{"id":77032,"date":"2019-06-18T13:53:36","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T18:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=77032"},"modified":"2019-06-18T13:53:43","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T18:53:43","slug":"mississippi-country-music-trail-honors-five-new-inductees-marty-gamblin-jerry-lee-lewis-jimmie-rodgers-johnny-cash-and-steve-azar-receive-new-markers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/mississippi-country-music-trail-honors-five-new-inductees-marty-gamblin-jerry-lee-lewis-jimmie-rodgers-johnny-cash-and-steve-azar-receive-new-markers\/","title":{"rendered":"Mississippi Country Music Trail Honors Five New Inductees; Marty Gamblin, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimmie Rodgers, Johnny Cash, and Steve Azar Receive New Markers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Wednesday, June 19th<\/sup>\u00a0at 3 pm,\u00a0The Mississippi Country Music Trail<\/a>\u00a0Commission will honor Steve Azar, Jerry Lee Lewis, Marty Gamblin, Johnny Cash<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cStarkville City Jail\u201d track and Jimmie Rodgers<\/strong>\u2019 Bristol, Tennessee<\/strong> music sessions with five new trail markers at a special ceremony in Philadelphia, Mississippi (431 Center Avenue, Philadelphia, Mississippi, 39350).

Governor Phil Bryant<\/strong> will join Marty Stuart<\/strong> to announce the five new trail marker recipients, and inductee Marty Gamblin<\/strong>, as well as Jerry Lee Lewis<\/strong>\u2019s son Lee Lewis<\/strong>, Starkville Mayor Lynn Spruill<\/strong>, and Leah Ross<\/strong>, the Executive Director of Birthplace of Country Music<\/strong> will all be in attendance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and Country Music star Marty Stuart.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMississippi\u2019s unparalleled musical legacy lives on as we make plans to dedicate five new markers on the Mississippi Country Music Trail,\u201d Governor Bryant said. \u201cFrom past to present, Mississippi has remained instrumental in molding and inspiring country music icons, and these new markers will celebrate their contributions to the genre.\u201d

Marty Stuart adds, \u201cMississippi has such a profound legacy pertaining to the culture of country, not just the past, but the present as well as the future. This class of inductees furthers that point, with everyone from Jimmy Rodgers the father of Country Music, to the contemporary sounds of Steve Azar, and everyone in between. That is the beauty of Mississippi country music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded in 2010, and conceptualized by Marty Stuart, the Mississippi Country Music Trail<\/strong> recognizes the state\u2019s contributions to country music. Stuart will further honor Mississippi\u2019s country music legacy with the future Marty Stuart Congress of Country Music<\/strong>, a state-of-the-art country music museum and performing arts center in Philadelphia<\/strong>, Mississippi. The facility will house more than 20,000 country music artifacts Stuart has collected over the years while also offering space for live\u00a0musical performances and educational programming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mississippi Country Music Trail 2019 Inductees<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Jerry Lee Lewis.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jerry Lee Lewis – Nesbit, Mississippi<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

With his innovative and flamboyant piano playing style, Jerry Lee Lewis emerged as one of rock music\u2019s early showmen in the 1950s, and was the first person inducted into the first class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame<\/strong> in 1986. As he looks back on six decades of music and what the future holds, Lewis says he\u2019s grateful. \u201cI just think it\u2019s a blessing from God that I\u2019m still living\u2026 and I\u2019m still rocking. Lewis spends most of his time-off at\u00a0The Lewis Ranch<\/a>\u00a0in Nesbit<\/strong>, Mississippi, where he is happily married to his wife Judith<\/strong>, since March 9th, 2012. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnny Cash \/ Starkville City Jail – Starkville, Mississippi<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Johnny Cash. Photograph by Marty Stuart.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Johnny Cash wrote \u201cStarkville City Jail\u201d after his arrest in Starkville on May 11, 1965. Cash had played two shows on the campus of Mississippi State University<\/strong> the preceding evening, and at about five o\u2019clock in the morning, police arrested him for picking flowers. Cash played the song during a February 1969 concert at California\u2019s San Quentin prison that was recorded and released the following June as an album, Johnny Cash at San Quentin<\/em>. As with much of Cash\u2019s music, \u201cStarkville City Jail\u201d evokes an image familiar to his fans\u2014that of the Man in Black, hardened by years of drinking and drug abuse (which likely played a role in the actions leading to his arrest. Listeners not familiar with Cash\u2019s past might categorize \u201cStarkville City Jail\u201d as a protest song\u2014a one-man indictment of small-town government rules and restrictions. Indeed, the image of Starkville suggested in Cash\u2019s song seems consistent with negative public perceptions of Mississippi. However, Mississippi\u2019s recognition of its troubled past and the state\u2019s continued attempts to move beyond that past echo Cash\u2019s struggles to overcome his drug and alcohol addictions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jimmie Rodgers \/ The Bristol Sessions- Bristol, Tennessee\/Virgina<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Jimmie Rodgers.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

