Mississippi Made Music: The Sound of Country

I know nothing about the elements of music: the magical creation of harmony, pitch, texture, meter and verse, and so forth, but I'm not hard of hearing. I know what I like when I hear it. In recent months, viewers of the RFD-TV Network have been treated to broadcasts of the Grand Ole Opry on a live feed from Nashville.

I'm not completely enthralled with the sound of the "country" music I'm hearing from there. I'm missing that nasal twang of traditional country music, that distinctive, almost shrill, sound you don't hear in other genres. Most Mississippi aficionados of country music know it when they hear it.

We have an advantage here over enthusiasts from elsewhere: Jimmie Rodgers, one of our own, is generally credited with inventing the brand. That means something. You know it must be true if Wikipedia says it: "James Charles Rodgers (September 8, 1897 - May 26, 1933) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s.

Known as Jimmie Rodgers and widely regarded as the 'Father of Country Music,' he is best known for his distinctive yodeling. Rodgers was known as the 'Singing Brakeman' and 'America's Blue Yodeler.' He has been cited as an inspiration by many artists, and he has been inducted into many halls of fame." Meridian for decades has honored its hometown star with the enormously-attended "Jimmie Rodgers Festival." That's largely due to the early-on efforts of the late Ken Rainey, a legendary radio man in that city who promoted country music like no other could. This state's lineup of country music stars stretches from the hills and hollers of Northeast Mississippi across to the Delta and the Big River, and down through the prairies and piney woods.

Even the Gulf Coast, normally not mentioned among country hotbeds, contributed singer and rodeo star Chris LeDoux and Chapel Hart, and some of the late Pascagoulaborn "beach-island escapism" celebrity Jimmy Buffet's tunes are associated with country music. Of course, giving birth to country music is not a rare bird here. Mississippians also created and nourished the preeminent Delta Blues and Elvis Presley is not known as "King of Rock and Roll" just for a nickname.

Let me return to the country music played on RFD-TV and the Grand Ole Opry. It's not only the lack of nasal twangness on some of the music I hear on the network that's rubbing me wrong of late. As It's the disappointment of the disappearance of Mississippi native Marty Stuart and his band from the Saturday night lineup on RFD-TV, replaced in the same time slot that Stuart and band formerly occupied by the onehour Grand Ole Opry segment.

Apparently, new episodes of "Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives" ended filming a decade ago. Hundreds of reruns of the original have been shown over the years until recently, which is what I'd been viewing. They finally ran their course.

I didn't mind listening to the reruns. It's like watching reruns of the Andy Griffith Show and Gunsmoke. What's not to like?

Stuart has become one of country's mightiest voices. Not only have the Superlatives produced some of the music scene's best lyrics and sounds, but in his hometown of Philadelphia, MS, Stuart is creating a 5,000square-foot repository of the genre's history, fully opening in the spring of next year. Included are some 22,000 artifacts of the industry collected by Stuart.

The museum has partnered with the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. Live performances will emanate from the adjacent Ellis Theatre. Surely sweet twang will echo off its walls. ---Mac Gordon is a native of McComb.

He is a retired newspaperman. He can be reached at macmarygordon@gmail.com.