The Arkansas Delta - Its Soil and It's Soul

We head into the old historic part of Helena pulling the RV, as we have been told we will have no problem parking. Our first destination is to The Delta Cultural Center where from delta cotton fields to Civil War Battlefields, early settlements, births of communities and the origins of the Delta Blues are all represented in 2 small, but beautiful museums.
The Arkansas Delta helped launch musicians such as Johnny Cash, Levon Helm, Charlie Rich and Conway Twitty. One man, who has lived and been a part of this area and this music for over 70 years is "Sunshine" Sonny Payne. He is the long time host of "King biscuit Time", the nations oldest continuing blues radio program. And as the brochure says, "spins the best of the blues and welcomes guests from across the nation to the radio show that first took to the airways on Helena's KFFA AM in 1941 and continues today".
We hoped we would be able to watch the taping today. We not only were able to watch, he invited us to come and sit in his broadcast area and be his guests for today. Put in front of microphones we were interviewed by him about where we were from and welcomed to Helena, Arkansas. We also interviewed him about his life.... he left his radio program during WWII and then after the war went on the road touring with big bands. After a few years of this he tired of the road and came back to Helena and continues today with his 1/2 hour live broadcast 5 days a week. He still does his own marketing and selling of advertising. He says this is where he makes his money:) not on the radio show. At 88 years of age he walks with a cane and has trouble hearing but he thinks he might retire someday and do what we are doing.
We could have stayed and talked to him all afternoon but he had things to do and people to see. A special man who made for a very special experience for us. He sent us on our way with 10 CDs of old and new delta blues music, saying he gets them all the time and can't keep or play everything.
It's time for lunch and we are sent down Cherry Street to Granny Dees for some home cooking for
lunch. The sandwich board outside says  "the best burgers",  so we ordered one to share. Y'all want
everything? Yup we say. And we got it with everything including sauce made with Jack Daniels. My Dad, Ollie, the best burger man I've known would have approved:)
We are now driving around looking at historic sites, some beautiful and others decaying. In this part
of Helena at least 1 in 5 buildings is abandoned, to the point of falling down in some cases.