| MS Blues Trail Series: Delta Blues Museum and the Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival |
| By Brenda Germany/Delta Museum Photo: Stephen Anderson (CLARKSDALE, MS) – Just an hour south of Memphis, at the legendary Crossroads of MS Hwy 61 and Hwy 49 lies the blues steeped city of Clarksdale, Mississippi. This historic delta city is home to an amazing total of ten Mississippi Blues Trail markers: Cotton Pickin’ Blues, Delta Blues Museum, Ike Turner, Riverside Hotel, Sam Cooke, Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival, The New World, Wade Walton, WROX Radio and Big Jack Johnson; all located within the downtown area making Clarksdale a favorite destination of blues enthusiasts from around the globe. The Southland Music Line continues our MS Blues Trail Series with a look at the Delta Blues Museum and Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival markers. [Editor’s note: The 2021 festival is scheduled for August 13-15] The Delta Blues Museum (DBM) resides in its third and permanent location of the restored Y&MV/Illinois Central Freight Depot at No. 1 Blues Alley in downtown Clarksdale between the Ground Zero Blues Club and the Delta Blues Museum Stage. Mississippi’s oldest music museum and the first worldwide to focus exclusively on the blues, originated in 1979 as part of the Carnegie Public Library and is “dedicated to creating a welcoming place where visitors find meaning, value, and perspective by exploring the history and heritage of the unique American musical art form of the blues.” … … The Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival is a three-day event held annually during the second weekend of August at the Delta Blues Museum stage on Blues Alley. Featuring nationally known and homegrown performers it annually attracts upwards of 25,000 blues enthusiasts from all over the world. …Read the Mississippi Blues Trail Series article in full |
