'Shotgun' shacks for blues buffs

'You get a moon pie on your pillow'

Once a commissary for sharecroppers on the Hopson Plantation, the Clarksdale, Mississippi, facility now serves as a dance hall and restaurant for the Shack Up Inn, a row of restored sharecropper homes that line the plantation.

CLARKSDALE, Mississippi (AP) -- They are rickety shacks with paint peeling from the cypress walls. The stale, musty scent of worn bed linen, dusty rugs and a 19th-century Washburn piano greet guests.

The circa-1970 televisions are programmed to get one station -- an all-blues music channel spinning tunes by such artists as Bessie Smith and Billie Holliday.

Though there's indoor plumbing, an outhouse is located just outside the backdoor.

Welcome to the Shack Up Inn. The Ritz it ain't, but this hideaway in the heart of the Mississippi Delta may be just the place if you're looking for some authentic blues inspiration.

The row of six authentic sharecropper or tenant farmer homes sits on the 4,000-acre (1,600-hectare) Hopson Plantation, just four miles (six kilometers) south of the crossroads of U.S. 49 and U.S. 61, where legend has it bluesman Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil.

None of the shacks comes from Hopson Plantation, but were found in other areas of the Delta.

They're called "shotgun" shacks because all three rooms are lined up one behind the other, so if you fired a shotgun through the front door, the shot would go out the back.

The tin-roofed structures are popular lodging for international tourists and musicians searching for a musical muse. For a few days, they can live in the style of such blues greats as W. C. Handy and Muddy Waters, Sam Cooke and Howlin' Wolf, Robert Johnson and Charlie Patton.

In the farm commissary-turned-dance hall a few feet (a couple of meters) away from the shacks, the jukebox plays an Aretha Franklin love song and owner James Butler attempts to pinpoint the appeal of his blues-themed hideaway.

"It's different. It's a blast from the past. It's a vibe this place gives off and people just want it," Butler says.

Keith Oliver, a salesman from Long Beach, California, recently celebrated his 40th birthday at the Shack Up Inn with a group of his friends.

"It was fantastic. They had barbecue waiting for us," Oliver says. "The people there are so friendly ... and the price is right. It is what it is. It's not the Four Seasons, but that's not what you're looking for."

Actor Morgan Freeman's restaurant Madidi is near

The Shack Up Inn evolved from the minds of songwriters. Butler says his cousin, Nashville songwriter Tommy Polk, hosted a writers' retreat in 1998.

"They kept saying, 'We want a shack.' We finally found one and fixed it up. The whole idea was to find a place for songwriters to be creative," says Butler, a music fan who is Clarksdale's public works director. His wife's family has owned and farmed the Hopson land since 1852.

Butler, Polk and Bill Talbot bought the first two shacks in 1998 and put them on the plantation next to a cotton gin and outbuildings.

The group got two more investors and bought more shacks. Four are available for rent. Two are undergoing minor renovations that include installing a bathroom, kitchen, air conditioning and heat.

Two of the shacks have full kitchens. The others have microwave ovens, coffee makers and refrigerators. All have one full bed and some have fold-out couches.

The Robert Clay Shack bears the name of the man who lived in it as late as 1998. He raised seven sons in the three-room dwelling without the amenities of running water or electricity. There are few real reminders of Clay's life there. Only his ironing board and a dresser drawer remain.

Butler says the shacks, which rent for $40 to $60 a night, aren't an attempt to cash in on the plight of the poor.

"I hate to think people would think we're doing that," Butler says. "We feel like we're honoring this guy (Clay). We have his picture in there."

There's a funky feel to the Fullilove Shack, named for the plantation from which it came. Purple-, yellow- and cherry-colored plastic ashtrays decorate the ceiling in the bathroom and kitchenette. License plates cover the holes in the walls. This is where former Mississippi Gov. Kirk Fordice and his wife, Ann, spent New Year's Eve.

"The crowning achievement of the visit is ... you know how a real classy hotel puts a mint on your pillow? At the Shack Up Inn, you get a moon pie on your pillow," Fordice says. "The next time I'm up that way, I'd love to stay again."

'This is the real thing'

While the shacks conjure visions of the days when sharecroppers worked the steamy Delta's endless rows of white-tipped cotton, Butler says each shack represents an investment of up to $17,000. That includes the cost of relocating the structure to Hopson, pressure-cleaning it and making minor renovations.

"We cut down on costs by doing our own maid service," says Guy Malvezzi, one of Butler's partners who owns a chain of shoe stores.

Tad Pierson of Memphis, Tennessee, says the Shack Up Inn is a favorite stop on his American Dream Safari Tour. He says many of his tourists are Australian, Japanese and British.

"We overnight at the Shack Up Inn and hit some of the juke joints," Pierson says. "The blues lover gets a sense like this is the real thing."

Visitors to the Shack Up Inn can find blues-themed entertainment all over Clarksdale, a cotton farming town with a population of about 20,000.

About 100 feet (30 meters) from the shacks is the music hall. Blues and rock 'n' roll bands play there on weekends. Barbecue is served every Thursday.

Near downtown, the Delta Blues Museum houses exhibits about the region's poverty and the music born out of it. Actor Morgan Freeman's upscale restaurant, Madidi, and his blues nightclub, Ground Zero, are also popular.

Kappi Allen, manager of Clarksdale's Chamber of Commerce, says the shacks have given the town worldwide publicity.

"They're one of Clarksdale's biggest hits," Allen says. "People have come and written stories and taken pictures back to their states. Hopson is a huge part of the tourism package for Clarksdale."

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