“...You might say it all started right here.” - B.B.King

Dockery Farms was established in 1895 to produce cotton, America's biggest export at the time. African Americans who worked at Dockery, including blues pioneer Charley Patton, created a culture that inspired the music we know as the blues. Their songs influenced the development of popular music all over the world. more

Notes from Dockery Farms
News, music, and musings from the foundation and the farm.

Restoration works begins on the cotton gin

Thanks to all the donors who contributed to our Kickstarter campaign, we reached our goal and have begun work refurbishing the cotton gin.

The gin formed the economic heart of the Mississippi Delta plantation that was home to a group of pioneering blues musicians including Charley Patton, Howlin’ Wolf, Son House, Pops Staples, and many others. Every year thousands of visitors come to Dockery from all over the world to experience this history. Through a grant from the Mississippi Delta National Heritage area and your matching donations, we will be able to both preserve and interpret the gin for our many visitors.

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January 19, 2018

Tedeschi Trucks Band performs at Dockery Farms to rave reviews

On April 24, 2016, audience members were treated to an experience like no other. Susan Tedeschi, Derek Trucks, and their 10-piece band filled the stage–the old cotton storage shed on the Dockery property–with their inimitable sound that combines Memphis soul, electric rhythm & blues, country and rock. Coming to play on this historic site meant a lot to the band, and as Derek said, "We first heard about it like a lot of other folks, from liner notes of old blues records, reading about Charley Patton and Howlin’ Wolf, and we recently saw this clip with B.B. King on the property talking about how this is where it all started, so for us just as fans of the music like everyone else, it’s going to be a bit of a pilgrimage to go back to where all this great music happened and really where a lot of American music really sprung from."

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February 8, 2016

Watch a clip of Rosanne Cash's performance at Dockery

On June 6, 2015, Rosanne Cash and her band performed on the former cotton storage shed at Dockery Farms, and according to Cash it was like coming back to the source. She and her husband John Levanthal have taken several trips through the Mississippi and Arkansas Delta in recent years, and she credits that journey with inspiring the songs on her most recent album The River & The Thread. A “vortex” is how she describes the Mississippi Delta, since so many history-shaping events took place in this region.

 

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April 24, 2015