Battle over Bucksnort.

At first there had been only the old towns along the River and the old towns along the hills, from each of which the planters with their gangs of slaves and then of hired laborers advanced to wrest from the cane and gum and cypress and holly and oak, the cotton patches which as the years passed became fields and then plantations; the very paths made by bear and deer and panther become the roads and highways linking the little towns still bearing the names of the old hunting stands: Panther Burn, Bucksnort, Bear Gun.   --William Faulkner, Big Woods

You won’t see Panther Burn or Bucksnort on your trip along I-55, but you’ll see enough scenic landscape to understand the bone-deep connection between the people here and the land. Those who live along this divide have always shared Faulkner’s concern for the earth, his ambivalence toward modern life. It’s a delicate balance between man and nature, between Old South and New. And sometimes there have been conflicts. Faulkner said that all great literature comes from the human heart in conflict with itself. Maybe that’s why so many great writers and artists have arisen from this route.

For you, however, a trip on I-55 will have no conflicts, just unadulterated pleasure, because you’ve got the best seat in this house divided, cruising along a well-maintained route. Construction for I-55 was begun in the 1950s; twenty years before, the sight of mules and wagons was not uncommon along Mississippi roadways. Those folks who wanted tunes back then had to sing or hum their own. You, on the other hand, may want to pop in the music of Ace Cannon, as you head out from Winona and start for Grenada.

Cannon, born in Grenada in 1934, became one of America’s favorite saxophonists almost from the start of his phenomenally successful career. Joining the Bill Black Combo in 1959, he played lead saxophone on their original recordings and in their appearances on national television, on shows ranging from Ed Sullivan to American Bandstand. In 1962, he recorded his smash Tuff, and 35 years later, Cannon and the Bill Black Combo were still going strong, nominated for a Grammy for their contribution to Scotty Moore and D. J. Fontana’s Elvis tribute album, All The King’s Men.

As you’re rocking along, you’ll see that I-55 takes you through the tip edges of Carroll County, where divided loyalties for one man took him to great wealth and high position yet ended in a version of Great Balls of Fire.