Make Time: Graveyard Music

I had a great breakfast with Mel in Memphis before hitting the road towards Albuquerque. My first stop was in Little Rock Arkansas, where I found a fantastic BBQ spot called Whole Hog Cafe. Pulled pork sandwich with beans and cheesy corn. Amazing! I then made a stop at a local mechanic to have my car, Marty McFly, checkout out. The brakes were making some weird noises, so I had them rotated. While the car was getting fixed I had a great conversation with the guys at the shop. They loved hearing about my road trip, and they all said they would love to get out of Little Rock. Apparently it's not the type of town that they want to live in (closed off and small minded, according to the guys). After I'm done talking with the mechanics, I get online and look up things around this area that I could see while I'm here. One of the mechanics laughs and says I should have gone to see Robert Johnson's grave while I was in Mississippi. Robert Johnson is the godfather of blues music, and there is a great legend surrounding his skills as a guitarist. Apparently the devil visited Johnson and offered him all the guitar skills in the world for the young man's soul. As the story goes, Johnson sold his soul to become one of the best guitarists of all time. This is one of the best stories in music history, and I've always loved hearing about it (and his music). So I look up where the grave is, and I find out it's in Greenwood, Mississippi, which is about 3 hours in the opposite direction from where I'm headed. I think about it while the guys are finishing up work on Marty, and then I decide that I must go see his grave and pay respect to one of my favorite musicians of all time. So instead of heading west, as I had planned, I head southeast to the Mississippi Delta - home of the blues - and final resting place of Robert Johnson. I get to the graveyard around 7:30pm and as I walk up there's a girl smoking cigarettes at the grave. I introduce myself and find out that her name is Holley, and she's a local musician. We talk about her music and her struggle being a single mom in a small town - trying to make it as a musician. Then I hear her sing. Wow. Unbelievable. Here's some of her work. Such a beautiful voice from such a fantastic soul. We talk for hours and hours. We sing. We share our thoughts on music and life, and I feel more than lucky for meeting another musician at such a special place. I leave Holley and Robert Johnson around 3am and get back on the road, heading out on a 16 hour drive towards Albuquerque. I am wide awake driving. Alert. Alive. Feeling blessed and spiritual. I think about music and life and fate and am driving on air. I get past Little Rock around 7am and decide to take a nap in a Burger King parking lot for an hour before continuing on. Classy? Yep. I wake up around 8am and get back on the road. I make a stop in Oklahoma City where I have another dose of unbelievable BBQ, this time at a place called Pappy's. The people running this place were so kind to me. They heard I was just traveling through, so they gave me a bunch of sides to taste, and they were genuinely happy I was there. Such a nice thing - to feel loved by people who don't even know you. After lunch I hit the road and eventually make it to Albuquerque by 9pm - not without a near-direct hit from a funnel cloud in north Texas - and just in time for a fantastic dinner with Mr and Mrs Goldberg - parents of my close friend Andrea (who I visited while in Boston).

This part of my trip reminded me of one important thing: follow your heart. I have always lived a life of following my heart, but this trip to Mississippi really reinvigorated my soul. My instincts proved invaluable, and I will continue to follow them as I continue this year journey. I feel very lucky for having met Holley - a beautiful soul and a very talented musician. Keep an eye out for her because I think she's going to do very big things in the future with her music.