Mississippi Blues Trail
The Mississippi Blues Trail marker commemorating Johnny Winter is on the corner of North Broad Street and East Third Street in downtown Leland, Mississippi.
Although Johnny Winter was born in Beaumont, Texas, his father, John Dawson Winter Jr., and grandfather, John Dawson Winter Sr., came from Leland, Mississippi and had operated a cotton business, J. D. Winter & Son, in a building that still stands at the site of the Mississippi Blues Trail marker commemorating John Dawson Winter III, a.k.a. Johnny Winter.
The GPS location of this marker is: N32° 24.311′ W 90° 53.860′
This marker reads:
“JOHNNY WINTER – Guitar icon Johnny Winter’s emergence on the national music scene in 1969 created a sensation among rock and blues audiences. The first of his many hit albums for Columbia Records featured the song “Leland, Mississippi Blues,” which paid tribute to his roots here. Winter’s grandfather and father, a former mayor of Leland, operated a cotton business, J.D. Winter & Son, at this site. Winter was born in Texas in 1944 but spent parts of his childhood in Leland.”
This building at the corner of North Broad Street and East Third Street in downtown Leland, Mississippi once housed the cotton business, J.D. Winter & Son, operated by Johnny Winter’s father and grandfather.
The Mississippi Blues Trail marker commemorating Johnny Winter stands on the street corner at the right side of this photo.
There is another Mississippi Blues Trail marker across North Broad Street commemorating James “Son” Thomas.
Johnny Winter’s first album for Columbia Records, Johnny Winter, released in 1970, contains the track Leland, Mississippi Blues
Here’s a video of Johnny Winter performing Mississippi Blues.
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