"Blues on the Farm"

We're proud to launch a new "Blues on the Farm" series.

Together, we'll explore the intersections of blues, Black history, and modern agriculture -- past, present, and future.

Tomorrow after we kick off King Biscuit Week, the Carnegie Public Library is opening its Blues on the Farm exhibit focusing on the history of Hopson plantation here. The library will then bring the exhibit "home" to display as a Pop-Up exhibit inside the former commissary during our Blues Country Harvest Party next Sunday, October 19th.

Hopson is internationally historic as the first farm to successfully harvest a mechanically planted and picked cotton crop, in 1944. Its land and original buildings are now home to the Shack Up Inn and Hopson Hospitality.

We've chosen Hopson to host the King Biscuit Warm-Up Live From Clarksdale this week AND our new Blues Country Harvest event next week. Some of the best blues artists in the world will be singing from the stages of the original cotton gin and commissary there.

They'll also be sharing their personal stories, discussing why we 'sing the blues' -- and how we're bringing the community together.

Blues on the Farm panels during the King Biscuit Warm-Up & Blues Country Harvest Party:

• Wed. 10/8 1:30pm Exhibit opening & panel: Dr. Mandy Truman, director of the Delta Center for Culture and Learning at Delta State University in Cleveland, MS; Thomas Jacques, interim director of the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, AR; Tracy Caradine, director of the Carnegie Public Library in Clarksdale, MS (inside the library downtown, at 1st St. & Delta Ave.)

• Thu. 10/9 Noon panel & performance: James "Superchikan" Johnson, Mark "Muleman" Massey & Jock Webb (on the outdoor cotton trailer stage, Hopson Hospitality)

• Sun. 10/19 Noon panel & 2pm performance: the Parchman Band, with Mississippi Department of Corrections superintendent Scott McClure and University of Mississippi professor Scott Barretta

All panels will be moderated by Shared Experiences USA founder Colleen Buyers. The exhibit is curated by Carnegie Public Library staff, with the support of the Mississippi Library Commission.

Update: the opening was a success -- thanks to all of you who came, from near and far! We'll post more from each panel soon.

"Blues on the Farm" exhibit opens during our King Biscuit Warm-Up at the Carnegie Public Library