Louisiana in many of its environs is known for its jazz and its blues, but country reigns in its northern sections
and is memorialized in a countryside rural community where toe-tapping
music is celebrated all year round.
Elvis Presley's Louisiana hayride, his life and his
tunes remain a centerpiece of the Country Music Museum in Marthaville as
are the artifacts and memorabilia of Johnny Cash. It was the heyday of
the fifties that saw these rising stars catapult to fame on the
shoulders of the rural country folk who embraced the music early on and
continue to celebrate that music as fans today.
Rebel State Historic Site is the location of the Country Music Museum
that celebrates country music. The Site itself traces its origin back
to American Civil War days when, according to legend, a young
Confederate soldier became separated from his unit near Marthaville,
where the museum now resides.
The confederate soldier stopped at a spring for a drink, was seen by
some Union cavalrymen and subsequently killed. Local residents, who
were the Barnhill family, had talked with the soldier before the young
man was killed, found his body and buried him alongside the road where
his body fell. The grave was tended by the Barnhill family for 100
years after the incident until newspapers appeared about the gravesite,
and public interest grew. A marker was put on the gravesite where
annual memorial services began to honor the Unknown Confederate Soldier.
It is on this location the museum was built, to honor people's love
for their country and gospel music.
The Country Music Museum in Marthaville brings the country music of
Louisiana to life with its concerts, artifacts and pictures of a time
that made Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley rise to the top of the charts.
The people in the rural
South, both black and white, celebrated the music that told the stories
of its traditions.
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This is the uniform
worn by confederate soldiers.
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Forsloff
This plaque explains in
part the story of the confederate soldier and how he is memorialized.
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Elvis Presley began his
famous musical career in earnest at the Louisiana hayride. He is
recognized at the country museum for his contribution to Louisiana
music.
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The history of Louisiana music is shown in displays of folks playing
the various instruments found in country bands along the bayous of
Louisiana. The building sits in those piny hills, bringing tourists
and native Louisiana folk to visit and appreciate audio-visual shows,
live presentations, walls of artifacts and a library for further reading
and exploration. It contains not just the musical artifacts and
memories of the people of white European ancestry who settled in these
parts but also the music of the African Americans that wove through the
strains of country, creating Louisiana's special sounds.
Music of African
Americans is also represented in the Country Music Museum.
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A small bench and a few chairs allow the visitor to sit right down and
play one of the instruments available, just for fun or practice. Step
back in time and look at the instruments that line the wall around.
Pick up a guitar and play a tune. Sit down at the piano and plunk
awhile. If you can play some strings and sounds, then don't be shy;
we'll listen. That's the message of the delightful woman who runs the
place, who takes the visitor around with a big, bright smile and a
message of welcome in the tradition of country South.
The museum calls this a
musical petting zoo and allows people to sit down and play the
instruments.
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Along with country western music memorabilia, the Country Music Museum
often offers live musical performances in the amphitheater on the
property itself. Here some of the greats of country music come together
in concert for the summer crowds. Trini Triggs is one who regularly
makes a stop these days. Other celebrated performers include former
governor of Louisiana Jimmie Davis, the Oak Ridge Boys, Bill Monroe, Roy
Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys, Ernest Tubb and his Texas
Troubadours, David Houston, Slim Whitman, George Jones, Aaron Neville,
Grandpa Jones, Nat Stuckey, Claude King, Tom T. Hall, Charlie Louvin and
the Wilburn brothers.. Outdoor movies and live concerts bring people
from around the rural areas of north and central Louisiana to celebrate
the music of its people. The museum also includes such things as Roy
Acuff's fiddle and yo-yo and a pair of Hank Williams Jr's boots.
This is one of Roy
Acuff's fiddles at the museum.
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It's a place that tells of America's past, its worst days of grief and
sadness over the country's divisions. At a time today when political
divisions and talk of crises have come again, a museum that remembers
the dead ones lost in a Civil War is a stark and living reminder for all
who visit the Country Music Museum.