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From Clarksdale, take Hwy 6 (east bound) to Batesville and catch I-55 (south bound) to I-10 (east bound) straight into the heart of the French Quarter. You are now in jazz country, where jazz has been wizzled and spit out here dating back to the days when African and Caribbean slaves pounded out their rhythmic postcards home on Sunday in Congo Square (now Armstrong Square, named after jazz great Louis Armstrong). Once European instruments and ragtime piano ditties in brothels were stirred into the pot, jazz was born like an improvised stew. Shockingly, New Orleans does not have a jazz museum, so you must resort to listening to music – not a bad deal at all, actually.

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3 DOORS DOWN’S MISSISSIPPI – BRAD ARNOLD

“As a musician, there are not many places you can be more proud to be from than Mississippi. It all started right here on a little rural road in the middle of nowhere Mississippi. I can’t put my finger on what it is in that area that breeds the music that comes from there, but it’s something special. It cannot be replicated. People in Mississippi are very set in their ways, and believe what they believe. I’ve always believed myself if you’re going to sing something, you better believe it and live it yourself. Those old blues guys down there, they live those blues.

I was in a bar down in Pascagoula not too long ago and there were a few guys onstage playing covers. An old African-American man came in the door, 75- or 80-years-old – he’d been hitting the bottle – and asked the band, ‘Do y’all mind if I play a song or two?’ The guys reluctantly agreed. This old man never got through a full song, and the band went up there a few times to stop him, but I said, ‘Don’t you dare take the guitar away from that guy. That man stumbled in here off the street, asked nicely to borrow your guitar, and played something sincere. You ain’t taking that guitar away from him until he puts it down. You’re looking at the blues.’”

Brad Arnold, vocalist, 3 Doors Down

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The genre has since branched off on numerous notes since inception, but traditional New Orleans–style jazz is preserved vehemently at Preservation Hall on St Peter St, a muggy, dirty, Prohibition-inspired hothouse with no air conditioning and no beverages (although you are welcome to BYO water). Of course, as the name implies, all of this preserves the throwback feel – you think folks were comfortable back then? Um, no. They got their comfort from food.

For the quintessential Nola meal with a soundtrack to boot, head to the jazz brunch at Commander’s Palace and save room for the bread-pudding soufflé. The rest of the week, tuneful meals are served at post-Katrina newcomer Club 300 Jazz Bistro, which offers jazz seven nights a week – bottom line, it ain’t difficult to find yourself a little boogie-woogie wallop in which to shake your bones. With your ears still ringing, lay yourself to sleep at The Columns, a lovely and quieter spot in the Garden District (though there’s live music there nightly, too).

Elvis once said, “I don’t know anything about music. In my line you don’t have to.” Now you know a little more than he did.

Kevin Raub

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TRIP INFORMATION

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Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art, Inc

This kitschy, blues-themed shop is full of regional folk art and, more importantly, knowledge. 662-624-5992; www.cathead.biz; 252 Delta Ave, Clarksdale, MS; 10am-5pm Mon-Sat;

Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum

A $37 million slap on country music’s ass. Historic Studio B tours also leave from here. 615-416-2001; www.countrymusichalloffame.com; 222 Fifth Ave S, Nashville; adult/child $20/10; 9am-5pm;

Delta Blues Museum

The top blues museum in the region, housed inside the old train depot in Clarksdale. 662-627-6820; www.deltabluesmuseum.org; 1 Blues Alley, Clarksdale, MS; adult/child $7/5; 9am-5pm Mon-Sat;

Graceland

The King’s home is the king of all decorating nightmares, but you gotta see it. 802-578-9093; www.elvis.com; 3765 Elvis Presley Blvd, Memphis; platinum package tour adult/child