Local history shared through blues museum

Beside an old building with Bank of West Point etched in gray stone sits an oversized guitar beside a pair of boarded up windows covered in a brightly colored poster.

“Coming soon” one window reads in yellow. “Black Prairie Blues Museum” the other reads.

The museum is the home of the collection of blue artifacts. Efforts are underway to create a unique experience for both lovers of the music genre and those who want to know more about the Mississippi-born creation that helped form rock ‘n’ roll and many other American music forms.

The Black Prairie part of the museum’s name is a region of Mississippi that is known for its dark, fertile soil. The museum hopes to focus on blues musicians from the region — Howlin’ Wolf, Eddy Clarwater, Carey Bell, Willie King, Big Joe Williams and Jesse Fortune.

At the moment, the museum is open for private tours, which can be arranged by calling the museum. You’ll be led by curator Jeremy Klutts, who also is a board member and volunteer.

The museum got its start when Milton Sundbeck, president of the Black Prairie Blues Foundation, purchased the building in 2014 specifically for the museum. 

“He paid to have it renovated to the point where we could have fundraisers,” said Deborah Mansfield, a board member and volunteer who also serves as the museum’s director. “When that work was complete, he handed it over to the foundation. …

“I’m the toilet cleaner. I’m the fund raiser, everything,” she said with a laugh.

The renovations included new windows, HVAC, plumbing and electrical. Wooden studs line the museum’s interior walls, showing off past finishes as well as electrical wiring linking various light fixtures to their switches.

Recently, the board and other volunteers moved all the artifacts from the Howlin’ Wolf Blues Museum site to the current museum at 640 Commerce St. The pieces are stored upstairs, where they will be organized and recorded.

“So that we’ll be handicap accessible, we’ll video all the artifacts up there and have the recording available for people to view downstairs,” Mansfield said. “Since we’re an old building and we can’t afford to put in an elevator, we’ll do what we can so everyone can see what we have.”

Pieces coming together

After spending several years working on a mission statement, design plan and informational materials to give to prospective donors, the museum now is at the point where it can start applying for grants and seeking corporate sponsors, Mansfield said.

The board hired Dallas-Texas based firm Museum Art several years ago to design a conceptual plan for the museum’s interior. The displays will be on wheels so they can be moved for functions. A back room will look like a recording studio and host exhibits about current music acts from the region, such as Blind Melon.

“We need about $2 million to see this through,” Mansfield said. “We had to get all our ducks in a row to put it in a brochure. Now we’re set and we’re going to be able to go out and ask foundations for grants and seek private investors.”

While the board got everything in order, the museum has hosted fundraisers and other events. 

“We try to hold one event every month to raise money just to keep the lights on, and buy things and equipment that we need here in the museum,” Mansfield said. 

Besides hosting fundraisers, the museum also hosts free events throughout the year. Last year, the Mississippi State University Opera Department sang the blues in an outdoor concert.

“It was free and it was amazing. We had Bernie Imes’ Juke Joint images shown on the front of the building while the singers performed,” Mansfield said. “And he had his Juke Joint photographs here in the museum showing.”

Keeping the genre alive

Klutts grew up in West Point. He has been a fan of the blues since childhood. He recalls a time when the Clay County community more readily celebrated its blues heritage.

“I’ve had a love of the blues since I was a kid,” he said. “I used to go to blues festivals here. We had many here when I was growing up, mostly on the 4th of July. They would have one out at the Oasis in town and every year, I’d go to it. Then Anthony’s … I can remember as a kid when it was a regular grocery store.

“I was probably 13, 14. I remember going there and eating. … In the back of the grocery store they had a kitchen, but it was more like a little market to go in there and buy your sandwich meats. They had mayonnaise, ketchup and anything to make a sandwich out of. And then it shut down. It was just dormant for two or three years.

“Then this gentleman out of the Delta came in and opened it as Anthony’s,” Klutts continued. “It was a Louisiana-themed restaurant. They’d have a blues night every Friday night. I probably wasn’t old enough to be there, but I was there. I was roughly about 15 years old at that time.”

After graduating from West Point High School, Klutts joined the Navy and left the area for about 10 years before returning. He has been involved with the museum and its blue festival ever since. 

As an adult, part of what Klutts loves about the blues is that it’s the basis of rock ‘n’ roll and other genres. Someone may sing about something personal, but those feelings, that music, are something people can relate to and experience together, he said.

Events at Black Prairie Blues Museum include concerts, Mississippi State University opera students singing the blues and art exhibits.

Blues’ popularity around the world

Klutts noted that blues has received more attention from people from overseas than Americans.

“One thing about the museum is it’s followed by people from around the world,” he said. “Most blues fans are international.”

Mansfield echoed that statement saying that every time she travels somewhere, when someone finds out she’s from Mississippi they automatically ask her about the blues.

One antidote of the blues’ reach is from a few years ago when the Grammy Museum opened in Cleveland. Two tourists from England asked Klutts if they ever tried contacting anyone famous to get donations.

“I told her the whole storyline, and what we’re trying to do with everything,” he said, noting he told her about a guitar signed by Pete Townshend. “She says, ‘Well, when I leave here, I’m going to give you that address to one of my good friends, he’s the personal secretary of Paul McCartney. We’ll give you his address and I want you to write a letter and stating what you guys are trying to do here. And Paul may be willing to help you guys out.’”

The tourists left and a few weeks later, one of the then-board members Kenny Dill, met Klutts at a restaurant.

“He had a picture of this woman and says ‘Do you have any idea who this woman was? She came a couple of weeks ago.’ I said no, I don’t have any idea. She never said who she was.

“That was one of John Lennon’s half sisters. Apparently she went to the Grammy Museum all the time because they have a big Beatles section there.”

Klutts said he hasn’t reached out to McCartney or anyone else yet. He wanted the museum to be at the point where it was ready to have something concrete — a design, plan, mission, etc. — to show prospective investors and donors.

“We had none of the designs, none of our literature, our mission statement or a business plan,” he said. “You know, all those things you have to have together before you go and start asking for corporate sponsorship.

“I just want to make sure we have our ducks in a row,” Klutts said. “We’re getting to that point that we can solicit for corporate money and artist contributions. It’s taken a long time to get to this point; a lot of money to get to this point.”

How to help

The museum’s website, blackprairiebluesmuseum.com, is under construction, so most information about events and programming can be found on the museum’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Almost everyone who is involved in the museum is a volunteer. They recently hired their first employee, Mansfield said. Marion Sansing, who serves as “everybody’s assistant,” works part-time at the museum. Sansing is helping update the website, helping promote events and helps run them, Mansfield said.

For those who want to help the museum, besides monetary donations, the museum could use help with its events in terms of getting things set up and taken down and helping get the word out.

“We’ll take in-kind donations as well,” Mansfield said.

“The biggest thing is to come check us out and spread the word,” she said. “People are really surprised when they come in here, because it’s a pretty special place.”

STORY BY NICOLE BOWMAN-LAYTON

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