The Blues may have ended for a while in Helena, Arkansas, but the party was just starting at the Commissary at Hopson's Plantation in Clarksdale, Mississippi. One mile south of the crossroads (yes, that crossroads), this is the scene of one of the best jams in history. Starting about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and ending about 8 p.m., this is the place for hard-core fans and media types that can't get their fill of the Blues in three days at the Biscuit. Mingling and shaking hands with Pinetop Perkins and friends is our idea of a fine time. With a jam organized by Bob "Steady Rollin'" Margolin this year, the list of Blues players was amazing.

Among the players this year were Pinetop Perkins, Jimmy Duncan, "Slick" Ballinger, Bob Stroger, Patrick Sweany, Mookie Brill, Diunna Greenleaf, Steve Cheeseborough & the Mississippi Spoonman, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Jimmy "The Midnite Cowboy" Pryor, Clay Swafford and "Peaches." And Charlie Musselwhite was there! What a great bunch of Blues people! We will never see as great a group ever again, well, until next year. I believe that Bob Margolin helped to put a raft of Blues musicians together so wonderful that worked so great that the evening was seamless. Thanks, Bob!

The Hopson Commissary is a large white frame building rising out of the Delta, just one mile south of Highways 49 and 61. That is the Crossroads, Folks! This is all about the music that is from the Delta of Mississippi. The rockin' sounds of every great musician who was on that stage is a part of history. If you get tired of the heat and the people inside, just go out on the front porch and meet more Blues people. They are all there. But, when the band is playing "Big Fat Mama", something makes me want to get inside and boogie. The real spirit of the Blues visits Hopson's, and there is no way to describe it. It gets in your soul and in your body and in your heart.

With such a crowd of media types and plain old Blues lovers, it's practically impossible not to have the time of your life. If you love the Blues, this is the event! Bobby Margolin playing guitar on a Muddy Waters tune and Pinetop Perkins playing piano is my idea of the Blues. I must say that Bob Margolin can play this stuff like no one else. Hey, wait, he has actually played with Muddy Waters. Each of these musicians is completely able to play this music that we all love. Just when you get used to one band, it changes. The next bunch of musicians plays every bit as good. There is always some cat that will get up and astound you. That's the Blues. This is about the musicians playing what they feel. They play together, and that's no lie.

As the day goes one, the music gets hotter and the crowd gets looser. I am hearing some Blues greats and future greats pumping out the real Blues, getting their own thing going with the swing and groove of this Blues. This is where it was born and I am hoping that it won't ever stop. This is what this Blues is about. Chicago's Bob Stroger, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (playing harp and drums, no less), Bobby Margolin on lead guitar, a 20-year-old cat named Clay Swafford from Alabama who can outplay most cats on the ivories, and Mookie Brill on bass and harp will just about git it, if you really like the Blues. Patrick Sweany is the guy who takes over on guitar and really makes it happen. Patrick surprised a lot of folks at the Festival and at Hopson's. He can really play anything with strings. You should have heard him play that cigar-box guitar later that night. I thought I was in Itta Bena. Look that up!

We want to thank Hopsons' Miss Amy, one of the first people I ever met in the Delta who is from there, who let us stay with Adrienne, Lori, Patrick and the rest of us in the Seed Shack. We love you, Amy! I personally want to thank everyone in the media, the Blues fans, our friends from overseas and Canada, and that whole table full of the most delicious Bar-be-que that ever we put our lips to. With T-Bone, Jen, Scott and I there together, BluesWax was there - Big Time! We want to see your boogie-butt there next year. You will experience something you have never experienced before. You will know the Blues. You just can't look out across those cotton fields without feeling this Blues in your soul. You may think I'm lying, but your life will change if you go down to the Crossroads. But, of course, you knew that!

The best thing I remember was waking up on Monday morning and walking outside into the mist and wet grass. Quiet, except for the birds chirping, the fog lilting across the cotton fields, I was there just drinking it all in. Standing there a moment, I was drawn to the strains of a tinkling piano coming from one of the shotgun shacks that are assembled there. Sitting on the porch, I couldn't believe that I was hearing Pinetop Perkins playing the piano out across the Delta. I was in Blues Heaven. Thanks, Pinetop. Thanks for making the Blues part of my life in a very important way. See you next year. I hope you live to be a hundred, and more!