The legend lives on

A bust of Louis Jordan, famous entertainer from Brinkley, Arkansas, greets visitors at the Central Delta Historical Museum in Brinkley.


Louis Jordan, one of the top R&B entertainers of all time whose height of fame was in the 1940s, and I share the same hometown of Brinkley in Eastern Arkansas.

His songs, including “Beans and Cornbread,” “Ain’t Nobody Here but Us Chickens,” “Let the Good Times Roll” and many others are much better known than his name and his origin. I never knew of him until several years ago. Until a few years ago there was no trace of him anywhere in Brinkley. Now the Central Delta Historical Museum in downtown Brinkley has a bust of him along with a great display.

I wrote a piece on him just for my writing website Arkansas Profiles. It focuses not only on his career but the way he was received in Brinkley. There is also some great information at The Encyclopedia of Arkansas and at www.louisjordan.com.

An update on my story about him is that the house in Brinkley where he spent much of his childhood is in the process of being torn down.