The shack where W C Handy and the Blues was born

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On our latest stop, we paid a visit to the birthplace and home of W C Handy, the first musician to compose and publish a blues song. The museum attached to the home contains many artefacts and memorabilia commemorating the life of W C Handy, who was vital to the publishing and ultimately the spreading of blues music for generations to come. Another must-visit in the rich musical heritage of the Muscle Shoals area • Take a look at our other travel content at: ‪@OceanHops‬ • We're up here in Florence, W C Handy Birthplace and Museum. • William Christopher Handy was born November 16th 1873 in this two room log cabin. • In 1954 the cabin was dismantled, placed in storage and restored to its original condition at this location in 1970. • Early in life he developed a deep understanding and appreciation for religious music as performed in black churches. • As a young man Handy traveled widely performing as bandleader and • musician playing the trumpet and cornet. • From 1903 to 1909 he directed the Knights of Pythias band in Clarksdale, Mississippi • It's said that while he was in Clarksdale, Mississippi was when he first heard the Blues • when he was waiting at Tutwiler train station a few miles south of Clarksdale when he heard a guitarist in the train station there. • The strange sound that he produced by dragging a knife along the strings of his guitar. • In 1909 he moved to Memphis where he composed 'Memphis Blues', 'St Louis Blues' and 'Beale Street Blues' and 37 other blues tunes and made him an internationally prominent figure in the music world. • In the late 30s Handy went blind and in 1955 he suffered a stroke which confined him to a wheelchair. He continued to compose music until his death on March 28 1958 at the age of 84 • This is a picture of Mr Handy at age 18. • At age 19 he left home and went to Birmingham to take the teachers exam to become a teacher. • He married Elizabeth and they had five children. They had more but at least one of the daughters died. • This is Mr Handy at age 46. • In 1943, while living in New York he fell and hit his head in the subway and went blind. • That's how he went blind • He went back to school and learned braille. • So this music was re-done in braille. • In 1954 at age 80 he married his secretary. • Her name was Irma, but he called her 'Eyes' because she had to become his eyes. • This is Miss Tallulah Bankhead. • She is also a native Alabaman who was a movie star. • this is Dwight Eisenhower standing right behind him. • So is the other one in the WC Handy home on Beale Street • That's a personal note written by Pearl Bailey • This book was given to him in 1926 and is autographed by George Gershwin. • 'Rhapsody in Blue'. • This is the cabin. • It was torn down and rebuilt here because it was a couple of blocks down. • So this part of the cabin is the actual house. • Just a two-room cabin, so they've got seems to be the living room-cum-bedroom • here in the one room and the kitchen/dining area in this room. • This is the actual original building. • And the museum itself built onto the back. • So all these utensils and things - representative of the time period. • So the piano out there is the original piano that he composed so many of his songs on in the • 1910s • 'St Louis Blues', 'Memphis Blues', 'Beale Street Blues' • There's 'Beale Street Blues' there • 'St Louis Blues' • 'Golden Brown Blues' • 'Joe Turner Blues' • So this was it. This was the piano • It's in really good condition. • Widely honored 'Father of the Blues', he was born in this house November 16th 1873. In his autobiography Handy traced the key events in his discovery of the Blues back to his time • in the Mississippi Delta beginning in 1903. He also wrote that the music he had heard as a child in Florence 'generated the motif for my blues' • Here he also received the musical training in school and church that prepared him for his illustrious career • So that was the W C Handy home and museum - his actual birthplace.

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