Jackson, Tennessee was the largest city in West Tennessee outside of Memphis, but it was the smaller city of Brownsville in Haywood County, twenty miles west of Jackson, which became a center of blues music. This was perhaps due to Brownsville’s location at the center of a plantation region that existed in Fayette, Haywood, Tipton and Lauderdale counties. Brownsville was the hometown of Sleepy John Estes, Yank Rachell, Hammie Nixon, Charlie Sangster and Son Bonds, and several musicians, including Noah Lewis were from the Orysa and Durhamville areas between Brownsville, Henning and Ripley. Tina Turner, who grew up in Nutbush, was also from this area. Sadly, the blues culture of Haywood County is largely a historic memory, but the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center in Brownsville celebrates the region’s blues culture annually with the Exit 56 Blues Festival.
The Exit 56 festival is usually held on Memorial Day weekend, and most of the time, it is a fun, outdoor event. In addition to the performances, there are food trucks, craft vendors and a car show. Unfortunately, this year, the event was harassed by showers and storms that lasted the bulk of the day, requiring the performances to be moved indoors. The small space inside the Delta Heritage Center required adjustments on the part of the performers, including not having drums. Even so, a fair amount of people turned out to see performers like Brownsville native Linzie Butler, the Last Chance Jug Band, which includes musicologist Dr. David Evans and Haywood County resident Ted Maclin, and group called Tennessee Smoke with Leland Porter (who also designed this year’s festival poster), Terry “Harmonica” Bean from Pontotoc, Mississippi, and Big Don Valentine and the All-Stars. The sun came out at the very end of the festival, and despite the weather, it was altogether a good day.