Crossroads of 49 & 61 - Clarksdale

The notion of a crossroads as a setting for spiritual decisions is common across many societies and religions, and in the blues it is particularly associated with Robert Johnson and a rumored bargain with the devil. This intersection of former Highways 49 and 61 became locally known as the crossroads in the 1930s, and many blues fans later adopted it as “THE” crossroads of Johnson lore. In 1999, a Mississippi state resolution proclaimed this the official location of the crossroads, and this now iconic sculpture with three guitars created by local metalsmith Vic Barbieri was installed.

Crossroads legends have circulated for centuries, and in pop culture the theme was sensationalized by the 1986 movie Crossroadsand by speculation about Robert Johnson as a haunted figure who allegedly sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads in exchange for “the ability to play a mean guitar” (as worded in a Mississippi Senate resolution). In various versions, deals with the devil or other supernatural forces could lead to success, wealth, power or magical abilities, as exemplified by Faust in European literature or Legba in African folklore. Transactions were said to be at crossroads, forks in the road, graveyards and other sites, often at midnight.

The Robert Johnson discourse was influenced by an account attributed to Tommy Johnson, a prominent early Mississippi bluesman who claimed to have made such a deal, by Delta blues icon Son House, who suggested Robert Johnson must have done the same, and by tales told to researcher Mack McCormick in Mississippi. Several blues artists put similar stories to music, including Casey Bill Weldon, who recorded “Sold My Soul to the Devil” in 1937, while the popular Peetie Wheatstraw, whose 1930s songs influenced Johnson’s repertoire, made records as “The Devil’s Son-in-Law.” Interpretations of Robert Johnson’s 1936-1937 recordings “Cross Road Blues,” “Hell Hound on My Trail” and “Me and the Devil Blues” led countless devotees to support the crossroads premise and many have traveled to Mississippi in search of such a site.

Locations proposed or promoted as Johnson’s crossroads include Dockery, Cleveland, Leland, Rosedale, Ruleville, the Bonnie Blue plantation near Clayton, and even Memphis. The Crossroads film used a site in Beulah. Clarksdale gained the most traction, however, as a vaunted historical center of blues activity, a blues tourism mecca, a former base of Johnson and Son House, and an intersection already well known as “the crossroads.” The Board of Mayor and Commissioners initiated a resolution passed by the state legislature in April 1999 authorizing Clarksdale to designate the 49/61 intersection as the Crossroads. Vic Barbieri’s metal guitars, weighing over 1000 pounds, were mounted in place in May and quickly came to symbolize Clarksdale and its blues heritage. The Coahoma County Tourism Commission copyrighted the Crossroads logo in 2025.

In 2004, Highway 61 was redesignated 161 when new bypass routes of 61 and 49 were completed. Musical history at this intersection has included a nightclub, the Cocoanut Grove, which opened on October 13, 1936, with music by Al Jackson, who led one of Memphis’s most popular Black bands. His son Al Jackson Jr. was the drummer with the famed Stax studio band Booker T. and the MG’s. In 2025, a new crossroads scenario was depicted in the film Sinners, which portrayed Clarksdale in the 1930s.

This is marker number 222 on the Mississippi Blues Trail, dedicated April 9, 2026. Text by Jim O’Neal

Address:

599 North State Street, Clarksdale, MS

34.1949556,-90.5642197