Project Description

Childline Rocks – Blues Tour

A JOURNEY TO THE ROOTS OF IT ALL…”I’M AN ITINERANT ACTOR!”

The Sons of Royalty touched down in Tennessee and cleared customs without incident. Members of this infamous band of brothers are said to include suits, special forces veterans, a distant living relative of Butch Cassidy, best selling authors, wandering minstrels, legendary British blues and rock musicians and a confirmed psychopath…all on a mission known as “The Great British Invasion.”

Their previous three escapades had taken them through British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Colorado. This year, it was time to leave the mountains and the deserts for something entirely different.

There isn’t a spot on Planet Earth which has seen a soundtrack as influential as the American South. The Sons (motto The Crow Flies Straight) had come to visit some of the region’s most iconic destinations and were not to be disappointed. Their journey began in Nashville, encompassing venues such as the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Johnny Cash museum. From Nashville they rode southwest to Memphis on the Natchez Trace Scenic Byway, before encountering a severe weather warning. Beale Street beckoned and they received a warm welcome at Rum Boogie Cafe from the Memphis Blues Society.

Day three saw them headed to Elvis’ birthplace, Tupelo in Mississippi, after visiting Sun Studios and Graceland. Unfortunately this was also the chosen destination for the tornados, which had killed sixteen people the day before. Tupelo was desecrated and roads were closed. They soldiered south to Columbus and arrived just before nightfall when a further two tornados hit that town.

On day four they rode south into Louisiana to New Orleans for two nights of Zydeco, Jazz and Blues. Right in the middle of Jazzfest week. A day at leisure saw airboat adventures into the swamps of bayou country, where the alligators grow so mean…

Then on the sixth day, under burning blue skies, they headed back across the border to Natchez on the Mississippi with fine dining at one of the finest antebellums in the South.

On the 7th day they hit Highway 61 – the Blues Highway. Through the very heart of the Mississippi Delta, they rode through lands blood-soaked by civil war and generations of slavery. One hundred and fifty blues markers and an essential stop at the BB King museum in Indianola, they were left with one hour’s ride to their final destination.

Clarksdale, Mississippi. Home to Robert Johnson, the Crossroads… where it all began.

Check in at the fabulous Shack Up Inn-motto “The Ritz we ain’t” – before the meeting with Clarksdale’s Mayor Bill Luckett, the co-owner of Ground Zero Blues Club. The Mayor invited the Sons for cocktails the following day and confirmed his friend and business partner Morgan Freeman would be in attendance. The evening saw the End of Tour dinner at the Shack Up Inn, with an impromptu rehearsal for the following night’s show. Saturday’s day at leisure was followed by the cocktail party. The ensemble moved to Ground Zero for their end of tour concert.

The Mayor and his longtime friend were invited onto stage. Both were patched as members of the Sons of Royalty and the Sons were thrilled to welcome them. Morgan Freeman also gracefully accepted an invitation to the UK to be awarded the official Freedom of the City of London…before performing his own version of Al Green’s “Let’s stay together!”

Some might say you couldn’t have made this up. They certainly did!