Page 88 - Blues Festival Guide Magazine 2019

Rodgers’ memorabilia, photographs and history, will reopen in
the Historic Train Depot in downtown Meridian in Fall 2019.
Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience
Meridian, MS
Phone: 601/581-1550 - www.msarts.org
The Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience, also known
as The MAX, showcases Mississippi’s legacy in every area of the
arts – including the blues – honoring Mississippi’s legends in arts
and entertainment through exhibitions, performances, classes
Gateway to the Blues Museum in Tunica Resorts, MS. and events, including a Mississippi Walk of Fame.
Photo courtesy of the Tunica Convention & Visitors Bureau Mississippi John Hurt Museum
Carollton, MS
artwork and more – including a recording studio where you’ll Phone: 803/645-6898 - facebook.com/johnhurtfoundation
learn the basics of blues music with a chance to record your very Built inside the humble three-room shack that was John Hurt’s
own blues song. This must-see attraction for all music lovers will home, visit the museum dedicated to the life and music of John
tell the remarkable story of how the blues was born and the role Hurt, the gentle songster who enraptured the world during the
Tunica played in building the genre’s legacy.
folk blues revival of the 1960s with his syncopated fingerpicked
GRAMMY Museum Mississippi rhythms and kindly voice. You’ll find the house filled with artifacts
Cleveland, MS and memorabilia from his life and career, as well as his gravesite
Phone: 662/441-0100 - www.grammymuseumms.org nearby.
GRAMMY Museum Mississippi aims to educate individuals
about the history and cultural significance of American music, North Delta Museum
Friars Point, MS
and to inspire the next generation to explore and create new Phone: 662/902-7642 - facebook.com/northdeltamuseum
forms of music using the roots that have existed in this country Described by the Memphis Commercial Appeal like
for centuries. The Museum accomplishes this through innovative “crawling through someone’s attic,” the North Delta Museum
programming, cutting-edge interactives and exciting exhibitions.
is an interesting stop to check out artifacts from the Mississippi
Highway 61 Blues Museum Delta, ranging from prehistoric fossils to early 20 century
th
Leland, MS agricultural and household items, including visuals from the
Phone: 662/686-7646 & 866/285-7646 steamboat days of the historic Friars Point port.
www.highway61blues.com University of Mississippi Blues Archive
Housed in the old Montgomery Hotel, this small blues museum
honors around 80 mid-Mississippi Delta bluesmen with photos and Oxford, MS
memorabilia. If you’re lucky, bluesman Pat Thomas, son of James Phone: 662/232-7753
“Son” Thomas, will play guitar as you peruse the exhibits. The olemiss.edu/depts/general_library/archives/blues
Leland Blues Project, an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization, runs The Blues Archive at the University of Mississippi acquires
the museum and puts on two festivals each year to help support it. and preserves blues and blues-related materials in a variety of
formats for scholars of the blues, African American studies and
Howlin’ Wolf Museum Southern culture. With 60,000+ sound recordings, 20,000+
West Point, MS photographs, 1,000+ videos, 34,000+ books, periodicals and
By appointment only, contact Jeremy Klutts: 662/295-8361 newsletters, and numerous manuscripts and ephemera, the Blues
www.wpnet.org/index.php/attractions/howlin_wolf Archive houses one of the largest collections of blues recordings,
Run by the Howlin’ Wolf Blues Society of West Point, MS, the publications and memorabilia in the world.
Howlin’ Wolf Blues Museum houses memorabilia and promotes
the historical blues education of North Mississippi, perpetuating MISSOURI
the musical achievements of Chester Arthur Burnett – The Howlin’ National Blues Museum
Wolf – as well as other regional musicians. St. Louis, MO
Jimmie Rodgers Museum Phone: 314/925-0016 - www.nationalbluesmuseum.org
Meridian, MS The National Blues Museum is the only museum dedicated
Phone: 601/485-1908 - www.jimmierodgers.com exclusively to preserving and honoring the national and
Jimmie Rodgers, also known as the “Father of Country international story of the blues and its impact on American
Music” and “The Blue Yodeler,” was the first major star of country culture. Through interactive displays, photographs, memorabilia,
music, but also introduced the blues to a far wider audience than traveling exhibits and live music events, the National Blues
any other artist of his time. The museum, which houses Jimmie Museum explores and preserves the historic significance of the

86 Blues Festival Guide 2019