U.S. Highway 61

United States Highway 61 is the official designation for a United States highway that once ran from New Orleans through Memphis and Iowa through Duluth, Minnesota all the way to the Canadian border. It was an important north-south connection in the days before the interstate highway system. Many southerners, particularly black southerners, travelled north along Highway 61 to go to St. Louis. (It did not run to Chicago, as often presumed by some fledgling blues afficionados).

Related Topics:
United States highway - New Orleans - Memphis - Iowa - Duluth, Minnesota - Canadian - Interstate highway - Black - Blues

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Originally 1,714 miles (2,758 km) long, the road has been shortened to 1400 miles (2,253 km) ending in Wyoming, Minnesota. Minnesota State Highway 61 runs to the Canadian border; then the highway continues to Thunder Bay, Ontario as Ontario provincial highway 61.

Related Topics:
Wyoming, Minnesota - Thunder Bay, Ontario - Ontario provincial highway 61

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The road is also known as the Blues Highway, as it runs through the Mississippi delta country which was an important source of blues music. Son Thomas ("Highway 61") and Fred McDowell|Mississippi Fred McDowell ("61 Highway")and Jay Farrar of "Son Volt"("Aftreglow 61") all wrote songs about it, and many Mississippians, such as Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley took the blues to Chicago along the route.

Related Topics:
Mississippi delta - Blues - Muddy Waters - Bo Diddley

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The junction of Highway 61 and Highway 49 was the famous crossroads where Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for mastery of the blues.

Related Topics:
Highway 49 - Robert Johnson - Soul - Devil

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Blues singer Bessie Smith died in an automobile accident on Highway 61. Ike Turner's "Delta Cats" drove up Highway 61 to Memphis to record "Rocket 88", one of the first rock and roll records. Elvis Presley grew up in housing projects along it and Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot in a motel on Highway 61. Bob Dylan was born along a stretch of Highway 61, in Duluth, Minnesota. Some of these connections led Bob Dylan to commemorate the highway in the title song of his album Highway 61 Revisited.

Related Topics:
Bessie Smith - Ike Turner - Memphis - Rocket 88 - First rock and roll record - Elvis Presley - Martin Luther King, Jr. - Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited

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