Tutwiler gets Blues Trial marker

Associated Press - November 25, 2009 5:34 AM ET

TUTWILER, Miss. (AP) - The Town of Tutwiler was to be honored Wednesday with the dedicate of a Mississippi Blues Trial marker at Railroad Park.

The marker will be located at the site of the train station where W.C. Handy encountered a guitar player performing 1 of the earliest documented blues songs. Handy, who described the sounds as "the weirdest music I had ever heard," later published an adaptation of the song as "Yellow Dog Blues."

The Tutwiler blues trail marker also honors another local blues legend, Aleck Ford "Rice" Miller, who performed under the name Sonny Boy Williamson II. Miller's grave lies about a mile from the train station.

Other former Tutwiler performers include banjo and fiddle player Tom Dumas, whose music harked back to Handy's era, and pianist Lee Kizart.

On the Net:

Mississippi Blues Trail, http://www.msbluestrail.org