A personal journey along one of America's most historic and defining routes, Highway 61, by one of Hollywood's most gifted talents, Jessica Lange.
 
Highway 61 is a historic road running north to south through the heart of the country, from the boreal forests on the north shore of Lake Superior at the Canadian border to Broad and Tulane in downtown New Orleans. It passes through eight states. Sometimes called the Great River Road, it follows the Mississippi. South of Memphis, through the river's ancient floodplains, it is known as the Blues Highway, home to some of the greatest blues singers of the past century, many of whom recorded songs about this road.
 
 
 
“Lord, it broke my heart
 
to think of Highway 61.
 
I felt so sad, Lord, while
 
I was on that lonely road.”
 
— Roosevelt Sykes
 
 
 
“I was born in a small town in northern Minnesota on Highway 61, as were my mother and father and my sisters. Most of my family — grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins — were born, grew up, married, lived and died along that stretch of road, and some are buried there. I drove that highway countless times while growing up, and over the past eight years I have frequently travelled it again, back and forth between New Orleans and my Minnesota, sometimes just passing through places, sometimes staying.
 
Long stretches of Highway 61, north and south, are now empty and desolate. In the barren landscape, there is a longing for what has been lost: the small towns, shops, neighbourhoods, family farms and factories. Even the shopping malls have failed. What remains is mysterious, melancholy and lonely.
 
These photographs chronicle what remains and what has disappeared. Highway 61 has a long memory.”