1 ► Mississippi, Amite County, Liberty — 7 — Jerry Clower — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

(Side A) A Liberty native, Jerry Clower (1926-1998) brought his colorful, observant, comic stories of southern life — developed as a sales tool as he worked as a fertilizer salesman — to live shows, recordings, television, bestselling . . . — — Map (db m92559) HM

2 ► Mississippi, Carroll County, Carrollton — 27 — Namour & Smith — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Blending blues and old-time dance tunes, fiddler William T. Narmour (1889-1961) and guitarist Shellie W. Smith (1895-1968) became an influential duo with forty-eight recordings for Okeh and Bluebird records from 1928 to 1934 that often . . . — — Map (db m170375) HM

3 ► Mississippi, Chickasaw County, Sparta — 10 — Sparta Opry — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

(Side 1) Formed in 1987 when three local musicians — Joe Lee Huffman, Willie Gene Huffman, and Robert Eaton — got together to play music and share supper, the Sparta Opry has become a community institution. Having offered more than 100 country, . . . — — Map (db m155271) HM

4 ► Mississippi, Choctaw County, Ackerman — 28 — Hoyt Ming — Mississippi Country Music Trail — Reported damaged

[Front] Choctaw County fiddler Hoyt Ming (1902-1985) led the lively string band recorded as “Floyd Ming & His Pep Steppers” at a Memphis Victor session in 1928. His “Indian War Whoop,” with its fiddling “holler,” became an old-time country . . . — — Map (db m140731) HM

5 ► Mississippi, Coahoma County, Friars Point — 20 — Conway Twitty — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Side 1 Born in Friar’s Point as Harold Lloyd Jenkins, son of a ferryboat captain, Conway Twitty (1933-1993) first achieved stardom as a bluesy rockabilly singer. Beginning in the 1970s, he became one of country’s bestselling balladeers ever, with . . . — — Map (db m170382) HM

6 ► Mississippi, DeSoto County, Nesbit — 34 — Jerry Lee Lewis — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

A native of Ferriday, Louisiana, Jerry Lee Lewis started his musical career in nearby Natchez, and in 1973 established the Lewis Ranch here in Nesbit. Lewis' 1956 rock 'n' roll classics "Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On and “Great Balls of Fire" . . . — — Map (db m170372) HM

7 ► Mississippi, Harrison County, Biloxi — 21 — Chris LeDoux — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

(front) Born in Biloxi, Chris LeDoux (1948-2005), the Singing Bronc Rider, pursued dreams of success as both a competitive rodeo cowboy and latter day Western singing star and achieved both. The 1976 World Champion Bareback Bronc Rider . . . — — Map (db m79086) HM

8 ► Mississippi, Humphreys County, Isola — 25 — Hank Cochran — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Front One of country music's most prolific and revered songwriters, Hank Cochran (1935-2010), was born in Isola and spent his early childhood years here. He wrote "Make the World Go Away," "A Little Bitty Tear," "She's Got You," and . . . — — Map (db m77169) HM

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9 ► Mississippi, Itawamba County, Tremont — 14 — Tammy Wynette — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Front Born Virginia Wyette Pugh and raised on her grandparents' farm near Tremont, Tammy Wynette (1942-1998) might have remained an unknown local hairdresser, but with fierce determination and a voice and resilient life story that . . . — — Map (db m117206) HM

10 ► Mississippi, Lauderdale County, Meridian — 11 — Country Music Comes of Age — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Front Meridian's Jimmie Rodgers Day festivals of the 1950s, the first held May 26, 1953, became known as National Country Music Days, marking a turning point in the nation's enthusiasm for country music. Stars and fans from every . . . — — Map (db m77171) HM

11 ► Mississippi, Lauderdale County, Meridian — 3 — Elsie McWilliams — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Front Elsie Williamson McWilliams (1896-1985), the sister of Jimmie Rodgers's second wife Carrie, wrote or contributed to music and lyrics for thirty-nine of the songs that Rodgers performed or recorded, although she never received . . . — — Map (db m77170) HM

12 ► Mississippi, Lauderdale County, Meridian — 1 — Jimmie Rodgers — Father of Country Music — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Front Singing winningly, with storytelling clarity and physicality, of the real lives and fondest dreams of his down home audience, with varied musical backing that ranged from his own solitary guitar to rural pickers, horns, and . . . — — Map (db m77176) HM

