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 ground zero blues club 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 factory, a lot of our base manufacturingwise. blues music and tourism and interest in blues music is replacing that as an industry. reporter: according to lore, robert johnson met the devil at this crossroads and traded his soul for the gift of music. that s just a legend, but this is a fact. the tourist attraction used to be seasonal. now it s year-round. they come all the time now. reporter: and in the wake of so many problems for many folks,
increase of 13% if 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 because people here are doing a better job marketing their attractions. bill luckett and owner of the grounds zero blues club, he says, whatever the cause, the results are undeniable. reporter: how important do you think that is to building up this part of america in these hard times? we have lost a lot of our factories, a lot of our base manufacturing wise. blues music and tourism and interest in blues music is replacing that as an industry. reporter: according to lore, the great blues man, robert johnson, met the devil at this crossroads and traded his soul for the gift of music. that s just a legend but this is a fact. the tourist attraction used
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.
this year so far we ve seen an increase of 13% in our tourism tax numbers. and all of that in the middle of a recession? absolutely. we are open for business. some say 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 says whatever the cause, the results are undeniable. how important do you think that is to building up america in these hard times? well, we have lost a lot of our factories, a lot of our base manufacturing wise. blues music and tourism, and an interest in blues music is replacing that as an industry. reporter: according to lore, the great bluesman robert johnson met the devil at this cross roads and traded his soul for the gift of music. that s just a legend, but this