Ground Zero Blues Club in some ways was the beginning of modern Clarksdale- the Clarksdale that has become a tourist destination instead of a dreary, dying Delta town. Who could have imagined that Morgan Freeman and Bill Luckett’s modern reinvention of a classic juke joint would launch a civic renaissance, but that’s exactly what has happened. With its shimmering, brightly-colored lights, old posters, graffitied walls and comfort-food menu, Ground Zero is not to be missed, and worth the drive from Memphis even when there’s not a festival going on.
Phillip Carter is a librarian at the Carnegie Library in Clarksdale when he’s not playing some of the best modern blues in the Delta. The hard part at Ground Zero is finding a table, but once I finally did, I sat enjoying my bacon cheeseburger and listening to Carter’s first-rate band, the Blues Underground. After an intermission, they brought a lot of visiting musicians up out of the crowd, as so many were in town for
Juke Joint Festival.
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