Top Things to Do in the Mississippi Delta

Dancing the Blues Away in Red's Juke Joint, Clarksdale Mississippi (c Shared Experiences USA)

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Experiences

Experience the Delta:
Places to Go and People to See in the Mississippi Delta

2025 addendum: as our website is updating for this Brave New World,

we're leaving this here to archive a moment in time... And share some of the

people and places still waiting to see you -- here, now!

We're about to announce some exciting things coming October 2025... To join us, get in touch.

Shared Experiences USA started by creating in-person Experiences.

We've now expanded to take the roadtrip online.

Here's a sample of ways to explore:

Our COVID-friendly roadtrip suggestions, virtual experiences, and stories from the community are

organized like a blog -- just click on the places and themes that interest you.

Blues on "The Farm:" a conversation the Parchman Band

"Every lyric is a true story." Here's a snippet of the Parchman Band's conversation about Blues on "The Farm" before they took the stage here. They spoke and sang of sin and addiction, faith and redemption, our past and future... and hope. Our stage was a scale used to weigh the harvest outside the historic Hopson commissary, where they harvested the first successfully mechanized cotton crop in 1944. It was our first Blues Country Harvest event, and the band's 5th time perfor

Oct 211 min read

A beautiful Blues Country Harvest

Thanks to everyone who made our first Blues Country Harvest so bountiful. It feels like a while since we regularly streamed #LiveFromClarksdale to keep the blues alive here... So it's been a fun surprise to see our stream of the Parchman Band's performance go 'viral' at a quarter-million view in a day -- and counting! We founded this to create conversation and a positive impact in our small Delta towns. We believe blues festivals can be more than entertainment. They're an ec

Oct 201 min read

Why we honor a "Blues Country Harvest"

Clarksdale Press-Register, October 16, 2025 Celebrating harvest October is a month of harvest festivals across the country. It seems we celebrate the harvest everywhere except here -- where we're busy harvesting. As we planned this first, small "Harvest Party" some locals scoffed at the timing. Farmers are too busy on their combines and cotton pickers to come, they said! Yet farm families need something to do, while their breadwinners work long days in the field. They part

Oct 163 min read

Good news: Communities come together for King Biscuit Festival

Good news: the King Biscuit Blues Festival was a success -- all week long... for both Clarksdale, Mississippi AND Helena, Arkansas. We're already getting ready for this weekend's new Blues Country Harvest Party, but can't wait to share more about all the magical moments that happened here this week. THANKS to all of you who came together to help King Biscuit -- and both our towns -- "rise" together.

Oct 151 min read

Coming soon: a new Blues Country Harvest

This Sunday: join us with Jimbo Mathus , the Parchman Band, Robert Kimbrough Sr. & Gracey Williams . We're throwing a Blues Country Harvest Party at Hopson Hospitality , Noon-5pm. On Saturday, we'll be downtown for the Tennessee Williams Festival and Crossroads blues fest -- then rocking some good Delta country with MIKE ELLIS And The Hometown Band at Hopson, starting 7pm. Stafford Shurden is serving his famous gumbo, and Arena Mariette Chambers will be leading the line

Oct 131 min read

Finishing King Biscuit Week strong this Sunday

Super Blues Sunday is here! We loved rocking Helena with the King Biscuit Blues Festival , and are so. ready. to host y'all for the afterparty! The 25th annual Pinetop Homecoming is at Hopson Hospitality 3-8p today and supports the Pinetop Perkins Foundation , and our local businesses are cranking up the blues around town all day and night. Full schedule below. Our churches are also core to the community, and would like visitors to know: you're invited. Doors are open this

Oct 122 min read

Rocking the King Biscuit Blues Festival

Fuel up, friends: it's another beautiful day at the King Biscuit Blues Festival . $20 tickets at the door, and plenty of green grass along the levee for your lawn chairs and picnic blankets. Quicksand's Busker stage and the Delta Cultural Center Front Porch stage are FREE thanks to Arkansas Heritage and the blues societies, fans, and you who fill the tip bucket. Across from Quicksand's stage, Delta Dirt Distillery is releasing a new bourbon chocolate, nearly selling out of

Oct 101 min read

Blues on the Farm launches at the Biscuit Warm-Up

Thanks to the Clarksdale Press-Register for covering our launch -- and the first day of our King Biscuit Warm-Up Live From Clarksdale! Zoom in or get a copy of the Press-Register to read the whole story:

Oct 81 min read

King Biscuit Week starts now.

King Biscuit is here! We start Wednesday at noon, with an epic week of music, panels, cocktails & cuisine -- featuring superstars like Garry Burnside, Jimmy Duck Holmes, Reba Russell, Paul Thorn, Eden Brent, Anson Funderburgh, Bob Corritore, the Pinetop students and so many more. Scroll below for the full schedule, all stages, all week. Neighbors are co-hosting this year. We'll kick off here downtown Wed. afternoon, before throwing a Mississippi Welcome Party (with gumbo of

Oct 75 min read

"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 Harve

Oct 62 min read

John Milton Brown & the Friars Point Coup

On another note... This commemoration will be a small, informal, but powerful gathering: Sunday, 3pm. This 'coup'/almost-massacre happened right across the fields from where Mighty Roots is this weekend, and Sheriff Brown escaped through Helena, where King Biscuit is next weekend. It's a seldom-told story of the complexity here during 'Reconstruction' after the Civil War. There's also inspiration in the resilience and heroism of good people, and courageous acts both big and s

Oct 21 min read

Mighty Roots Music Festival, and Levee Ride!

The Mighty Roots Music Festival is this weekend -- and has a great new addition! Saturday's Mighty Levee Gravel Ride is your one chance all year to bike the levee along the Mississippi River. The 26-52mi rides start at 8:30am, and the 13mi fun ride is just $25 and starts at 10:00am. There'll be music, photo opps, and even a cold shower for you to get festival-ready. The festival has yoga and mimosas, camping, and an incredible party by day AND night. This year's lineup featu

Oct 11 min read

Hard Road on red0records: Kingfish's new album, and new label

Congrats to Christone "KINGFISH" Ingram , who released a new album today -- on his own label! "Hard Road" is out now, everywhere. Snag it as a limited-edition Purple & Gold Swirl vinyl on his website, and inside you might find one of 100 Golden Tickets giving you a pair of tix to a show of your choice. His new red0records is named in homage to our local clubs where he grew up playing, Red's Clarksdale and Ground Zero Blues Club . "Hard Road" is an introspective reflection o

Sep 251 min read

Lanterns on the Levee

Free for all ages, Sat. 4-7pm: blues, soul, and a perfect Delta sunset. Join us on Cherry Street in Helena, Arkansas for "Lanterns on the Levee" with: 4pm the Just Groovin' Experience is a mix of pocket soul, funk & blues from Memphis 5pm Tawanna Campbell-Berry has been leading the soul scene in Little Rock 6pm Dylan Triplett is a St. Louis prodigy blending blues, R&B and jazz into his own style -- earning his album a BMA for Best Emerging Artist ...all free thanks to the

Sep 111 min read

Meet & Three

Who loves a good Meat & Three? It’s a classic local lunch – and this Southern gentleman’s philosophy on food, farming, family and faith. Roadtrippers and locals alike can experience the magic off Hwy-49 in Drew MS… and fans everywhere can now get Stafford’s new book delivered to your door! Here’s a "Meet & Three" excerpt: “The hum of the tires on my truck shifts from the steady drone of Highway 49 to a crunching sound as I turn west onto the gravel… I’ve largely done my job:

Sep 22 min read