When  my good friend, Sade Turnipseed, educational director at the  B. B. King and Delta Interpretive Center Museum, was in Meridian, she was all about singing the blues, Mississippi style.

 

During her visit, she toured several areas including The Boys and Girls Club. With a sparkle in her beautiful eyes, Sade passed out free harmonics to each student, and then, the blues began … again and again … the Mississippi Blues, right here in the Queen City.

 

The B. B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center is all about the Mississippi Blues – a grand celebration of our rich musical heritage. B. B. King’s life story is a lesson of pursuing a dream, and making it happen, in one of America’s most impoverished places, the Mississippi delta. As stated by the museum, “He had little but the dream in his heart and a destiny that would take him around the world. Now he’s an international music icon, and music lovers everywhere want to know more about the man who became B. B. King.”

 

The blues, Mississippi is where it all began. Yes, the Mississippi Delta is generally considered to be the birthplace of the blues, with the new musical form emerging around the turn of the 19th century. The origins of the blues for many years was recorded only by memory, and retold live and in person – such as with storytelling. The blues were born in the North Mississippi Delta following the Civil War. The genre was influenced by African roots, field hollers, ballads, church music and rhythmic dance tunes called jump-ups evolved into a music for a singer who would sing a line and someone with a guitar would answer.

 

“The blues … where bad luck and trouble are always present, and always the result of others, pressing upon unfortunate and down trodden poor souls, yearning to be free from life’s’ troubles. Relentless rhythms repeat the chants of sorrow, and the pity of a lost soul many times over. This is the blues.” This is the enchanting and sorrowful description of the root of many music forms, such as: rock and roll, country, blue grass, and spirituals that are all connected to the blues by their origins.

 

They where singing the blues when Jimmie Rodgers, father of County Music and Meridian native, sang “Missing Mississippi”, when Elvis sang, “You Ain’t Nothing but a Hound Dog” and so many others: the Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, to name a few – all of these soulful musical artists took their queue from the blues.

 

It is all fitting and proper that the Mississippi Legislature passed Senate Bill 2082 which created The Mississippi Blues Commission and set it to work bringing the state’s rich blues history to light.

 

The result of the legislation was the creating of the Mississippi Blues Trail. In east Mississippi we have Blues markers at the following locations:

— West Point – Howlin’ Wolf

 

— Crawford – Big Joe Williams

 

— Kosciusko – Charlie Musselwhite

 

— Meridian – Jimmie Rodgers

 

— Philadelphia – Otis Rush

 

At the completion of the Mississippi Blues Trail, the plans were for 120 markers and perhaps more – it’s an ongoing project and a mighty way to promote Mississippi tourism – to flaunt one of the state’s greatest achievements, The Mississippi Blues.

 

Now is the perfect time to plan a “travel Mississippi” summer vacation, don’t you think? Just hop on the Mississippi Blues Trail and you’ll be singing the Blues all over the state – what a way to go!

 

But, I must mention,  an additional Blues celebration is The Jimmie Rodgers Festival in Meridian. This year’s festival is set for May 12-18. More information can be found at wwwjimmierodgers.com/2025-festival. Hey, check it out.

 

My favorite Jimmie Rodgers song: “Waiting for a Train.”

“All around the water tanks, waiting for a train

a thousand miles away from home sleeping in the rain

I walked up to a brakeman to give him a line of talk

He says “If you’ve got money, I’ll see that you don’t walk”

I haven’t got a nickel, not a penny can I show

“Get off, get off, you railroad bum,” he slammed the boxcar door.”

 

Anne McKee is executive director at Meridian Railroad Museum.