Mississippi: Delta blues a lure for tourists?

CNN ^ | 9/28/04 | AP

[bourbon]

GREENWOOD, Mississippi (AP) -- In the Mississippi Delta, life is never far from the blues -- a challenge and an opportunity for those promoting tourism here.

Already, millions of people visit, drawn by nine casino resorts in Tunica County that pump more than $2 billion a year into the region's economy.

But a short drive and a world away lies the real Delta -- stretching from just beyond the glitzy gambling halls all the way to the magnolia-shaded lanes of Natchez.

Here, amid some of the nation's richest soil and poorest people, are the sharecroppers' shacks, cotton fields, small towns and juke joints where the blues were born -- music that slaves first sang about the hardships of life.

Now a new effort is under way to market this aspect of the Delta to tourists. But just how do you attract visitors to a region famous for poverty and a violent history of racism?

By focusing on it.

"I think it would be a great mistake if people promoting tourism in the Delta ignored the history of the Delta," said U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi. "You have to talk about slavery. You have to talk about the night riders."

[bourbon]

ugh. I take it Rep. Thompson would prefer that all roads leading into the Delta would have a billboard featuring a hooded Klansmen saying "Welcome to Mississippi!" So much for his efforts to promote tourism in his own district.

Incidentally, I have seen several European and Asian tourists (mostly blues enthusiasts) in the Delta. In fact, the last time I visited the Delta Blues Museum there sign-in book was chock full of the names of foreign visitors.

[bourbon]

(((MS PING)))

[bourbon]

Re: Post #1

there = their

D-oh!

[Mr. Mojo]

[Stirner]

I'm not from around there, but by looking at a map, it seems that Tunica, Mississippi is just south of Memphis, Tennessee. Is that "the Delta"? Wouldn't the delta be a the southern end of the state rather than the north?

[trebb]

I'm not from around there, but by looking at a map, it seems that Tunica, Mississippi is just south of Memphis, Tennessee. Is that "the Delta"? Wouldn't the delta be a the southern end of the state rather than the north?

The delta comprises the north half of the State. The Army Corps of Engineers have put in an impressive array of levees. A delta is where the river starts spreading out into smaller tributaries and not necessrily at the point of outlet into the ocean/sea/lake/gulf.

[vetvetdoug]

Read the book edited by Jas Obrecht made from articles from the magazine, Guitar Player, called Blues Guitar and take a trip down Highway 61 in an old car with a CD of the complete recordings of Robert Johnson. I did it once and will do it again but this time have a few CD's of Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Johnny Shines, Robert Lockwood, Jr. , Skip James....What a trip.. I even played guitar at the Crossroads. Even visited the Payne Chapel Graveyard near Quito on Highway 7.

[vetvetdoug]

Nice National.

[Imgr8t]

Actually, it's not really a true delta. It's called the "Delta" but it really is an aluvial flood plain. Just silt built up over time from rivers flooding.

Hometown Bump!

[bourbon]

The Delta in Mississippi stretches from Memphis, TN to Vicksburg,MS, covering about a hundred miles from the MS River in the west to the hills in the east at its widest point.

[trebb]

Yepper - jsut trying to helpthe guy deal with it. Besides, without the Corps, it would all be a bit to the West of where it is today. I live down Biloxi way (came with the Air Force in '86 and it became home) and have been up through the Vicksburg area a few times - I love it (dangerous words from a former Yankee). God Bless.

[Oystir]

I would love to start a roadtrip in Memphis(BBQ) cruise thru old joints in MS (not casinos) and head to New Orleans but not sure my liver would want to go.

[TheyConvictedOglethorpe]

Here, amid some of the nation's richest soil and poorest people...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't the traditional problem in Mississippi been that its farmland is marginal as against the rest of the South? I thought the poorest people wound up there precisely because the land was least productive and therefore cheapest.

[kellynla]

Some of the best barbecue and blues in the world from Memphis down Hwy 61 south...
and the women ain't bad either!
ooooooh lawdy!!! LOL

[Chapita]

Me and my crew stayed in a small motel right behind Chuck's Dairy Barn in Rolling Fork while we were doing a job out in the National Forest for the Forestry Service.

I'd drive back into town at lunch and buy up some BBQ'ed pork and take it back out to the work site. Best black BBQ joint around!

[AlexW]

" Is that "the Delta"? "

The Delta starts at Memphis.

I have lived here for 60 years.

[Proud Conservative2]

Don't forget Mississippi John Hurt!

[Chapita]

I was under the impression that "delta" referred to the Greek symbol of a triangle. The delta is a triangle shaped area!

[uncitizen]

I just finished reading "Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues" by Elijah Wald. Very interesting book. Highly recommend it.

One thing i learned from the book is that the Mississippi Delta was virtually uninhabited during slave times. It didn't begin to be inhabited until around the turn of the century. So "former slaves" have existed there, but not slavery per se (virtually).

[MississippiMan]

Grew up right in the middle of the MS Delta. Different culture. Different world. And that still applies today.

Also home to the world's largest, meanest, and most numerous mosquitoes.

The Delta's a good place to be FROM.

MM