More than any other state, Mississippi contributed to the ascendance of the guitar. The very name of the exhibition – America at the Crossroads – nods to the legend that, late one night at a Mississippi crossroads, Delta bluesman Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in exchange for otherworldly mastery of the instrument.

In 1961, 23 years after Johnson’s death, Columbia Records released an album of his recordings. The 20-year-old Bob Dylan couldn’t believe his ears: “From the first note, the vibrations from the loudspeaker made my hair stand up.”

Young British musicians had never heard anything like Johnson’s unearthly wail and scorching guitar licks. Eric Clapton, a pre-Led Zeppelin Robert Plant, Brian Jones, and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, and many others tried to reproduce that heart-wrenching sound.

Meanwhile, Mississippi plantation workers had headed north, seeking opportunity in Memphis and the bustling cities of the Midwest. Many brought their guitars, like John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Chester “Howlin’ Wolf” Burnett, and McKinley “Muddy Waters” Morganfield. From Chicago nightclubs, Delta blues spread worldwide via 45-rpm records.

America at the Crossroads tells many such stories of how the guitar – inexpensive, portable, relatively easy to learn – became a voice for disenfranchised and unrecognized populations. The 1930s invention of the electric guitar turned up the volume on new possibilities for commanding attention and making statements. The guitar began to rock.