Celebrating the Legacy of the Blues Highway U.S. Route 61 and the Mississippi Blues Trail

Celebrating the Legacy of the Blues Highway U.S. Route 61 and the Mississippi Blues Trail

By lwilliams@semourbanvoices.com - November 24, 2025

Cape Girardeau, MO –
They call it The Blues Highway — that long stretch of U.S. Route 61 running from New Orleans to Minnesota — but for many along the lower Mississippi and into Southeast Missouri, it’s more than just a ribbon of asphalt. It’s a living archive of sound, struggle, and soul, carrying the echoes of guitars, harmonicas, and heartache that helped define American music.
This fall, communities across Mississippi and neighboring states have joined in a renewed celebration of the Mississippi Blues Trail, an ambitious historical effort honoring the artists, venues, and crossroads that gave birth to the blues. Dozens of new markers now line the route, each one telling a story of resilience and creativity — from Clarksdale’s legendary crossroads to the backroads of the Missouri Bootheel.

A Musical Roadmap Through Time
The Mississippi Blues Trail was launched by the Mississippi Blues Commission in 2006 to preserve the state’s deep cultural history. Today, more than 200 markers stretch along U.S. 61 and beyond, tracing the roots of Delta music from plantations and juke joints to the stages of Chicago, Memphis, and St. Louis. Each plaque bears witness to a unique chapter in America’s Black musical journey.

But the music didn’t stop at the Mississippi line. U.S. 61 climbs northward through the fertile soil of Southeast Missouri — the so-called Bootheel — where blues and gospel mingled with early rock and rhythm and blues. These towns, small though they were, helped carry the sound northward and provided performance stops for both local musicians and traveling stars.

Sunnyland Slim

Southeast Missouri: The Blues’ Northern Echo
While the Delta is often celebrated as the blues’ birthplace, the Bootheel was one of its favorite haunts. In the 1920s, blues pianist Sunnyland Slim — born Albert Luandrew — is said to have played with Ma Rainey in Portageville, performing at what locals remembered as “lively joints” in Caruthersville, New Madrid, and Sikeston.
By the 1950s, the tradition was alive and electric. Oral histories from Hayti recall legendary shows where B.B. King, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and Ike and Tina Turner performed for local proms, baseball games, and outdoor picnics. For the region’s African American communities, these weren’t just concerts — they were cultural milestones, moments of collective joy during a time when segregation kept stages and audiences divided.

From Sikeston to the World
Among the Bootheel’s homegrown bluesmen stands Billy Gayles, born Willie James Gayles in Sikeston, Missouri in 1931. Gayles became drummer and vocalist for Ike Turner’s Kings of Rhythm, touring nationally and recording for Flair and Federal Records. His powerful voice and rhythmic drive helped shape early R&B — and his success proved that great music could come from anywhere, even a small town in Southeast Missouri.
Not far away in Hayti, another son of the Bootheel, Bob Stroger, was born in 1930. He went on to play bass with Chicago greats like Otis Rush, Louis Myers, and Eddie King, earning recognition as one of the most respected sidemen in the blues. Decades later, Stroger would receive the Blues Music Award for Best Bassist, a tribute to a lifetime that began in the same Missouri flatlands that nurtured Gayles.

Snooky Pryor

Cape Girardeau’s Blues Connection
Further north, Cape Girardeau served as a crossroads between Memphis, St. Louis, and the southern Illinois circuit. In his later years, blues harmonica legend Snooky Pryor — known for his amplified harmonica and wartime swagger — he resided in Ullin, Illinois near Cape Girardeau, where he passed away in 2006 at the age of 85. His life brought the story full circle: a Delta-born musician finding peace along the banks of the Mississippi, the same river that once carried him north to fame.

blues band playing at juke joint smoke hazy dancing vintage photograph nightclub 19s

The Blues Highway Lives On
Today, festivals, road tours, and cultural institutions across Mississippi continue to keep the story of U.S. 61 alive. For travelers tracing the route, the Mississippi Blues Trail markers serve not only as historical signposts but as invitations — to listen, to remember, and to recognize how this music continues to shape identity and community.
In Southeast Missouri, the spirit of the blues is still present — in the gospel choirs of Sunday mornings, in the local jam sessions at small cafés, and in the oral histories of families who remember when B.B. King’s guitar could be heard echoing across cotton fields.

U.S. Route 61 remains a highway of history and hope, connecting generations through music that was born of pain but endures through joy. From the juke joints of Clarksdale to the neighborhoods of Sikeston, Hayti, Caruthersville, and Cape Girardeau, the blues is not just a memory — it’s the heartbeat of a region and a testament to the enduring power of Black creativity in America’s heartland.