It’s spectacular! Well worth a trip to the Mississippi Delta. The museum tells the story not only of B.B. King but of the South, and indeed the country, during the turbulent times after the end of WW II. B.B’s story is the American Dream: Born among the poorest of the poor in a sharecropper’s shack out from Itta Bena, Mississippi, which is out from Indianola, B.B. grew into not only the best-known bluesman of his time but became a business empire of his own. Now well into his eighties, he still tours and makes records, and returns to Indianola every year for a free concert.

Where is Indianola (I hear you ask)? Well, it’s the seat of Sunflower County, in the heart of the Delta. Now, the Delta is not at the mouth of the Mississippi River — that would be the “Passes” down south of New Orleans. No, the Delta is a vast alluvial plain lying roughly between Vicksburg and Memphis and extending over into Arkansas and Louisiana. It’s where the Mississippi used to flood every Spring for thousands of years until the levees were built to keep it in its channel. As a result, Delta land is among the richest in the world and ideally suited for growing cotton. And the back-breaking work by African-American field hands hoeing and picking cotton set in motion the process of creating the Blues.

The field hands are long gone, replaced by machines and computer programs that squeeze every penny of profit from the land. Even most of the cotton is gone and the land is now more likely to support corn, wheat, soybeans, or catfish. Still, in the heat of a Delta afternoon, my wife claims she can hear the field shouts that used to make the work bearable back in the ’50s when she was growing up on the farm. And a Delta Dawn is as magical as ever.

Getting there
You’ll have to go there because you won’t find yourself there by accident. Indianola is a seven-hour drive from Atlanta, about five from New Orleans, 2 1/2 from Memphis, or an hour and a half from Jackson. From Jackson, take US 49 to Yazoo City, stopping to pay homage to Willie Morris, then take the fork to 49W which will lead you to Indianola another 50 miles north. The State of Mississippi has set up a “Blues Trail” that will give you more information and also tells who’s playing at the various clubs and juke joints. After Indianola, be sure to head on up 49W to Clarksdale, the Delta Blues Museum, and Morgan Freeman’s Ground Zero Blues Club.

Where to stay
It will take you 2-3 hours to do the museum. So you might have lunch at the Crown Restaurant first, then after the museum, immerse yourself in the spa at The Alluvian in nearby Greenwood, or if you’re the literary type, spend the night on the river in Greenville and take in McCormick Book Inn, where you can hobnob with people who knew Walker Percy and Shelby Foote.

When to go
Everything’s open year ’round, but most folks will tell you that April is the prettiest month in the Deep South. If that doesn’t work for you, check out the Blues Trail site for dates of the major Blues Festivals and you might time your trip accordingly.