Themed Photo Gallery and Information: Merigold, Mississippi
History of Merigold and Po Monkey’s
Merigold (sometimes misspelled as Marigold or Merrigold) is a town in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 439 at the 2010 census, down from 664 in 2000.
Po’ Monkey’s is a juke joint located approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Merigold. The Mississippi Blues Commission placed a historic marker at the Po Monkey’s Lounge in 2009 designating it as a site on the Mississippi Blues Trail for its contribution to the development of the blues (and one of the few authentic juke joints that is still operating today).
Po’ Monkey’s lounge is located in unincorporated Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States, outside of Merigold, Mississippi. Located in the Mississippi Delta, it is a juke joint located in cotton fields in a one-room house. The juke joint was founded in 1961 and is one of the last rural juke joints in the Mississippi Delta.
By the 1990s, Po’ Monkey’s was attracting a conglomeration of college students, migrating from Delta State University, located in Cleveland, MS, to juke joint pundits. The absurd and sightly decor of the joint called the attention of The New York Times, Annie Leibovitz, and Birney Imes. The low ceilings of the joint are lined with Christmas lights, naked babydolls, street signs, wrapping paper, disco balls, and dozens of stuffed-animal monkeys. The outside of the joint is adorned with a famously reputable sign of etiquette reading: “No Loud Music, No Dope Smoking, No Rap Music.” The building’s assemblage consists of tin and plywood, held together by nails, staples, and wires, loosely fashioned and obviously made at the hands of Po’Monkey himself.
For the past 50 years, Po’ Monkey’s has been in operation as an incubator for the Delta Blues scene. Although this is not the first Juke Joint to arise within the Mississippi Delta cotton fields, it is one of the relatively few to survive the harrowing 21st century. This shack, originally sharecroppers’ quarters, now housed in a raunchier crowd filled with dirty dancing, strippers, and $2 cans of beer. These historic music houses have always been places where “farm workers could relax, drink beer, and listen to music.” Po’ Monkey’s was owned and operated by owner William Seaberry until his recent death in 2016. The joint is only open one night a week, Thursday, unless booked for special events.
The term “Juke”, dialectally pronounced “jook”, is believed to have originated Gullah dialect of African influence from the Southeast coast, where it means “boisterous”, “rowdy”, “corrupt” or “immoral”. According to Zora Neale Hurston, a prominent folklorist, novelist, anthropologist, and short story writer of the 19th and 20th centuries, “Jook is a word for a Negro pleasure house”. It is regularly referred to as a “bawdy house” where African-American workers could “dance, drink, and gamble.”
July 2004 marked a moment of cultural preservation for Po’ Monkey’s. The state senate passed a bill which established the Mississippi State Blues Commission. The goal of this enactment was to create “a plan to promote authentic Mississippi ‘blues’ music and ‘blues culture’ for purposes of economic development.” Unfortunately, the commission’s campaign failed to recognize the roots of Delta blues in slavery and its brutal legacy, and instead emphasized the “story of the people, places, themes and styles of blues music in Mississippi”. The Mississippi Blues Commission placed a historic marker at the Po Monkey’s Lounge in 2009 designating it as a site on the Mississippi Blues Trail for its contribution to the development of the blues (and one of the few authentic juke joints that is still operating today).
The juke joint is originally named after a nickname given to Willie Seaberry, “Po’Monkey”. Seaberry explained the name: “Po’ Monkey is all anybody ever called me since I was little,” he said. “I don’t know why, except I was poor for sure.” Seaberry was best known for his strangely coordinated outfits of wildly exotic pantsuits. He could be seen sneaking out of bar room, into a bedroom offset of the drinking quarters, only to reappear in a new pantsuit. Seaberry’s legacy is building a community that encouraged people of all races to intermingle. Billy Nowell, current Mayor of nearby Cleveland, MS, called Seaberry a “positive influence” on Bolivar County.Mr. Willie Seaberry, “Po’ Monkey”, was found deceased on July 14, 2016. It is unknown what will happen to Po’ Monkey’s lounge after the procession of his death.
