Where to sleep in Clarksdale — lofts and shacks
Where to sleep
Lofts above the juke joint, a sharecropper shack, and the hotel where Bessie Smith died.
Clarksdale has no resort and does not want one. What it has is a handful of places to sleep that are themselves part of the story — which is why people book them a year out for festival week.
Above the club
Seven lofts sit over the Ground Zero Blues Club, in the Delta Cotton Company warehouse of 1905. Exposed brick, mismatched furniture, and the music coming up through the floor until closing. Three of them are bookable here.
The Bessie Loft — one night
The Bessie Loft — one night
The smallest of the lofts, and the quietest.
The Crossroads Loft — one night
The Crossroads Loft — one night
The corner loft, windows on Delta Avenue and Blues Alley.
The Muddy Loft — one night
The Muddy Loft — one night
Upstairs from the club, in the 1905 Delta Cotton Company building.
Sharecropper shacks
The Shack Up Inn
At Hopson Plantation, on the edge of town, sharecropper shacks and cotton silos have been turned into lodging. Whether that is uncomfortable or exactly honest depends on who you ask; it has been full for years either way. Not bookable through this site.
Landmark
The Riverside Hotel
615 Sunflower Avenue. It was the G. T. Thomas Afro-American Hospital when Bessie Smith was brought here after a road accident in 1937, and she died in it. It became a hotel afterwards, and half the Chess Records roster slept in it on the way north.
Book early
During festival week
Every bed for forty miles is taken during the Juke Joint Festival in April. If you are coming for it, book the room before the wristband.
Juke Joint Festival — weekend pass
Where to sleep in Clarksdale — lofts and shacks
Where to sleep
Lofts above the juke joint, a sharecropper shack, and the hotel where Bessie Smith died.
Clarksdale has no resort and does not want one. What it has is a handful of places to sleep that are themselves part of the story — which is why people book them a year out for festival week.
Above the club
Seven lofts sit over the Ground Zero Blues Club, in the Delta Cotton Company warehouse of 1905. Exposed brick, mismatched furniture, and the music coming up through the floor until closing. Three of them are bookable here.
The Bessie Loft — one night
The Bessie Loft — one night
The smallest of the lofts, and the quietest.
The Crossroads Loft — one night
The Crossroads Loft — one night
The corner loft, windows on Delta Avenue and Blues Alley.
The Muddy Loft — one night
The Muddy Loft — one night
Upstairs from the club, in the 1905 Delta Cotton Company building.
Sharecropper shacks
The Shack Up Inn
At Hopson Plantation, on the edge of town, sharecropper shacks and cotton silos have been turned into lodging. Whether that is uncomfortable or exactly honest depends on who you ask; it has been full for years either way. Not bookable through this site.
Landmark
The Riverside Hotel
615 Sunflower Avenue. It was the G. T. Thomas Afro-American Hospital when Bessie Smith was brought here after a road accident in 1937, and she died in it. It became a hotel afterwards, and half the Chess Records roster slept in it on the way north.
Book early
During festival week
Every bed for forty miles is taken during the Juke Joint Festival in April. If you are coming for it, book the room before the wristband.