03 Hot Tamales Clarksdale, Mississippi

Robert Johnson mentions hot tamales in his hokum blues tune They’re Red Hot, and this advertisement and atmosphere of this hallway caught my eye. Backing up on the Sunflower River, The Riverside costs a little more than the chain hotels in Clarksdale (and there’s a bathroom down the hall), but being befriended by the proprietor, Frank ‘Rat’ Ratliff and the history and creaky, wooden soul of the place are more than ample compensation. According to Rat, everyone at the Riverside is family.