Memphis music history is as old as Memphis itself. As a hotbed of soulful African American culture, this place has had a huge influence on rock, soul, gospel and more. But it’s probably most well known as the Home of the Blues. And that’s mostly down to one man: W.C Handy.

Handy grew up in Florence, Alabama to a father who thought musical instruments were tools of the devil (amazing what the desire to annoy a controlling parent can do for your creativity). Later, as a pretty *ahem* handy trumpet player and composer, he went on a personal musical pilgrimage across the Mississippi Delta, listening to all the popular African American music he could find – particularly the rural music echoing from the former slave plantations; repetitious, mournful, beautiful. He was especially struck by the legendary Prince McCoy, sat sliding a silver blade across a steel guitar: a composition which Handy described as having no beginning or ending, and which “haunted” him.