Legendary bluesman Robert Johnson reportedly sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads in the Mississippi Delta in exchange for his musical gifts.
On Tuesday, representatives of two cultures — 20 motorcyclist journalists from Germany and four exchange students from Kazakhstan — crossed paths at the reputed gravesite of the bluesman at Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church on Money Road.
Micky Fischer of Cologne, the tour operator for the bikers, said they were wrapping up a weeklong tour of the mid-South, starting in New Orleans.
“We’re coming from Memphis. We took a loop, we went up north — Tupelo, Chattanooga, Nashville and Memphis. Now, we’re going back,” she said. “Tonight Natchez and then New Orleans.”
Under the direction of Shelley Cresswell Thomas, executive director of the Greenwood Convention and Visitors Bureau, the bikers were taken on a tour of landmarks, including the Bobbie Gentry Mississippi Country Music Trail marker, the Star of the West Plantation, the home of Billy and Aubrey Whittington (featured in “The Help”), Little Zion M.B. Church and Tallahatchie Flats.
Fischer is making the trip with her husband, Peter. Fischer said the tour is the first she’s conducted in the South and the first one for every member of her party.
The bikers rode Harley-Davidson and Indian motorcycles, and Fischer said that was a concession to the two American motorcycle icons. “Especially if you ride in the States, you need to have a Harley or an Indian,” she said. “A BMW would not be the right bike.”
She said the group had seen a lot of sights that aren’t on the usual tours.
“There’s a lot of history here. A lot of the bikers ride the West — the desert, California, Arizona, Utah. But here, you find a lot of history that’s really, really different,” Fischer said. “And good food, oh, yeah — very good food.”
Heinrich Christmann of Heidelberg, the editor and chief of a German motorcycle magazine, was looking for a good travel feature for an upcoming issue. The Delta isn’t a frequent destination for German bikers, Christmann said: “The Germans go to Florida, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, stuff like this.”
Dr. Roy Hudson was taking the four exchange students — teacher education majors — on a tour of Johnson’s gravesite and the Bryant Grocery and Meat Market building in Money, known for its ties to the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till in 1955.
Hudson, a longtime Valley administrator and the university’s acting president for a time, is now a part-time English professor there. The women are expected to graduate in May.
“I wish I could get them to stay here and teach, but they’re all going home,” Hudson said while the women laughed quietly.
Detlef Kampf, another biker from Cologne, said visiting the South had been a pleasant experience. Asked if he enjoyed his visit, he replied, “Sure, every minute.”
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
