It's always time for a road trip getaway, and a good road trip always needs music. So gas up your car before the prices rise again and get your ears in shape for a trek through the Delta, the region of rich soil and King Cotton along the west side of Mississippi that helped shape the blues.

The basic route to follow is the Mississippi Delta Great River Road (www.byways.org/explore/byways/64069/), part of the National Scenic Byways Program. It follows state Route 1 along the river from a point north of Clarksdale south to Vicksburg, passing through towns where you can stop to hear music, visit museums and just soak up the atmosphere. The photos on the website aren't much, but you'll need the map.

Heading south from the Delta road's starting point, take a jog to the left to visit the city of Clarksdale and the Delta Blues Museum (www.deltabluesmuseum.org) where exhibits include part of Muddy Waters' cabin home from his days as a sharecropper. Click on ``Plan Your Visit'' for a bit of background on why Clarksdale is important to the blues culture, and for ``Where to Hear Music and Festival Info'' on some of the few remaining spots to hear live blues in the Delta.

Get back on Route 1 and head to Rosedale, or just take U.S. 61 south to Cleveland (http://visitclevelandms.com), which styles itself the Crossroads of Culture in the Delta. Click on ``Blues'' to learn more about the background of the music in the area, and check out ``Special Events.'' Then hit ``Attractions'' for details on Rosedale, which says it is mentioned in Travelin' Riverside Blues by blues pioneer Robert Johnson.

Head back to Route 1 again and head for Greenville (www.visitgreenville.org) where the ``Festivals & Events'' calendar includes blues and jazz festivals. It's also the home of the Highway 61 Blues Museum & Festival (www.highway61blues.com).

The Delta road continues south along Route 1 to U.S. 61 and then to Vicksburg (www.vicksburgcvb.org), a historic river city. Look on the left side of the page for ``Scenic Drive'' with instructions for do-it-yourself driving tours.

Want more places to visit in the Delta? Visit Live from the Birthplace of American Music (www.birthplaceoftheblues.com) and look for ``Blues Landmarks'' to find a map. And the Delta Center for Culture and Learning has a Web poster (www.blueshighway.org/BluesPoster09.pdf) with dates of blues festivals all year long in Mississippi.

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