Recently my good friend, Sade Turnipseed, Educational Director, B. B. King and Delta Interpretive Center Museum, was in Meridian. She was here to promote the opening of their museum, scheduled September 13 2008. The museum is located at Indianola MS.

While Sade was in town, 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!

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 storytelling. The Blues were born in the North Mississippi Delta following the Civil War. It 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 & Roll, Country, Blue Grass, and Spirituals that are all connected to the Blues by their origins.

They where singing the Blues when Jimmy 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 in 2004 passed Senate Bill 2082 which reads: AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A MISSISSIPPI BLUES COMMISSION TO DEVELOP A PLAN TO PROMOTE AUTHENTIC MISSISSIPPI "BLUES" MUSIC AND "BLUES CLUTURE"FOR PURPOSES OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; TO PRESCRIBE THE FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION; TO EMPOWER THE COMMISSION TO ACCEPT AND EXPEND GRANT FUNDS; TO PROVIDE FOR INTERDEPARTMENTAL COOPERATION; TO AUTHORIZE THE COMMISSION TO PURCHASE AND ERECT "MISSISSIPPI BLUES TRAIL" HISTORICAL MARKERS WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

One of the results of the legislation was the creating of the Mississippi Blues Trail and 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 are 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!