Source: Wikipedia
Mississippi Blues Trail Marker
Full text:
The rural juke joint played an integral role in the development of the blues, offering a distinctly secular space for people to socialize, dance, and forget their everyday troubles. While many such jukes once dotted the cotton fields of the Delta countryside, Po’ Monkey’s was one of the relatively few to survive into the 21st century. Initially frequented by locals, Po’ Monkey’s became a destination point for blues tourists from around the world during the 1990s.
According to Willie “Po’ Monkey” Seaberry he opened a juke joint at his home in this location in 1963. Seaberry (b. 1941) worked as a farmer and operated the club, where he continued to live, at night. By the 1990s Po’ Monkey’s was attracting a mixed crowd of locals as well as college students from Delta State University and blues aficionados in search of “authentic” juke joints. The dramatic décor both inside and outside the club also attracted attention from news outlets including the New York Times and noted photographers including Annie Leibovitz and Mississippi’s Birney Imes, who featured the club in his 1990 book Juke Joint. Despite such notoriety Po’ Monkey’s in many ways continued to typify the rural juke joint, furnished with a jukebox, a pool table, beer posters stapled to the walls, and Christmas lights strung across the walls and ceiling. Modern juke joints were preceded by informal “jookhouses” that were actually tenants’ houses on plantations. Residents would clear the furniture from the largest room and spread sawdust on the floor in preparation for an evening, and often sold fried fish and homemade liquor to those who gathered for music, dancing, and gambling. Such gatherings were called house parties, fish fries, country suppers, Saturday night suppers, balls, or frolics. Many musicians recall first hearing blues at jookhouses run by neighbors or family members. Some artists, including Muddy Waters, ran their own jukes in Mississippi. In the 1930s coin-operated phonographs became widely distributed throughout the South and quickly became known as “jukeboxes.” Since that time, most music at juke joints (including Po’ Monkey’s) has been provided not by live performers but by jukeboxes and, later, by deejays.
The term “juke”—sometimes spelled “jook” and often pronounced to rhyme with “book” rather than “duke”—may have either African or “Gullah” origins, and scholars have suggested meanings including “wicked or disorderly,” “to dance,” and “a place of shelter.” Used as a noun, “juke” refers to small African American-run bars, cafes, and clubs such as Po Monkey’s; as a verb, it refers to partying. Variations of “jook” first appeared on recordings in the 1930s, and at a 1936 session in Hattiesburg the Mississippi Jook Band made what were later described as the first “rock ’n’ roll” records. “Juke” gained widespread recognition in 1952 as the title of a hit record by blues harmonica player Little Walter. More formal establishments in towns and cities eventually replaced most rural juke joints, but jukes continued to occupy an important place in the imagination of blues fans and performers. In the 21st century Mississippians Little Milton, Lee Shot Williams, Bill “Howlin’ Madd” Perry, and Johnny Drummer sang and composed new songs about jukes, and in 2004 Clarksdale established an annual “Juke Joint Festival” to celebrate the city’s down-home venues.
Source : http://msbluestrail.org/
“Inside Po Monkey’s” Article
Click here for a comprehensive article “Inside Po Monkey’s” by Luther Brown (Director & Associate Dean, Delta State University, Cleveland, MS), published in ‘Southern Spaces’ June 22, 2006
“Reflections on Po’ Monkey’s Lounge”
Click here for an article on the ‘Mississippi Folk Life’ website: Reflections on Willie Seaberry’s legendary juke joint in Merigold, MS, 30th April 2017.
Photo Gallery
Liza Schnabel (Director of the Railroad Historical Museum, Clevelend, MS), Max Haymes (blues historian and author of ‘Railroadin’ Some’), Luther Brown (Director & Associate Dean, Delta State University, Cleveland, MS) and Rex Haymes (blues musicain) outside Po Monkey’s during a personal guided tour of the area given by Luther whilst on Max’s book singing tour of MIssissippi, September 2006.
These are the nearly shacks refered to in Luther Brown’s article.
