Author: Ms. R.

Don’t know “swamp pop” by name? You certainly know it by sound. Indeed, the south Louisiana musicians who created the genre didn’t even have a name for their sound until long after the genre had peaked in popularity. Hits like Phil Phillips’ “Sea of Love,” Bobby Charles’ “See You Later Alligator,” and Cookie and the Cupcakes’ “Mathilda” are examples of Swamp Pop standards that left their mark on the American songbook, but also speak to the unique musical background……

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The most important thing to know about Fred’s Lounge is that it’s only open on Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The second most important thing to know about Fred’s Lounge is that you may have to dance.  For over 75 years, this virtually windowless bar in a tiny Louisiana prairie-town has reigned as “The Cajun Music Capital of the World.” The doors open at about daybreak each Saturday, serving canned beer, well-liquor, and “Fred’s Omelet”—Bloody Mary……

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Ciderville defies simple categorization: It’s a country music store, it’s a live music venue, it offers music lessons from area bluegrass musicians, and it’s something of a flea market, but it’s also home to an array of utterly unique installations, monuments, and folk art. One thing it does not do is sell cider. Not anymore, at least. Owner and musician David West was born on the property, nestled along the Old Dixie Highway, which his family has owned for……

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Lloyd “Teddy” Johnson, proprietor of Teddy’s Juke Joint, will tell you he’s only ever had one address. It’s here, at the end of a dirt road off of Highway 61—one of the last remaining juke joints on the “Chitlin Circuit,” a word-of-mouth network of venues that welcomed Black musicians across the American South during segregation. Teddy was born here in what was once a shotgun shack in the thick woods north of Baton Rouge. After touring the country as……

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Of the 27 public bandshells built across the U.S. under President Roosevelt’s Depression-era WPA program, the Levitt Shell in Memphis, Tennessee, is one of a handful still standing. It probably didn’t hurt that it happens to be the site of Elvis Presley’s first concert.  Originally named the “Overton Park Shell,” the open-air amphitheater—built for a humble $12,000 in 1936—primarily hosted operas, musicals, and orchestras in its early years. It began hosting big bands in the 1940s while making all……

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There are famously over 10,000 caves throughout the state of Tennessee—but only one of them is home to “The Greatest Show Under Earth.” Yes, The Caverns in Pelham, Tennessee, is a giant hole in the ground, but it’s a hole that after much time and effort has been transformed into an industry standard, 1,200-person subterranean music venue with everything you’d expect from its terranean counterpart: There’s beer, state-of-the-art lighting, a topline sound system, bathrooms, coat check, and concession stands…….

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps. In this episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast, we visit St. Brigid’s well in Clare, Ireland, a site integral to the story of how a pagan goddess became a Christian saint. Our podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, we’ll take you to an incredible site, and along the way you’ll meet some fascinating people and hear……

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In 1941, ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax traversed the Mississippi Delta taking field recordings of blues musicians for the Library of Congress. The recordings disseminated the early works of many now-iconic blues acts, including Son House and David “Honeyboy” Edwards. Lomax recorded one guitarist named McKinley Morganfield in the very sharecropper’s cabin in which he lived.  Morganfield went on to become Muddy Waters, six-time GRAMMY Award® winner, and “The King of the Chicago Blues,” while his cabin would go on to……

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This squat, cinderblock building in Yazoo County is the oldest active juke joint in the state of Mississippi. There’s no stage—those brave enough to pick up a guitar in such a storied juke stand on the floor or sit in a chair to play. There are no real windows either, making midday feel like midnight. Faded photos and memorabilia lining the walls bring blues legends long-deceased back to life, and show the cafe’s proprietor, GRAMMY Award®-nominated Jimmy “Duck” Holmes—one……

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Thirty-three million years ago, give or take, a crocodile stood on a shallow riverbank in what’s now Vietnam and took a dump. Then, it stepped in its own poop, leaving imprints of its long scaly fingers stamped on the turd, which was enveloped by the soft muddy ground and eventually became a fossil. To bring this ancient scene into focus, scientists had to push a car through a muddy coalfield, pop into an enclosure at a crocodile farm, and……

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As part of a special series for 2022, we’re doing a deep visual dive into fascinating Carnival traditions around the world. More than 12,000 feet above sea level in western Bolivia, in the small city of Oruro, every year for centuries has seen a battle between good and evil. Dancers wearing elaborate, horned, technicolor masks perform the Diablada, or “Dance of the Devils,” trying and ultimately failing to defeat the Archangel Michael. Though it might be the festival’s most……

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