Tutwiler, The Father of the Blues and Railroads

The former Tutwiler train station, including blues murals

The Southern Railroad System, 1921

W.C. Handy was waiting for a train just outside of Clarksdale in Tutwiler in 1903 when he heard a man running a knife along the strings of a guitar and singing about where the Southern crosses the Yellow Dog (the Yazoo and Delta line).  He noted that this music was ‘primitive,’ but his musician’s ear remembered its power.  Because he had musical training, he was able to write in the blues form.  Because the sheet music was only way to sell music before recording was popular, and because Handy was classically trained, he was able to publish the blues form to a wider audience.  Memphis Blues was followed by the more popular St. Louis Blues and Beale Street Blues.

In Handy's time, a person could travel by train within a few miles of almost any destination throughout the South.  Handy was waiting to go over to Arkansas on the day he heard the blues.

The train station at Tutwiler is a memory today.  Dozens of small spur lines like Tutwiler's have been shut down since the ’30’s.  But it was in Tutwiler that the blues form met a musician who could and would introduce it to the rest of the world.