Fourth generation Delta native, Billy Johnson, the President of the
MS Wildlife Heritage Museum, Leland Blues Project Director, and Highway 61 Blues Museum curator, is teaching people about the accomplishments
of Mississippians.
Johnson attended MDCC, before he transferred to Delta State for a semester. He then attended Ole Miss for a short time before graduating with a degree in agriculture from Mississippi State University in 1977.
Johnson said his family’s drugstore in Leland sat next to a cafe where blues artists often played.
“My folks had a drugstore in downtown Leland for 80 years,” says Johnson. “I knew the blues legends that were still living in Leland. The fact that they had been honored all over the world and hadn’t been honored at home was the reason I had the idea to start the Highway 61 Blues Museum.”
Johnson says they started working on the Highway 61 Blues Museum in 1997, started the Highway 61 Blues Festival in 2000, and opened the museum in 2002.
“In the 22 years the Highway 61 Blues Museum has been open, we’ve had people from 77 different countries come to Leland,” says Johnson. “It’s kind of the same story when we started the MS Wildlife Heritage Foundation, the MS Wildlife Heritage Museum, and MS Outdoor Hall of Fame.”
According to Johnson, with the help of modern marketing tools and the MS Blues Commission putting nearly 200 Blues Trail markers up all over the area, the MS Delta is beginning to thrive again.
“People from around the world know Highway 61,” says Johnson. “The markers are a virtual museum without walls. We have five Blues Trail markers clustered in downtown Leland. And, the state has an app for people to see each of the markers.”
On any given day, Johnson said he might visit all three museums, meet with people about artifact donations, or answer peoples questions about the history.
“It’s a cultural heritage town,” says Johnson. “You virtually never know what the day brings.”
The MS Outdoor Hall of Fame became part of the MS Wildlife Heritage Museum when Johnson began realizing MS had many nationally recognized outdoorsman who were being honored all over the world, but not here at home.
“We’ve had pioneer outdoorsmen in MS that have led the way in habitat, in game management, and fish management,” says Johnson. “God blessed MS with vast natural resources, but left unmanaged, those resources can dwindle away.”
Johnson says his hat is off the MS Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks for the advances they’ve made.
Johnson says he has worked with a team of local historians and photographers to put together each exhibit including: Daryl Lewis, Princella Nowell, Wade Wineman, Hank Burdine, Mary Boteler, Roy Meeks, and Butch Ruth.
“We work together,” says Johnson. “Shelley Ritter in Clarksdale, Janet Webb in Indianola, and Roy Schilling down in Hollandale. We all send people to each other.”
In his spare time, Johnson enjoys fishing, hunting, and doing blues photography for the museums. He is also a member of St. James Catholic Church in Leland.
“People the world over are intrigued with the culture of the MS Delta,” said Johnson. “I think God’s gift to the people of the MS Delta is the art of expression.