On a rainy Friday morning, about 50 workers filled the E.E. Bass Cultural Arts Center awaiting the arrival of 10 busloads of travelers on the Viking Cruise Lines’ Mississippi River cruise.
They were greeted at the front door by the smiling faces of the people who, for the next few hours will host these travelers in Greenville.
There are tables of drinks — sweet tea, lemonade, bloody Mary — waiting for them.
Inside Bass, there are eight rows of tables and enough room to seat the 384 passengers that fill the ship.
Terry “Harmonica” Bean played blues music in the background while the guests found their seats.
On the first few trips last season, the tours started in February of 2023, the first course of hot tamales were mostly ending up in the trash.
“We think the people just didn’t know what they were,” said Wesley Smith, director of the Washington County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.
As the first course comes out now, Anne Martin, complete with red feather boa, steps to the stage and gives a basic history of the hot tamale and instructions on eating them.
“They devour the tamales now,” Smith said.
As the lunch, prepared by David Crews, continues the crowd learns about the history of the Delta and what it has given to the world. Last year, Hank Burdine told the Delta’s story, but since he died in 2023, his son Matt Burdine and Smith have taken turns.
Steve Azar and his band then take the stage after the history lesson ends to play a full concert of Azar’s biggest hits.
There’s a moonshine toast about halfway through the show. Once the concert is over, the guests then tour the art gallery and take rides on the 1902 Armitage Herschel Carousel.
They then hop back on the busses for either tours of Stoneville, the downtown Greenville Museums or other trips in the vicinity.
They load on the boats at City Front at about 5:30 and head north to Terrene Landing where they exit the ship for their last leg of the journey by bus to Memphis and flights home.
On Sunday, the guests depart the boat at City Front for the same show and tour, but instead of heading north upon departure, they head south.
This past weekend was the first stop of the new season which will see as many as 23 visits to Greenville. Last year there were 30 total visits but 24 were originally scheduled.
Smith said Viking is looking to make the visits a permanent addition to their travel plans and possibly expand the number of stops.
What started with a phone call to Smith from a Viking representative in late January of 2023, has blossomed into a full-on presentation of Greenville and the Mississippi Delta to travelers from throughout the world.
“We got a call the last weekend of January in 2023,” Smith said. “The Viking folks asked if we could host people there and then later asked if we could make it like a big Mississippi Delta wedding reception.”
Smith said he asked when they were planning to stop in Greenville.
“He said, ‘We’ll be there in three weeks. Can you handle it,’” Smith said.
He then called Steve Azar and David Crews to start building the plan to host 384 people at a Big Delta wedding party in three weeks.
They’ve had the party 32 times now and it’s beginning to look like a residency for Azar and his band.
“Well, some of my protégés in the business have resident gigs in Vegas or Branson, and in a tongue-in-cheek way, with a big old smile on my face, having my own resident gig so to speak for folks that are coming to us via the good people of all things Viking ship, and from all over the country and different parts of the world? It’s a beautiful thing,” Azar said. “And It reminds me more of Buck Owens’ Crystal Palace. When Buck retired, he brought his entire band with him to Bakersfield. I played that venue a few times over my career and spent some time in Buck’s office. He explained why he bought a radio station where his band could work, and then they would gig at night.”
The shows on Friday and Sunday right down the street from where he makes his home now after moving back to Greenville from Nashville are a perk of the experience.
“I remember clearly Buck telling me how happy he was, he could go home and sleep in his own bed, and the world was coming to him, rather than our traditional way of getting on the bus or an airplane, and traveling to the destination,” Azar said.
The shows also give him a chance to promote Greenville, the Delta and its culture to a new group of people every time he steps on the stage at Bass.
“You have to understand that I’ve been playing songs I’ve written about our home in Mississippi all over the country in different parts of the world over my entire career,” Azar said. “So, to have it be on home soil, it’s like having home-field advantage. I believe in this place so much, and what we’ve created can’t be replicated, and the only way you’re going to experience this show and event is to experience it firsthand. We’re really proud of what we have put together and how it showcases our Greenville, our Mississippi, Delta, and our Mississippi overall.”
Azar said the reactions to the shows have been overwhelmingly positive from the visitors.
“After 32 shows already under our belt, that’s a pretty good sample size of how folks are reacting and absorbing what we’re feeding their mouths, their minds and their hearts,” Azar said. “I believe strongly that our greatest resource is our arts. This gives us an opportunity to compare what we are against the rest of the world. I’d bet on us every time. We are the most honest and authentic place I’ve ever been to and that’s why we wanted to move our children out of Nashville to experience my home before they graduated high school. The effect it made on them, I can tell you, it was a game changer. I’m so proud of our home and what it gave to me and this is a wonderful opportunity to show and tell the rest of the world, 400 passengers at a time, why I’ve been so inspired by this place. It’s my way of giving back to the land that gave me a pen to write and a voice to sing and something actual to say. I’ve always felt truly blessed and understand that I had to grow up here to have ever had success in the music business.”
Serving almost 800 new visitors every other week for most of the year takes a lot of work that also has an impact on Greenville.
“It’s already been tremendous. I want people to realize we are employing quite a bit of folks from our community. We are paying them well, and businesses that we are working with in our community have been rock solid, tried and true and have appreciated the support,” Azar said. “We have Chef David Crews overseeing all the food. He is the best in our business, and I am a fan of how he curates the food, its presentation, and also how he is able to control the budget.
We have Wesley Smith, myself and my wife Gwen who created the event and show. We three have a lot of experience putting on events of this magnitude, and showcasing who we are for Viking and their culture-hungry passengers.”
Azar sees this also as an extension of his work at the state level to promote the state.
“As Music & Culture Ambassador of Mississippi, the most important thing I’ve learned… I used to think people magically appeared at my concerts,” Azar said. “It didn’t calculate in my brain for some reason that they had to drive to the destination which required gasoline, that they might have stayed in a hotel and ate a local restaurant when coming to see my shows. That positive effect on the local economy benefits, so many.”
The passengers are also spending money locally, to the tune of more than $34,000 last year on art in the gallery alone, but local dollars earned are also spent here.
“Extra money made by folks working with us certainly creates an opportunity to be here re-spent throughout the community and other businesses,” Azar said. “It’s a win-win-win for us all. We are very grateful for the trust and friendship, we have made with the entire Viking team, they feel like family to me. As I say, at the end of one of my songs about our home, The Flatlands - Welcome to Mississippi.“
