Jimmie Rodgers Festival and Museum

Name: Jimmie Rodgers Festival and Museum
Address: 1200 22nd Avenue, Meridian, MS, 39301, US
Telephone: +16019387427
Price range: $

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Jimmie Rodgers Festival and Museum

Keeping the music and story of Jimmie Rodgers alive while inspiring new generations through education, outreach, and the Jimmie Rodgers Festival.

08/26/2026

Come play with us on the porch at the Jimmie Rodgers Museum as we join musicians around the world for Play Music on the Porch Day! Bring your instrument, your voice, or just come listen and enjoy the music. Musicians of all ages and skill levels are welcome.

Saturday, August 29, 2026
11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

08/25/2026

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dolly Parton, but today we also want to celebrate the beautiful life she lived and the light she shared with the world.

Dolly had several special connections to Jimmie Rodgers. Her recording of his “Mule Skinner Blues” became one of her first major solo hits, reaching No. 3 on the country charts and earning her first individual Grammy nomination. She was also featured on a Jimmie Rodgers tribute album produced by the Foundation.

Here at the museum, Dolly’s embroidered signature and photograph are part of a quilt honoring more than 100 country music stars. Hers is always one of the first names visitors recognize and point out.

Today, we are sharing the wonderful “Islands in the Stream” recipe that Dolly gave to the Jimmie Rodgers Foundation to include in our Celebrity Cookbook.

Dolly was loved by people who agreed on almost nothing else. Her kindness, generosity, faith, humor, and love for people brought us together.

Please share her recipe, and in Dolly’s honor, share some of the love she gave us. That love made her such a uniting force in this world, and we need it now more than ever.

Thank you for the music, the laughter, and the example, Dolly. ❤️

08/24/2026

The face you make when you hear Jimmie Rodgers played the way he would have heard it.

Our visitor from Japan could not hide his excitement as we played “Waiting for a Train” on the wind-up Victrola Jimmie gave to his mother-in-law, Kizzie McWilliams.

Keep watching as he reads and translates a Japanese promotional poster for Jimmie Rodgers records. His joy needed no translation, but thankfully, the poster did!

Nearly a century later, Jimmie’s music continues to inspire wonder in people from around the world.

08/21/2026

We’ve got mail… and it’s festival history!

A heartfelt thank-you to Dr. jamesakenson of the International Country Music Association for sending us these treasures from Jimmie Rodgers Festivals gone by. This unique addition to our collection will help us catalog and preserve the festival’s history for generations to come.

These pieces are part of our ongoing digitization project with the Mississippi Digital Humanities Hub at Southern Miss and Center for Digital Humanities - USM. Their team helped us begin this important work and encouraged us to preserve and catalog the history of the Jimmie Rodgers Music Festival, which has now been celebrated long enough to be a historic event in its own right.

08/18/2026

More than 9,000 miles for Jimmie Rodgers!

We recently welcomed a wonderful visitor from Tasmania to the Jimmie Rodgers Museum. He stopped to take a picture outside, thinking the museum was closed, and was delighted to discover that he could come in.

He spent more than an hour exploring the museum and sharing his love for Jimmie Rodgers.

Jimmie’s music continues to bring people from all over the world to Meridian, Mississippi. We are always honored to welcome them.

City of Meridian-Government

08/14/2026

If you appreciate great songwriting and American roots music, don’t miss Steve Forbert tonight at The Temple Theater.

After earning national recognition as a singer, songwriter and recording artist, Meridian native Steve Forbert chose to honor another Meridian musician whose work helped shape American music.

His 2002 album, Any Old Time: Songs of Jimmie Rodgers, brought Jimmie’s music to a new generation and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Folk Album.

At the Jimmie Rodgers Foundation, we celebrate the artists who carry Jimmie’s influence forward. Tonight offers a special opportunity to hear one of those artists live, right here in the hometown they share.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Show begins at 7:30 p.m.

Get your tickets here: https://www.thetempletheater.com/
(Tickets available at the door.)

Photo credit - Courtesy Steve Forbert.

08/12/2026

Get your tickets to see Meridian’s own Steve Forbert Friday night, August 14, at the iconic Temple Theatre! https://www.thetempletheater.com/

We deeply admire and appreciate Steve for being a longtime champion of Jimmie Rodgers’ music. In 2002, he recorded Any Old Time: Songs of Jimmie Rodgers, an entire album honoring the music of his fellow Meridian native. The album went on to earn a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Folk Album.

City of Meridian-Government has given the world some extraordinary musicians, and we believe in celebrating them while we have the opportunity to welcome them home. We hope Meridian will come out for a great show and help us honor an artist who has carried the music of his hometown throughout a remarkable career.

Please share so your friends can come and enjoy the show, too!

08/10/2026

Ninety-nine years ago this month, Jimmie Rodgers stepped up to a microphone in Bristol and made his first recordings. Nearly a century later, his story is still bringing the world to Meridian.

This visitor from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, told us the Jimmie Rodgers Museum is better than 99% of the museums he has visited. We could not ask for a better review.

Come see for yourself!

Meridian
Mississippi

08/03/2026

We truly enjoyed partnering with the Lauderdale County School District on a song to help children get excited about going back to school!

Click the video link to hear the children sing. We wish all students, teachers and staff a wonderful new school year!

https://youtu.be/XquVoHXYsQU?feature=shared

07/31/2026

We were thrilled to welcome the Choctaw Area Council Scouts to the Jimmie Rodgers Museum for a workday before they headed to the National Scout Jamboree.

Since their official Jamboree patch features the iconic Jimmie Rodgers mural, we wanted to make sure they knew the man behind the patch. They left with Jimmie Rodgers swag to help share his story during the Jamboree’s Hometown Celebration, where they represented Meridian to thousands of Scouts from across the country.

Thanks to support from the Phil Hardin Foundation, we’re able to make history come alive. Sometimes education is as simple as telling a great story and Jimmie Rodgers had one worth telling. We loved watching these Scouts discover his adventurous life and his undefeatable spirit. 👍👍

Address

1200 22nd Avenue
Meridian, MS
39301

Telephone

+16019387427

Website

http://www.jimmierodgers.com/, https://www.tiktok.com/@jimmierodgersmusicfestms?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

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