100 Years Of Clarksdale Blues Celebrated

CLARKSDALE, MS - OCTOBER 19: Big Jack Johnson shows off his 2003 W. C. Handy award he won for top acoustic blues album of the year for the "Memphis Barbecue Sessions" at his home October 19, 2003 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Johnson, a former member of the Jelly Roll Kings, still tours internationally performing blues with his band Big Jack Johnson and the Oilers. The 100th anniversary of the blues is being celebrated because in 1903, Clarksdale resident and bandleader W. C. Handy heard a young black man playing the blues at the nearby Tutwiler, Mississippi train station. Handy went on to make the music style popular with the publication of the Memphis Blues, St. Louis Blues and others. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)