this town alone pulled in $54 million from visitors last year, people tracing the history of blues and rock through a string of historic sights throughout the region called the blues trail. kappi allen is with the county tourism commission. >> this year, so far we've seen an increase of 13% in our tourism tax numbers. >> reporter: all of that in the middle of a recession? >> absolutely. we are open for business. >> reporter: some say the surge is because the blues speak to folks in hard times. some say it's because people here are doing a better job marketing their attractions. but bill luckett, an owner of the blues club here, says whatever the cause, the results are undeniable. how important do you think that is to building up this part of america in these hard times? >> well, we have lost a lot of our factories, a lot of our base manufacturingwise. blues music and tourism, an interest in blues music is replacing that as an industry.