I'm Feeling the Blues Right Now: Blues Tourism and the Mississippi DeltaIn I’m Feeling the Blues Right Now: Blues Tourism and the Mississippi Delta, Stephen A. King reveals the strategies used by blues promoters and organizers in Mississippi, both African American and white, local and state, to attract the attention of tourists. In the process, he reveals how promotional materials portray the Delta’s blues culture and its musicians. Those involved in selling the blues in Mississippi work to promote the music while often conveniently forgetting the state’s historical record of racial and economic injustice. King’s research includes numerous interviews with blues musicians and promoters, chambers of commerce, local and regional tourism entities, and members of the Mississippi Blues Commission. This book is the first critical account of Mississippi’s blues tourism industry. From the late 1970s until 2000, Mississippi’s blues tourism industry was fragmented, decentralized, and localized, as each community competed for tourist dollars. By 2003–2004, with the creation of the Mississippi Blues Commission, the promotion of the blues became more centralized as state government played an increasing role in promoting Mississippi’s blues heritage. Blues tourism has the potential to generate new revenue in one of the poorest states in the country, repair the state’s public image, and serve as a vehicle for racial reconciliation. |
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
1 The History of the Mississippi Delta Blues | 23 |
2 The History of Blues Tourism in the Mississippi Delta | 54 |
3 Blues Myths and the Rhetorical Imagination of Place | 78 |
4 Blues Festivals Race and the Construction of Authenticity | 100 |
The History of Mississippi the Story of the Delta | 117 |
6 Public Memory Historical Amnesia and the Shack Up Inn | 140 |
Other editions - View all
I'm Feeling the Blues Right Now: Blues Tourism and the Mississippi Delta Stephen A. King Limited preview - 2011 |
I'm Feeling the Blues Right Now: Blues Tourism and the Mississippi Delta Stephen A. King No preview available - 2013 |
I'm Feeling the Blues Right Now: Blues Tourism and the Mississippi Delta Stephen A. King No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
1960s blues revival African American argues audience B. B. King Blues and Gospel Blues and Heritage blues artists blues club blues culture Blues Festival blues heritage Blues Highway blues music blues musicians blues promoters blues scholars blues tourism industry Charley Patton Chicago claimed Clarksdale Clarksdale Press Register Clarksdale’s Coahoma County Commercial Appeal cotton country blues crossroads David Evans Delta Blues Museum Dockery Farms downtown example Gospel Festival Greenville Ground Zero guitar guitarist Heritage Festival Hopson James Jim O’Neal juke joints King Biscuit Living Blues marker Memphis Mississippi Blues Commission Mississippi Blues Trail Mississippi Delta Mississippi Delta Blues Mississippi Development Muddy Waters owners personal interview Photo by author plantation played promote the blues public memory racial reconciliation region rhetorical Robert Johnson Sept sharecropping Skip James slave social South Southern story Sunflower River Sunflower River Blues telephone interview tour tourism officials white blues York