According to Country Music Hall of Fame Inductee, Johnny Cash, the collective 1927 Bristol Sessions was, without a doubt, \u201cthe single most important event in the history of Country Music\u201d. Mr. Cash\u2019s claim is fairly easy to understand when one realizes that those every simple, yet creative rare, field recordings, which were conducted by Victor<\/strong>\u2019s Ralph Peer<\/strong>, managed to produce two of Country Music\u2019s first superstar acts, The Original Carter Family<\/strong>, and Jimmie Rodgers, the undisputed Father of Country Music (Meridian, Mississippi). Rodgers\u2019 Bristol recordings pioneered the integration of popular tunes, jazz, and blues influences on the country music idiom. The themes in Jimmie Rodgers\u2019 songs became the standard upon which the entire culture of country music is built.\u00a0 Jimmie Rodgers\u2019 presence at the Bristol Sessions has proven inestimable.\u00a0 His contributions to an event which is of often referred to as the \u201cBig Bang\u201d of Country Music, places him in the rarified air as one of America\u2019s musical forefathers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve Azar- Greenville, Mississippi<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Steve Azar.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Steve Azar is a hit songwriter, recording artist, and music producer.\u00a0 He refers to his brand of music as \u201cdelta soul\u201d, a mixture of country, rock and blues.\u00a0 Azar’s hit single “I Don’t Have To Be Me, Til Monday” received three Million-Air awards from BMI and is one of the top five most played songs of the past decade on country radio.\u00a0 Azar has been honored with “Steve Azar day” in the states of Mississippi (on March 13) and South Dakota (on August 10th ). He is the co-founder of Ride Records and co-founder of the Mighty Mississippi Music Festival<\/strong>, dubbed “A Southern Gem” by the\u00a0American Blues Scene<\/em>\u00a0magazine and included in\u00a0Acoustic Guitar<\/em>\u00a0magazine’s 2014\u00a0Roadside Americana: 50 States 50 Must-Attend Events<\/em>. The Mighty Mississippi Music Festival has also been featured in the third edition of\u00a01,000 Places in the United States and Canada to See Before You Die<\/em>.\u00a0 Azar has also been recognized by the Mississippi Senate, and on January 25, 2017, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant appointed Azar as the Music and Culture Ambassador of Mississippi<\/strong>.\u00a0 “I am delighted my longtime friend Steve Azar has agreed to serve as Music and Culture Ambassador for his home state of Mississippi,” Bryant said. “Steve has spent his entire career promoting Mississippi, and I know he’ll continue that good work in his new role.” Azar has worked closely with the State of Mississippi in his official role.\u00a0 He also wrote a song for the state\u2019s bicentennial, which was celebrated in 2017. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marty Gamblin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Marty Gamblin – Philadelphia, Mississippi<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

With a career in the entertainment business in Los Angeles<\/strong> and Nashville <\/strong>spanning almost 40 years, as a manager, Gamblin has represented such artists as Alan Jackson, Bryan White, Dorothy Moore, Ruby Lovette, Pearl River<\/strong>, and Glen Campbell<\/strong>. As a music publisher, Gamblin\u2019s company was named one of Billboard\u2019s top 10 publishers and had 16 number one singles including ASCAP\u2019s song of the year two years in a row. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Marty Stuart:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Marty Stuart. Photograph by Alysse Gafkjen.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Marty Stuart\u00a0is a five-time GRAMMY-winner, platinum recording artist, Grand Ole Opry <\/strong>star, country music archivist, photographer, musician, and songwriter. Since starting out playing with southland bluegrass stars the Sullivan Family, Stuart has spent over four decades celebrating American roots music. His teenage years on tour with bluegrass pioneer Lester Flatt<\/strong> in the \u201970s were followed by six years in Johnny Cash\u2019s band in the \u201980s, and a chart-topping tenure as a solo artist in the \u201990s.\u00a0Stuart hosts a Late Night Jam at The Ryman<\/strong>, a yearly tradition which kicks off the CMA Music Festival, with guests including Dolly Parton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eric Church, Chris Stapleton, Maren Morris, Dan Auerbach, Steve Miller, Sheryl Crow, John Prine<\/strong>, as well as Stuart\u2019s wife, Country Music Hall of Famer Connie Smith<\/strong> and many more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, June 19th\u00a0at 3 pm,\u00a0The Mississippi Country Music Trail\u00a0Commission will honor Steve Azar, Jerry Lee Lewis, Marty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":77039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[14649,14644,14645,2791,5061,14648,14646,14647,14643,10579,14651,1399,5,14650,6882,1723,1728,10580],"class_list":["post-77032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-birthplace-of-country-music","tag-bristol","tag-governor","tag-jerry-lee-lewis","tag-jimmie-rodgers","tag-leah-ross","tag-lee-lewis","tag-lynn-spruill","tag-marty-gamblin","tag-marty-stuart","tag-marty-stuart-congress-of-country-music","tag-mayor","tag-mississippi","tag-mississippi-country-music-trail","tag-phil-bryant","tag-philadelphia","tag-starkville","tag-steve-azar"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/2019-06-18-MississippiCountryMusicTrail.jpg?fit=620%2C349&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}