13 ► Mississippi, Lauderdale County, Meridian — 18 — Moe Bandy — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Born in Meridian and the grandson of the railway yard manager where Jimmie Rodgers worked, Moe Bandy became one of country music’s most popular singers of the 1970s and ‘80s. A master of honky tonk as well as cowboy songs that reflected . . . — — Map (db m60544) HM

14 ► Mississippi, Lee County, Tupelo — 12 — Elvis Country — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Front Raised on country here in Tupelo, first introduced as “The Hillbilly Cat,” then by RCA Victor as “the hottest new name in country music,” Elvis Presley’s revolutionary musical mix always had country as a key ingredient. Appearing . . . — — Map (db m102752) HM

15 ► Mississippi, Leflore County, Greenwood — 24 — Bobbie Gentry — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Front Born Roberta Lee Streeter in Chickasaw County (1944) and spending her childhood here, Bobbie Gentry brought the accents, sounds and images of Delta life into scores of haunting songs she wrote and records she made, to become one . . . — — Map (db m77177) HM

16 ► Mississippi, Monroe County, Smithville — 19 — Rod Brasfield — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Born in Smithville, Rod Brasfield was the Grand Ole Opry's top male comedian from 1947-1958, a beloved sad sack foil for Red Foley and Hank Williams and a comic sparring partner for Minnie Pearl and June Carter. He played dramatic and comic roles in . . . — — Map (db m173897) HM

17 ► Mississippi, Neshoba County, Choctaw — 17 — Bob Ferguson — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

[Front] Long-time Neshoba County resident Bob Ferguson (1927-2001) was a key shaper of the “Nashville Sound” of the 1960s and ‘70s, as the producer of hundreds of major recordings and writer of such classic country songs as “Wings of a . . . — — Map (db m140732) HM

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18 ► Mississippi, Neshoba County, Philadelphia — 36 — Choctaw Indian Fair — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Established here in 1949, the annual Choctaw Indian Fair, formerly known as the Green Corn Festival, showcases the cultural traditions of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians including food, arts and crafts, stickball (kabotcha toli), and . . . — — Map (db m234964) HM

19 ► Mississippi, Neshoba County, Philadelphia — 31 — Marty Gamblin — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

[Front] A native of Philadelphia, Marty Gamblin began his long career in the music business through booking bands while still in high school. He later worked closely with Mississippi songwriter/performer Jim Weatherly, and ran Glen . . . — — Map (db m140736) HM

20 ► Mississippi, Neshoba County, Philadelphia — 2 — Marty Stuart — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

(side 1) From his boyhood days performing here, Marty Stuart displayed singular zest for every flavor of country music. Beginning as a teenage mandolin player with Lester Flatt, he became an ebullient Grand Ole Opry star, "hillbilly . . . — — Map (db m130000) HM

21 ► Mississippi, Neshoba County, Philadelphia — 37 — Neshoba County Fair — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

"Mississippi's Giant Houseparty," the Neshoba County Fair was founded in 1889 as a stock and agricultural exhibition and soon expanded to include horse racing, carnival rides, political speeches and musical entertainment. In the late . . . — — Map (db m234962) HM

22 ► Mississippi, Oktibbeha County, Starkville — 35 — Johnny Cash and “Starkville City Jail” — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

In the early morning hours of May 11, 1965, Johnny Cash was arrested for public drunkenness after he was found picking flowers on this site following a show at Mississippi State University the previous evening. Cash, who spent the night at the . . . — — Map (db m235196) HM

23 ► Mississippi, Pike County, Osyka — 15 — T. Tommy Cutrer — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Raised in Osyka, the versatile T. Tommy Cutrer succeeded as a country and gospel singer and instrumentalist and also as a businessman and politician, but his greatest fame came as a radio/television personality from the 1940s through the 1990s. As . . . — — Map (db m51625) HM

24 ► Mississippi, Pontotoc County, Pontotoc — 39 — Jim Weatherly — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Pontotoc native Jim Weatherly is best known as the author of "Midnight Train to Georgia,"a huge hit for R&B group Gladys Knight and the Pips, and he also had success as a country songwriter and recording artist. Charley Pride. Ray Price, Glen . . . — — Map (db m235192) HM

25 ► Mississippi, Quitman County, Sledge — 8 — Charley Pride — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

The son of a Sledge sharecropper, Charley Frank Pride first won notice as a singer when music was just a sideline to his early baseball career. Taking a shot at what seemed an unlikely career in Nashville, he went on to record fifty-two Top Ten . . . — — Map (db m107544) HM

