00:00Rock music in Britain was largely inspired in the 1960s by the recordings and tours of American
00:06blues artists including Muddy Waters, BB King and others who were born in the state of Mississippi.
00:12Now a new blues trail marker has been unveiled on Matthew Street outside the Cavern Club
00:17to celebrate this musical connection.
00:19Well what other street could it be on? I mean it couldn't be anywhere else could it?
00:23You can relate if you've been, anyone out there if you've been to
00:27Beale Street in Memphis and Matthew Street in Liverpool, there's BB King in Beale Street,
00:36Rum Barber, there's so many clubs there and BB King Memorial there and it's, they're similar.
00:46This is the first permanent Mississippi blues trail marker in the UK.
00:50We have over 217 markers in seven states and five countries I believe,
00:56so this is just another edition, this is number 217 I believe and we're just really excited to
01:02connect the ties to music in Liverpool and Mississippi.
01:07Liverpool has a history of cultural exchange between the United States and the Cavern,
01:12famed for its Beatles history, also booked many blues and R&B acts.
01:17Mississippi is the birthplace of America's music, we have birthed blues music, rock and roll,
01:23jazz, so many different types of genres of music and
01:27this is just a way for us to really tell our story here in Liverpool.
01:31Beatles manager Brian Epstein ran the NEMS record store on Whitechapel which imported blues records.
01:38So we were listening to Elvis and anyone before, I'm not saying Muddy Waters at that point,
01:45we were introduced to him listening to his music later on.
01:49I remember buying my first Lead Belly LP when I was 18, loved it, couldn't understand a word.
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