America at the Crossroads Guitar Exhibit Beckons May 30, 2025 – September 2025
Come for Guitars. Stay for Soul.
Welcome to Greenwood, Mississippi, a place where the music moves. It flows from porches, rises from churches and rolls down the streets like Delta heat. You don’t just listen here. You feel it. May 30 through September 2025, Greenwood’s Museum of the Mississippi Delta take center stage as it hosts “America at the Crossroads: The Guitar and a Changing Nation.”
To kick off the national touring exhibit opening on May 29 at 6pm, “Thacker Mountain Radio Hour” will broadcast live on the lawn. Local musicians Anne Freeman and Nikki Hill will perform along with The Yalobushwackers. Boyce Upholt, author of “The Great River,” will join and Jim Dees will emcee. This is where the guitar’s story truly hits home. The exhibit dives into how the guitar shaped America. And Greenwood? It helped tune the sound.
See the Legends. Feel the Moments.
This isn’t your typical museum stop, it’s immersive and electric. You’ll get up close with 40 iconic guitars, surrounded by powerful videos, photos and illustrations that tell the story of American culture through music. Featured guitars include:
- Lucille, B.B. King’s beloved Gibson ES-255
- The Fender Stratocaster
- The game-changing Frankenstrat
- Unexpected icons like the Sears Emenee Wingding and Guitar Hero/Rock Band controller
Each guitar connects to a moment – from 19th century parlor songs to punk rock, protest music and pandemic playlists.
The People’s Music. Greenwood’s Voice.
The guitar has always belonged to the people. It lived in bedrooms, on front steps, in juke joints and revival tents. The exhibit shows how innovation, rebellion and creativity gave the guitar its edge and enduring influence. You’ll see how:
- Immigrants reshaped entire genres (like Carlos Santana and Eddie Van Halen)
- Black musicians built new soundscapes (like B.B. King and Sister Rosetta Tharpe)
- Young people turned it into a symbol of change
Greenwood doesn’t just preserve music history…it made it. Delta musicians turned budget guitars into tools of survival and self-expression. Before they were collectible, guitars were lifelines — affordable, portable, and powerful. This is the home of the blues. And from the blues came everything else: rock, soul, country, hip hop.
Walk through Baptist Town, one of the oldest and richest cultural neighborhoods in town. Visit Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church, where Robert Johnson is buried — the bluesman whose myth still echoes across the globe. Stand in the places that shaped Muddy Waters, whose sound electrified the world. Legends lived it. Music shaped it. You’ll feel it. Find Your Beat from the Heart of the Delta. Book now at VisitGreenwood.com.