Grammy Museum in Mississippi Gives U.S. Taxpayers More Blues

Mississippi is cornering the market on taxpayer-funded music museums.

First there was a state-funded museum dedicated to country legend Tammy Wynette. Now the state is going to have a museum for the Grammy Foundation in Cleveland, Miss., and it’s going to be built with federal and state taxpayer dollars.

U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., in his annual “Wastebook” report on federal government waste, said the Grammy Museum played a sour tune as part of the list of 100 “silly, unnecessary and low-budget” projects, which add up to $25 billion.

The federal government gave Delta State University $1.25 million—through the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration—to help build an access road and upgrade infrastructure in preparation for the 2015 opening of the $18-million Grammy Museum Mississippi.

The state contributed $6 million to the 280,000-square foot project, which also got money from private donations and is being built on Delta State’s old golf course. The museum is scheduled to open Sept. 26.

Allen Hammonds, a project consultant for the Cleveland Music Foundation and a board member for the nearby B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, said the museum, which will be the first Grammy museum built outside Los Angeles, will be a big boost for the Cleveland area.

The music of the Mississippi Delta inspired hundreds of famous acts, such as Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones and others. But it seems also to have led to a bumper crop of museums. The Grammy Museum Mississippi would be the third in a 50-mile radius.

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