On The Blues Highway

I was growing up as a very young child during the post depression era on th edge of the Mississippi Delta region. This was a time when folks were moving about just trying to find something a little better than what was where ever they were .
My father and mother were starting their family (I was the second of their seven children)
they raised on a farm that had been in the family for a very long time, so they owned land but that doesn't mean they had money, very few did at that time, so it was a difficult life for them, also.
There were times I recall being in town with my folks when they went in to sell a load of wood or just for the few items which had to be purchased ocassionally...mostly the essentials were grown on the farm...with the aide of an old mule and a lot of back breaking work. But the life didn't seem hard for us kids, I also recall many good times...such as wandering around in the crowds that always gathered to watch and listen to musicians often found on the "town Square"
trying to make enough money to reach the next town on the route which so many traveled
coming out of the south , heading for Chicago by way of St. Louis.
We lived just outside of Poplar Bluff, Mo. and sometimes my father would stop and pick up these folks walking on the road (67 highway) north out of town, there were times he'd drive by our house to drop off us kids and mom would put together what food she could manage for the travelers then dad would take them on to the next town (Greenville, Mo.) especially when it was bad weather. It was an old truck with sideboards and the folks sometimes had pieces of canvas they'd stretch over themselves to keep dry.
Since there were no interstates then as we now know them this little town of ours was pretty much on the beaten path of these wandering musicians heading north. Some of these folks had vehicles but I believe that just as many didn't as did, and the task of keeping them running, good tires and gasoline was a huge problem for people who were not even traveling and playing music basically for food.
I've always felt a connection to these folks, their music, the songs they sang, always loved the music and somehow felt we were a part of their world and all these many years that I have been painting the legends of those times there are always memories such as these walking through my mind...the sounds of the remembered music is an ever present echo of those times. I cherish these memories of my childhood...seems like only yesterday at times and I feel that in some small measure the paintings I do helps to keep those special folks from fading into oblivion.
I don't know who they were, I probably never even heard their names but I'll always remember the people, their laughter and their music.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Helen Thomas