Books about Mississippi Musicians

Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King “A treasure trove of information…told with real feeling.” —Washington Post Book World “Charming…honest…transcendent…. It reads like a warm and lengthy conversation with a close friend.” —Billboard The undisputed king of the blues, B.B. King puts his life into words in a story that spans tragedy, triumph,…

Who Was Muddy Waters – A Delta Blues Musician from Mississippi

McKinley Morganfield (Muddy Waters, 1913-1983 McKinley Morganfield [Muddy Waters] was born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, near the Mississippi River–in the region known as the Mississippi Delta. On the following map, Rolling Fork is near the bottom left of the yellow area. The Mississippi River is the crooked blue line near there, snaking along the side…

Flowers that Grow Well in Mississippi

      The Following Information is from the Mississippi State University Extension Service:   Selected Annual Flowering Plants For Mississippi Gardens Annuals Scientific name Light  Height  Spacing Remarks Ageratum    Ageratum houstonianum  Full sun 6-20” 9-12” Edging; tall cultivars make good cut flowers Alyssum    Lobularia maritima Sun to part shade 3-4” 6-8” Edging;…

Half Horse Half Alligator

Half Horse Half Alligator Published in 1956 The University of Chicago Press https://archive.org/stream/halfharsehalfall006752mbp/halfharsehalfall006752mbp_djvu.txt Preface “These narratives unfold a fascinating story, the like of which no other body of documents can reveal. They show how an American, whose life was lived on three picturesque frontiers between about 1770 and 1823, became a legend; how the legend…

Septembers, School Days, and Coming Back Home

It is September, and schools across the USA are back in session now. Fifty-five Septembers ago, I left my rural farmland to attend college at the University of Mississippi. In terms of the seasons of the year, that was early autumn. In terms of the seasons of my life, it was early summer. You see,…

The Great South by Edward King – Published in 1875

THE GREAT SOUTH: A RECORD OF JOURNEYS IN LOUISIANA, TEXAS, THE INDIAN TERRITORY, MISSOURI, ARKANSAS, MISSISSIPPI, ALABAMA, GEORGIA, FLORIDA, SOUTH CAROLINA, NORTH CAROLINA, KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, VIRGINIA, WEST VIRGINIA, AND MARYLAND. BY EDWARD KING. PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED FROM ORIGINAL SKETCHES BY J WELLS CHAMPNEY. AMERICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY, HARTFORD, CONN. 1875. https://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/king/king.html ON THE OCLAWAHA FLORIDA. Page i…

A Newcomer Looks at Water Valley, MS, and the Annual Watermelon Carnival

Jacki Kellum at the Water Valley, MS, Watermelon Carnival 2023 This article was first published in the North Mississippi Herald on August 10, 2023   Before this past spring, I had never been to Water Valley, but three months ago, I moved here. Mississippi – I’m Finally Coming Back Home: Moving to Water Valley, Mississippi…