26 ► Mississippi, Rankin County, Star — 30 — Faith Hill — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

(side 1) From the time of her childhood here in Star, Faith Hill demonstrated a zest for music and performing that took her to Nashville while still a teenager, and to stardom from the release of her first record in 1993. She became a . . . — — Map (db m91738) HM

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27 ► Mississippi, Scott County, Polkville — 26 — Smith County Jamboree — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

(front) Founded in 1972 as the Taylorsville Bluegrass Jamboree when ray Jones and other area pickers looked for a place to play together for their growing audience, this grass roots event soon became a spur and focal point for bluegrass . . . — — Map (db m178938) HM

28 ► Mississippi, Scott County, Sebastopol — 4 — Leake County Revelers — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

The most renowned Mississippi string band of the 1920s, the four Revelers—fiddler Will Gilmer, mandolinist R. O. Mosley, banjoist Jim Wolverton and guitarist Dallas Jones—were based here in Sebastapol, and played live across the Southeast. They had . . . — — Map (db m191750) HM

29 ► Mississippi, Sunflower County, Moorhead — 22 — Johnny Russell — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

John Bright “Johnny” Russell (1940-2001) was born and raised in Moorhead and went on to become a star of the Grand Ole Opry and a popular country recording artist, with such hits as “Catfish John” and “Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon . . . — — Map (db m77168) HM

30 ► Mississippi, Tate County, Senatobia — 9 — O.B. McClinton — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Front Country music singer and composer O. B. McClinton, born and raised here in Senatobia, found his first musical success as a songwriter for 1960s Memphis soul labels. When Stax-Volt founded the Enterprise imprint for release of his . . . — — Map (db m102890) HM

31 ► Mississippi, Tishomingo County, Belmont — 6 — Mac McAnally — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

(side 1) Lyman Corbitt “Mac” McAnally, Jr., grew up in Belmont, where he sang and played piano at Belmont First Baptist Church before becoming a session musician and songwriter at the age of fifteen. McAnally wrote and recorded hit songs, . . . — — Map (db m41122) HM

32 ► Mississippi, Tishomingo County, Burnsville — 38 — Pete Pyle — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Pete Pyle (1920- 1995), a native of Burnsville, played an important role in the development of modern country music. Pyle began his career playing over regional radio stations and after making his first . . . — — Map (db m219979) HM

33 ► Mississippi, Washington County, Greenville — 32 — Steve Azar — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Greenville native Steve Azar burst onto the national country scene in 2001 with his album Waitin’ on Joe, which featured the #2 hit "I Don’t Have to Be Me (‘Til Monday)"; it and the title track also topped the music video charts. Inspired . . . — — Map (db m170465) HM

34 ► Mississippi, Washington County, Hollandale — 5 — Ben Peters — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Front A native of Hollandale who picked cotton as a child, a University of Southern Mississippi graduate and Navy pilot, Ben Peters (1933-2005) went on to become a Nashville songwriting legend, penning fourteen number-one hits, including . . . — — Map (db m121117) HM

35 ► Mississippi, Wayne County, Clara — 23 — Jesse Rodgers — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Jesse Otto Rodgers (1911-1973) born near Waynesboro, first cousin to Jimmie Rodgers, began singing on Mexican border radio stations after relocating to Texas. He wrote songs and recorded for Bluebird Records in the mid-1930s, . . . — — Map (db m80349) HM

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36 ► Mississippi, Winston County, Louisville — 16 — Carl Jackson — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

[Front] Born in Louisville in 1953, Carl Jackson played banjo here as a boy, and by age fourteen was backing Jim & Jesse on the Grand Ole Opry. By the age of twenty he had established a versatile career as a recording vocalist, . . . — — Map (db m140735) HM

37 ► Tennessee, Davidson County, Nashville, Music Row — 29 — Mississippi to Nashville — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Nashville country music stardom attracted many performers, songwriters and producers from nearby Mississippi, from Jimmie Rodgers to Tammy Wynette, Charley Pride, Moe Bandy and Faith Hill. Mississippians Elvis Presley, Conway Twitty, Bobbie . . . — — Map (db m160771) HM

38 ► Tennessee, Sullivan County, Bristol — 33 — Mississippi Country: The Bristol Sessions — Mississippi Country Music Trail —

Ralph Peer came to Bristol in search of large personalities who would make a strong impression on Victor's new higher fidelity recordings, and discovered one of country music's strongest in “Blue Yodeler” Jimmie Rodgers. Jimmie's . . . — — Map (db m157957) HM