On a gravel road in Merigold, MS is the Mississippi Blues Trail Maker for Po’ Monkeys.
Po’ Monkey’s, one of Mississippi’s most famous juke joints, was also the residence of Willie “Po’ Monkey” Seaberry. According to Seaberry, he opened for business c. 1963. He worked as a farmer and continued to live here and operate the club on certain afternoons and nights. 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; Mississippi’s Birney Imes, who featured the club in his 1990 book Juke Joint; and Will Jacks, in his 2019 book Po’ Monkey’s: Portrait of a Juke Joint.
