August 7 - 10: Delta Blues Museum Celebrates The 2014  Sunflower Festival

Honoring the legacy of Big Jack Johnson. Museum Main Stage (" Melville Tillis stage") performances from the Delta Blues Museum Band, Latimore, Super Chikan, Jimbo Mathus, Kenny Brown and more - details at http://www.sunflowerfest.org           

Special Museum hours Thursday through Saturday, open until 6PM; Sunday, open from 1PM - 5PM.

Current Exhibits At Delta Blues Museum

"27 Years Of The Sunflower Blues & Gospel Festival"

Festival memorabilia and memories spanning 27 years, featuring a special exhibit on Big Jack Johnson

" In The Belly Of The Blues "

Photography exhibit byTerry Abrahamson, held over by popular demand. From the website: "Terry Abrahamson won a Grammy writing songs for Muddy Waters, helped launch the career of George Thorogood, created the first radio commercial ever performed by John Lee Hooker.  'In the Belly of the Blues' is (Abrahamson's) book, part of the permanent collection of the Library of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame."

            Exhibit sponsored by Wal-Mart, Barnes Pettey Financial Advisors, Shack Up Inn, Mississippi Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts and Friends of the Delta Blues Museum.

"Gone But Not Forgotten"

New photography exhibit by Delta nativeBilly Johnson. Johnson's photography exhibit highlights Delta Blues musicians who are now deceased but whose legacies live on through their music, offering a "backstage" glimpse into the lives of these artists.

AUGUST 8:  DELTA BLUES MUSEUM BAND OPENING PERFORMANCE

Student band - a 2014 Finalist for the National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Award - to kick off the Festival.

On the Museum Main Stage ("Melville Tillis stage"), 5PM

About the Delta Blues Museum:

Established in 1979 by the Carnegie Public Library Board of Trustees and re-organized as a stand-alone museum in 1999, the Delta Blues Museum is Mississippi's oldest music museum. A 2013 recipient of the IMLS National Medal for Museum and Library Services - the nation's highest honor for museum and library service to the community - as well as a 2014 Finalist for the National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Award, the Delta Blues Museum is dedicated to creating a welcoming place where visitors find meaning, value and perspective by exploring the history and heritage of the unique American musical art form, the Blues.

The Museum's current DEEPER ROOTS campaign seeks $1.2 million for new and enhanced exhibits for Phase II of its expansion - which includes the new Muddy Waters Addition - enabling the Museum to better preserve and display the history and work of Blues artists from the Mississippi Delta, and advancing the Museum's ability to "tell" stories that inspire and educate future generations about this important American art form. Find out more at www.deltabluesmuseum.org/deeperroots.