Inescapable Influence
Q&A with Keith Smythe Meacham and Will Hunt Lewis Growing up in the Mississippi Delta There is a common thread in the lore of the Delta. It’s in the seamless blend of high and low, old and new. It applies to all facets of our culture, from our music to […]
Dispatches from the Edge
By JIM BEAUGEZ • Photos courtesy of RON ETHERIDGE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB_muFysubE Click the link above for the premiere “Greenville,” the latest single from Delta native and 2024 Mississippi Songwriter of the Year Ron Etheridge. Greenville native Ron Etheridge wasn’t “a friend of the devil, but a friend of a friend,” as he sings on his new album, Good Family. […]
For Those Who Inherit the Delta
By JIM BEAUGEZ With The Barn, Clarksdale native Wright Thompson traces the true story of an infamous Delta murder and examines the global forces that set it in motion. Time will eventually reveal all things, or so goes the adage. The question becomes, will anyone care when time is ready to show its […]
J. Wilson Hunt
By JANE GULLY From hunting lodges to stately residences, Memphis designer Wilson Hunt brings the architectural influence of the Mississippi Delta into every project The Mississippi Delta’s sway on Memphis native Wilson Hunt’s growing-up years still influences his designs, which is evident in some way in each of his projects. Hunt, of J. […]
The Magic of Mississippi Mahjong
By KELLI WILLIAMS Centuries-Old Game Gets New Life in the Delta Bridge, bunco, and backgammon, meet the newest, oldest kid on the block, mahjong. While the game has been around for hundreds of years, originating in nineteenth-century China, it wasn’t until the 1920s that retailer Abercrombie & Fitch stocked their United States stores […]
2024 DELTA DOG Photo Contest Winners
EDITORS’ CHOICE Overall Winner:COOPER, Labrador Retrieversubmitted by Peyton Adams, Oxford READERS’ CHOICE Overall Winner:RUSTY, Yorkshire Terriersubmitted by Ella Smith, Madison ADOPTED/RESCUED First Place: TOBY, Scottish Terriersubmitted by Courtney Armstrong, Madison Second Place:LEE LEE, Belgian Malinois/German Shepherd mixed breedsubmitted by Rachel Pearl Jackson, Southaven Third Place: PILLOW, German Shepherd/Labrador Retriever mixed breedsubmitted by Kristie […]
The Roads Less Traveled
July 1, 2024
A Safe Harbor
By JIM BEAUGEZ Jason Hoeksema and Delta Wind Birds work to create Delta habitat for dwindling numbers of migrating shorebirds Thousands of feet above the Mississippi Delta, the region’s proliferation of oxbow lakes, catfish ponds, and bayous shimmer in the sunlight. To the human eye, it can appear as if a map were […]
String Theory
BY JIM BEAUGEZ Greenville’s Delta String Band resurrects forgotten old-time Americana and Mississippi fiddle tunes on their debut, Songs of Late Vol. 1 Musicians tend to leave a trail of clues from the songs they play to the music and artists who inspired them. Lyrical turns of phrase or vocal inflections, musical patterns […]
Dear Mr. French …
By MARILYN TINNIN • Photos by JOHNNY JENNINGS An Indianola man’s mission to send news from home to World War II soldiers around the world Author Marie Hemphill’s 1980 comprehensive history of Sunflower County, Fevers, Floods, and Faith, describes the “something special” that sets the Delta apart. She attributed its uniqueness to a […]