks, and arts and crafts vendors.
Learn more about this year’s festival at burnsidemusicfest.com.
Find more Southern travel inspiration here.
This article is presented in partnership by Visit Ripley.
