Five Mississippi icons added to The MAX Hall of Fame
Published 6:00 pm Friday, January 24, 2025
Don Allan Mitchell, right, presents Pulitzer Prize winning poet Natasha Trethewey with her award inducting her into The Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience Hall of Fame at a ceremony Thursday at the MSU Riley Center in Meridian. Photos by Thomas Howard
Mississippians from throughout the state celebrated the arts and culture Thursday night as The Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience inducted five more Magnolia State icons into its Hall of Fame
Bobbie Gentry, Bill Ferris, Shelby Foote, Mac McAnally and Natasha Trethewey joined the ranks of cultural giants such as Muddy Waters, James Earl Jones, B.B. King, Eudora Welty and others who are celebrated in the 50,000 square foot museum’s central Hall of Fame exhibit.
“Since 2018, The MAX has inducted 33 artists who have risen to the top, making a profound impact on our culture,” said Mississippi restaurateur Robert St. John, who emceed Thursday’s event. “Tonight we add five more, a truly outstanding class of storytellers and icons.”
Those inducted into the Hall of Fame are chosen because of their impact to Mississippi’s arts and culture, as well as the inspiration they leave behind for other artists to follow, St. John said. Each of the now 38 Hall of Fame icons has achieved great things personally, while also laying the framework for future generations.
“Every enshrined artist there has made incredible personal achievements and has been selected for their ability to inspire future artists and entertainers in Mississippi and around the world,” he said.
Bobbie Gentry, born in 1942 in Woodland, Mississippi, rose to fame with her hit song “Ode to Billie Joe” in 1967. Over the course of her career, she released more than a dozen albums and won three Grammy Awards and two Academy of Country Music Awards. Gentry was also a pioneer in the music industry, breaking barriers for women.
Shelby Foote, historian and novelist from Greenville, is best known for his non-fiction trilogy “The Civil War: A Narrative,” which later became the basis for a documentary film by Ken Burns.
“A proud Southerner, Foote humanized rebel and union soldiers alike, while firmly calling slavery quote, ‘a stain on the nation’s soul,’ unquote,” said Jon Parrish Peede, who presented Foote’s award. “He brought the wounds of the war into the forefront of the American consciousness, reminding us anew of the cost of national division.”
Pulitzer Prize winning poet Natasha Trethewey, who was previously named poet laureate for the United States and Mississippi, said being named to the Hall of Fame is an honor. Born on Confederate Memorial Day to a biracial couple, which was illegal in the state at the time, Trethewey said Mississippi inflicted the first wounds that shaped her into a poet.
“I suspect I share a history of both being hurt into art and having the fierce love of my ancestors and this place with many of the folks with whom I now share this great honor,” she said.
“What I have been given, the wounds of history I have received and the personal wounds are not burdens,” Trethewey added. “They are gifts, and I am deeply grateful for the great gift of this recognition by this glorious MAX museum and the place that made me. My Mississippi, the one true place I call home.”
Vicksburg native William ‘Bill’ Ferris, a folklorist, has produced numerous documentaries, books, and recordings exploring southern culture. He helped found the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi and previously served as National Endowment for the Humanities Chair.
Kate Medley, a documentarian and photojournalist who presented Ferris’ award, said the storyteller captures the essence of people and makes them feel appreciated.
“Bill understands Mississippi in all its complexity, the land, the people, the culture, the sins, the virtues,” she said. “He knows this place, and he loves it, and he lifts it up for the world to see.”
The fifth inductee to The MAX Hall of Fame, Mac McAnally, was born in Alabama but grew up in Belmont, Mississippi. A singer-songwriter, he is known as the guitarist in Jimmy Buffet’s Coral Reefer Band and has released multiple albums on his own. St. John, who is close friends with McAnally, said it is less known that the musician has written hundreds of songs sung by well-known artists, and produced, played instruments, provided vocals or otherwise been involved in thousands of other songs and albums as well.
A proud Mississippian, McAnally represents the Magnolia State wherever he goes, St. John said.
“Mac’s Mississippi runs through every note he plays and every word he writes,” he said. “He’s done more to promote the beauty, culture and spirit of our state than all the CVD’s and tourism bureaus combined.”
Arts patrons attending Thursday’s Hall of Fame induction also took time to remember the contributions of one of The MAX’s founding members, Marty Gamblin, who died in October. Born in Philadelphia, Gamblin had a successful career finding and managing Nashville artists. He previously served on the board for the Congress of Country Music and was awarded a Mississippi Country Music Trail marker in 2019.
Penny Kemp, president and CEO of The MAX, said Gamblin’s contributions to the museum, music and Mississippi will live on indefinitely.
“He was the founding director of The MAX before it was out of the ground, and the guiding force behind this Hall of Fame. A consummate gentleman, a proud Mississippian, his love of family, community, music and all things Mississippi arts and culture was undeniable,” she said.
