In the first half of the 20th century, tips were a major source of income for blues artists, and the former intersection of Highways 10 and 61 in Leland was a profitable place to play, especially on Saturdays when country people came to town and when passengers on the Planter, a daily train from New Orleans to Memphis, stopped nearby to eat and hear Delta musicians. Before Highway 61 became widely known as the blues highway, Highway 10 was equally important to itinerant musicians, crossing Greenville’s blues center and loosely following the Southern Railway line through Leland, Dunleith, Holly Ridge, Indianola, Moorhead, Berclair, Itta Bena, Greenwood, and points east, though its importance declined after the straighter Highway 82 was completed in 1936. Because Highways 61 and 10 met at this corner, it became a busy center of commerce where blues artists played requests for tips and vendors sold hot tamales and fried fish to Saturday crowds. In the early 1900s, Leland was nicknamed the hellhole of the Delta for its many drinking and gambling establishments, which often featured blues, and even after the town cleaned up, this corner remained a regular site for musicians until the 1960s. Among early Delta blues performers who played here were guitarist Eugene Powell, born in 1908, who recorded for Bluebird Records in 1936 as Sonny Boy Nelson and later influenced younger artists such as Keb’ Mo’, and guitarist Charlie Booker, born in 1919, a Sunflower County native who lived in Leland during World War Two. In January 1952, Booker recorded four songs for Los Angeles-based Modern Records at a Greenville session with harmonica player Houston Boines, drummer Cleanhead Love, and pianist Ike Turner, who also served as producer. One song, No Ridin’ Blues, released on Modern’s Blues and Rhythm label, was a dark-themed piece suggesting the influence of Charley Patton and referring to historic fires in Greenville and Leland. A month after its release, an entire block of Leland burned down, giving the song new meaning. The record brought Booker regional fame, and he moved to South Bend, Indiana, the following year.
