A King Of Delta Blues- New B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Centre

For the 'King of Blues', his instrument Lucille has always represented far more than an emotion or woman; she is an ebony, maple gold, pearl-inlaid heir to the Gibson throne. Her family tree leads us to the road where the crossroads point towards the very essence of modern electric blues. It is from her breast that Riley B. King has drawn a lifetime of achievements. Powerful yet sensual, unfaltering vibrato strokes, two note string bends and trademark techniques are delivered with economic precision. Countless historians have acknowledged the details of significant events in the politics of race and oppression, yet with his guitar by his side, B.B. King is a total entity, he is a cultural event- creative, unerringly personal and iconoclastic. Fire, tempered with the flood of native Mississippi indignation, he realised his musical ends through blood, sweat and tears, tempered by the grace of gospel for those who are willing to receive his presence. It is the musical piece de resistance of T-Bone Walker, Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy and B.B.'s deft vibrato that have collectively breathed depth and form into a new millennium of blues. Eclipsing the worlds of jazz and trad blues, B.B. King's progressive cry for liberty from the depression and plantations could never be reducible to oral history written solely into the pages of a biography or musical score.

To mark B.B.´s 80th birthday, a groundbreaking project was broached in June 2006 to establish a museum marking some six decades in the career of the ´King of blues´, comprising the B.B. King Museum and ´Delta Interpretive Centre´, an educational facility that opened in September 2008. Placed in B.B.´s hometown of Indianola Mississippi, located partially on the site of an abandoned gin mill where King once laboured, the museum provides outreach and education to impoverished youngsters in the Delta region, stimulating a new generation of musicians. The facility encompasses some 20,000 square feet of exhibitions and educational programmes for local residents and visitors alike. The centre offers an integration of oral histories, including those of King, formed into short films and computer interactive elements. B.B. King´s museum facility is designed to preserve not only his seminal legacy, but also the unique and world-renowned cultural heritage of the Mississippi Delta region. The initiative hopes to unite the community via music, art and education, utilising B.B. King´s inspiring life-odyssey as a symbolic example of the ´American Dream´. B.B.´s influence as an ´artist and icon´ in the 1960´s is addressed in association with the Civil Rights movement in shaping music of the era- the emphasis of the facility is very much orientated toward appraising the needs of the underprivileged and disadvantaged.

The official web base for the B.B. King Museum Foundation provides a succinct description of the philosophies and facilities forming the foundation of the project: -

"The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Centre will offer Delta young people hope. Proposed educational, cultural and character development programming will take the form of classes, mentoring and interactive exhibits that B.B. King could not find in the Mississippi of his youth. In addition, the stories of the Delta, from its history to its music, social mores, race relations, literature, legends, adversities and successes will be examined in one interpretive setting. Since all these elements came together to produce the Blues and Bluesmen, the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Centre will be a repository for the ingredients that brewed America´s root music."

The B.B. King Museum is situated in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, on US Highway 82, between Greenwood and Greenville, near the infamous Crossroads at Clarksdale.

B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive centre:-

400 Second Street, Indianola, MS 38751

P.O. Box 2004, Indianola, MS 38751-2004

Phone: 662-887-9539

Current information and eNewsletter updates can be found on the B.B. King Museum website:

http://www.bbkingmuseum.org

Feature: Stephanie Lynne Thorburn- Freelance Music Writer.

Homepage:

http://stephaniethorburn.webs.com