MORGAN
FREEMAN’S JUKE JOINT Blues Alley adds another budding
music place to its prestigious repertoire
BY Farrah Austin
Southern Living June 2002
Saturday nights have always sizzled
deep in The Delta. Now, thanks to Morgan Freeman’s new
blues club, the beat has gotten even hotter. On this night,
saucy tunes blare from the center stage of his Ground Zero
Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Sweat slides down the
brow of the local performer like beaded water on a glass of
cool ice tea. Hearing the band strike up, city slickers, locals,
and farmer make a beeline toward the stage.
Immediately the electrifying guitarist picks up the pace with
a toe tapping, finger snapping melody as he musically airs
his family’s business like laundry on the line. “My
mama didn’t let me run around all night long,”
he defiantly croons, “but I snuck out anyhow.”
Cone up like a 1950’s juke joint with plywood floors
and plastic tablecloths, the interior resembles a respectable
shack – one that serves smack-your-mama good food such
as catfish and other Southern staples. “People love
our fried grits,” comments co-owner Bill Luckett. “They’re
like French fries with writs in the middle. It’s a dish
I haven’t heard of anywhere else.”
Bill, a local lawyer, befriended Morgan years ago while doing
legal work for the actor. The two own Madidi, an upscale restaurant
down the street from the club, and they decided to venture
out with a music venue. Friend Howard Stovall also joined
the team, and the three opened this club in May 2001. The
grand opening brought out such notable as Wynonna and Ashley
Judd.
Other sojourners through the joint included Bruce Hornsby,
John Kay of Steppenwolf, and Bob Margolin to nave a few. Even
Mississippi’s lieutenant governor, Amy Tuck, has stopped
by.
This is the kind of place that intermingles both rich and
poor, sinner and saint. It’s also the kind of place
where people with names such as “Super Chikan Johnson”
and “Doc Mike” don’t mind playing to packed
houses full of folds who yearn to dance as hard as they play.
Here autographed guitars hang above the bar like trophies.
One, owned by blues great John Lee Hooker, has his named emblazoned
on the side and is encased in glass.
“I’m a fan of the blues,” says Morgan, who
currently lives near Charleston, Mississippi. “I grew
up in Greenwood about 50 miles from Clarksdale, and I would
go to this place called The Stand. So it’s always been
part of my life.”
No matter who you are or what night you visit this club, all
learn the same thing – that having the blues really
ain’t bad at all.
