Vicksburg’s place in music history will be celebrated during a concert for one of its most famous performers Sunday at City Auditorium.

Vicksburg is the birthplace of Willie Dixon, who can be regarded as the “Poet Laureate of Blues.”

Blues music, including Dixon’s, laid the foundation for the music of today.

“Blues is the roots, the rest is the fruits,” Dixon once said.

The Vicksburg Blues Society will host a birthday celebration for Dixon’s 100th birthday July 5 at Vicksburg City Auditorium. This is the seventh year the society celebrated Dixon’s birthday with this event.

The celebration will feature Eddie Cotton, the winner of the 2015 International Blues Challenge, Mr. Sipp The Mississippi Blues Child. Other special guests include Bernard Jenkins Band, King Edwary, Artis Brown and others.

Shirley Waring, head of the Vicksburg Blues Society said blues is such an important part of Vicksburg’s identity. Because Dixon was a native and successful in his career he should be remembered, she said.

“I think this was such an important year that we honor him,” Waring said. “The fact that he was born here in Vicksburg, we tend to have lots of credibility because this is where life started for him.”

The celebration also will have special presentations by the Willie Dixon Blues Heaven Foundation and the Artie “Blues Boy” White Youth Scholarship Foundation. It also serves as a fundraiser for the Vicksburg Blues Society International Blues Challenge team.

There is a street named after Dixon and a Blues Trail Marker dedicated in his honor.

Waring is a part of the Vicksburg Convention  and Visitors Bureau board and studies the things people are attracted to about Vicksburg.

“Blues tourists come from points around the world come here to Vicksburg to see this marker and to go see the place where he was born on Crawford Street,” Waring said. “They want to know about the art, music and the culture that was here where he lived.”

Dixon developed his sound in Vicksburg and electrified it. He took his sound with him to Chicago where he developed an award winning career.

The Grammy Award winner was an accomplished bassist, guitarist and vocalist. In addition to being called a poet laureate, he also is regarded as one of the most prolific songwriters of his time. He is recognized as one of the most influential people to shape the sound of Chicago blues after World War II.

He wrote about 500 songs, which have been covered by Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones.

The celebration is expected to be a fabulous show and introduction, Waring said.

“If you don’t know, what we have is world class entertainment that originates right here. Vicksburg and the delta is the mother ship of the real blues,” Warring said.

Waring said the surviving members of Dixon’s family have kept in touch and are proud of the work the blues society has done in honoring him.