MichaelBlues, Booze, & BBQ, the first book by Michael Loyd Young, documents the 150 miles of Highway 61, the famed blacktop road snaking from Memphis, TN down to Greenville, MS. At the halfway point, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, sits Clarksdale, MS, the city considered the birthplace of the blues and the location of Robert Johnson’s famed “Cross Road Blues” intersection of Highway 61 and 49.

The Delta has been home to blues legends such as Charley Patton, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Ike Turner, Cadillac John Nolden, B.B. King, T-Model Ford, Mississippi Slim, Big Jack Johnson, and Willie King, among countless others whose music has become the glue that holds these communities together as they struggle to survive. Young’s photographs, taken at juke joints, in private homes, or just hanging out, illustrate the bond blues creates between the Delta and its people. It is through this music that the people pass on their heritage and culture to future generations.

Michael Loyd Young lives in Houston, TX.. Since 2002 Young has worked on several projects, traveling to 21 different countries documenting cultural symbols and the impact they have on the daily lives of the people he photographs. This is Young’s first book. All proceeds will be donated to the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, MS. He is currently working on his second book documenting the hunting and fishing culture along the Gulf Coast, from southern Texas to the Florida Everglades.


Author proceeds will be donated to the Delta Blues Museum.