But a short drive and a world away lies the real Delta — stretching from just beyond the glitzy gambling halls all the way to the magnolia-shaded lanes of Natchez.

Here, amid some of the nation's richest soil and poorest people, are the sharecroppers' shacks, cotton fields, small towns and juke joints where the blues were born — music that slaves first sang.

Now a new effort is under way to market this aspect of the Delta to tourists. But just how do you attract visitors to a region famous for poverty and a violent history of racism?

By focusing on it.

"I think it would be a great mistake if people promoting tourism in the Delta ignored the history of the Delta," said U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. "You have to talk about slavery. You have to talk about the night riders."

People come to the Delta for authenticity, said Luther Brown, a member of the state's newly created blues commission and the Delta Blues Highway Association. Brown said the "heritage tourists" drawn to the Delta aren't the same breed as those who spend hours in Tunica's gambling halls.

So far, however, efforts to attract tourists without the cha-ching! of slot machines have had mixed results. While a luxury hotel in Greenwood, The Alluvian, has thrived, an upscale restaurant in Clarksdale run by actor Morgan Freeman has yet to turn a profit.

And while you'd think there's money to be made from tourists eager to visit landmarks associated with blues legends like Robert Johnson and B.B. King, Sylvester Hoover hasn't had much luck. Hoover started his "Trail of Blues Tour" in March. By the end of summer, he had doubts about continuing.

"It's slow," said Hoover, who charges $75 for a tour of local blues sites, including Johnson's grave at a local church cemetery. "I'm not sure if it's the price or if I'm just not advertising so well."

In contrast, the Delta's toniest hotel, The Alluvian, has no trouble attracting guests willing to pay $175 to $295 a night.

The Alluvian is owned by Fred Carl, CEO of Viking Range, which manufactures commercial-grade ovens for home use and other luxury kitchen accessories. The Alluvian's weekend packages offer cooking classes at Viking's nearby culinary institute as well as a "Midnight Ramble," a late-night visit to Johnson's grave.

A block from The Alluvian, Steve LaVere is renovating buildings that will house a bakery, restaurant, music club and museum dedicated to the history of blues and radio. LaVere, who produced a set of Johnson's complete recordings in 1990, is also arranging six tours, focusing on civil rights, the Civil War, cotton plantations, the blues, American Indians and local literature.

"There are over 50 authors that were born and raised around Greenwood," LaVere said. "It's just amazing." Local literary greats include playwright Tennessee Williams and Civil War author Shelby Foote.

Clarksdale, where Williams' childhood home is located, is also home to the Delta Blues Museum and the Shack Up Inn, a row of sharecropper shacks on the 4,000-acre Hopson Plantation that have been renovated as motel rooms.

Freeman, who was raised in the Delta by his grandmother, says that while tourism will not guarantee local prosperity, it does offer "opportunity for people with an entrepreneurial spirit."

But can tourism succeed where other development efforts have failed? In the 1980s, then-governors Ray Mabus of Mississippi, Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Buddy Roemer of Louisiana joined forces to improve the regional economy.

Roemer, who now says results were minimal, is skeptical about tourism as a cure-all.