Page 18 - Jackpot Magazine Tunica ~ November, 2026

Gateway to the Blues Museum and
Visitor Center is a roadside treasure
The Visitors Center is home to the
Highway 61 marker on the Mississippi
Blues Trail. Tunica is home to six trail
markers: Blues Highway 61, Abbay &
Leatherman Plantation, Eddie James
“Son” House, Harold “Hardface”
Clanton, James Cotton and Hollywood
Cafe. The trail features more than 220
markers throughout the state. (Note: The
20th Annivesary of the Mississippi Blues
Trail will be celebrated at the B.B. King
Museum & Club Ebony in Indianola,
Mississippi, in free shows, Dec. 11 and
12.)
Travel counselors inside the depot
provide directions, advice on events,
restaurants and attractions, and
assistance booking hotel rooms or
dinner reservations. A gift shop offers
souvenirs. Admission is $10 for adults
and $5 for children 12 and under. Tickets
are purchased at the gift shop and must
be used the day of purchase. Hours are
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through
Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1
to 5 p.m. Sunday.
The address is 13625 Highway 61
North, Tunica Resorts, MS 38664. The
phone number is (888) 488-6422.
Groups of 20 or more receive a
discounted rate of $9 per person, with
free admission for the motorcoach driver,
when payment is made in one form.
The museum can accommodate up
to two tour buses at a time, and free
parking is provided. For group rates or
tour planning, contact Mary Catherine
Webb at the Tunica Convention and
Visitor’s Bureau. The 3,500-square-foot
space can also host meetings, receptions
and gatherings for up to 125 attendees
in the open lobby and visitor center/gift
shop area.
The site encourages visitors to begin
their Mississippi Delta blues journey
at the museum before exploring local
shops, restaurants serving Southern fare,
and other attractions in Tunica.
Gateway to the Blues Museum and Visitor Center
TUNICA RESORTS — The
Gateway to the Blues Museum and
Visitor Center, housed in a rustic 1895
train depot on Highway 61, is the first
place many visitors see when they roll
into Tunica and serves as a starting point
for exploring the Mississippi Delta’s
blues heritage.
Affiliated with the Tunica Convention
& Visitors Bureau, the attraction guides
visitors through the story of how the
blues was born and the role Tunica and
the Delta region played in shaping the
genre. Interactive exhibits, artwork and
a recording studio bring the music to
life “in all its tormented and anguished
glory,” according to the site.
The 3,500-square-foot museum
features galleries including “What Is
Blues?,” which notes that while the
Oxford American dictionary defines
the blues as “melancholic music of
black American folk origin, typically in
a twelve-bar sequence,” the museum
shows why it is “the music that made
America.” Other galleries cover “Why
the Mississippi Delta?,” examining
how African Americans working in the
fields created a musical form to express
themselves; “Evolution of Style and
18 JACKPOT! MAGAZINE • November 2026 Form,” which includes W.C. Handy’s first
cornet and discusses the development
of sheet music and recorded music;
“Mississippi Bluesmen,” highlighting
artists such as Robert Johnson and Son
House through artifacts and George
Hunt paintings in the Mississippi Blues
Trail Gallery; “Evolution of the Guitar,”
displaying more than 20 guitars used
by artists across genres along with
interactive stations for a lap steel guitar
and a diddley bow; and “Blues Lyric
Interactive.”
In the Blues Lyric Interactive gallery,
local bluesman Memphis Jones teaches
the AAB writing style and helps visitors
record their own blues song, which
can be emailed to them. Educational
programs also incorporate videos from
local historian Willy Beardon and blues
artists Preston Shannon and Eden
Brent. The site positions the museum as
a resource for students, noting that the
name “Gateway” reflects its role as an
entry point to the broader blues product
throughout the Delta and as a support
for the Mississippi Blues Curriculum
covering areas such as music, meaning,
cotton, transportation, Civil Rights and
media.
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