JACKSON, Miss. – Five artists known for their contributions to arts and culture were announced as inductees to The Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience’s Hall of Fame on Tuesday at the state capitol building in Jackson.

The MAX inducts five artists with ties to the Magnolia State across cultural, performing and visual arts, music and literature every two years. A nominating committee selects 25 names from a pool of approximately 900 artists, which are then placed on a ballot and voted on by committee members, arts and culture experts and the general public. The five artists with the most votes are then inducted into The MAX Hall of Fame.

Selected to join the Hall of Fame are William Ferris, Shelby Foote, Bobbie Gentry, Mac McAnally and Natasha Trethewey.

Penny Kemp, president and CEO of The MAX, said the five artists will be formally inducted into the Hall of Fame with a reception at the MSU Riley Center on January 23, 2025, and all Mississippians are invited to join in the festivities.

“Let me tell you, if you have not been to Meridian lately, you have not been,” she said. “It will make for a fabulous evening.”

Kemp said The MAX will hold events and programs over the next year leading up to the induction ceremony introducing the inductees to the community and highlighting their contributions to Mississippi, the arts and the world.

William Ferris, an author, documentarian and Vicksburg native, has produced works examining Southern culture, blues music, religious music and more. A former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities under President Bill Clinton, he has taught at the University of Mississippi, Jackson State University, Yale University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Poet Natasha Trethewey is a native of Gulfport who uses her medium to explore cultural issues such as race. She was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2007 and is a former Poet Laureate for Mississippi and the United States. She has taught poetry and creative writing at Emory and Northwestern universities.

Bobbie Gentry, a singer and songwriter, was born in rural Chickasaw County in 1942. Known for her song “Ode to Billie Joe,” Gentry won two Academy of Country Music awards and three Grammys over the course of her career. Both a singer and songwriter, Gentry continued to have an influence in the music world long after she stopped performing in 1981.

Greenville native Shelby Foote is a historian and novelist known for writing the three-book series “The Civil War: A Narrative.” Initially beginning his career as a journalist and short story author, he gained the spotlight from commentary in Ken Burns’ 1990 PBS documentary on the Civil War.

The final inductee, singer and songwriter Mac McAnally, grew up in Belmont, finding his musical roots playing piano and singing in church. He later worked as a studio musician before finding success in Nashville, Tennessee. McAnally played in Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band as a guitarist and has been repeatedly named Musician of the Year by the Country Music Association.

For more information about The MAX and the Hall of Fame, visit msarts.org.