The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center officially opened to the public on September 13 in Indianola, Mississippi with a 3-day celebration and an historic, Peavey-powered concert that paired the blues legend with three of the marquee artists he has inspired. Tracing King’s journey from the fields of the Mississippi Delta to Beale Street and beyond, the museum features a treasure trove of memorabilia to commemorate the artist’s life and his inspirations. Among the guitars and artifacts are 1950s-era 78-rpm recordings from the personal collection of Peavey Electronics founder and CEO Hartley Peavey, who has been a lifelong blues aficionado.
Even the $15-million facility itself is part of the collection, built right onto the cotton gin where King first worked as a young man. The 83-year-old King, who still performs more than 100 shows a year, naturally headlined the celebration with a defining set of both hits and standards featuring guest guitarists Robert Cray, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Keb’ ‘Mo. The main stage featured twin ground-stacked Peavey Versarray line-array arrangements, configured with four Versarray 212 line arrays and two Versarray 218 subwoofers per side, all powered by sixteen amplifiers. Each Peavey Versarray VR212 enclosure is outfitted with two Black Widow woofers, four planar ribbon drivers, and a whopping ten midrange drivers. All 16 line-array components utilize neodymium magnets that yield lighter weight and greater efficiency over traditional magnet designs.
