Statues of legendary Mississippi-native musicians B.B. King and Elvis Presley stood upon a music-themed float representing the Magnolia State on New Year’s Day in the 2025 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade in southern California. Visit Mississippi decorated the float as part of its “Birthplace of America’s Music” campaign, recognizing the State’s rich heritage of blues and rock ‘n’ roll.

“We were looking at upcoming anniversaries (because) we always kind of think ahead in tourism,” Visit Mississippi Director of Marketing and Communications Katie Coats told the Mississippi Free Press. “People obviously plan their trips in advance, and we knew that we were going to be celebrating some milestone birthdays for Elvis Presley and B. B. King in 2025. So we thought: What better year to highlight music than this year?”

In continuation of this celebration of the state’s musical legacy, the organization has named March “Mississippi Musicians Month.” Visit Mississippi has invited tourism partners across the state to submit their music-related events for promotion on its website, both on the calendar and on the rotating carousel on the Birthplace of America’s Music landing page.

“We thought it would be a great way to kind of highlight some music events and local musicians so that all the different visitors who see a digital ad, print or broadcast segment will be driven to this one page and see in real time what events are going on and who is performing in our state right now,” Coats explained.

Visit Mississippi honored the state’s musical legacy through a float featuring statues of B.B. King and Elvis Presley at the 2025 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 1, 2025. Photo courtesy Visit Mississippi

The Mississippi Legislature passed H.B. 365 into law in March 2024, officially designating March as Mississippi Musicians Month. Rep. Missy McGee of Hattiesburg, Miss., authored the bill, which invites all Mississippians to honor the musicians who call or have called the state home and to reflect on their contributions to the music world, a press release stated.

“We get new entries every day, and our local tourism partners across the state have really called to their partners and their venues and their musicians to submit,” the marketing director said.

Coats explained that the state’s participation in the Tournament of Roses Parade was an opportunity to showcase Mississippi to newer audiences and that taking part in the parade itself provided the state with more visibility than a traditional broadcast advertisement may have done.

“We were really surprised by the impact we had through the workers who were volunteering on our float and who wanted to come and speak to us and have a connection to Mississippi,” she said. “Our total broadcast was about 6.9 million views—just a lot of views, interactions and impressions across the country, across the world and back home as well.”

Later in the month, Visit Mississippi will release a special video in partnership with Playing for Change, showing the long-lasting global effects Mississippi artists have had on the world. The proceeds from the video will benefit Mississippi musical foundations such as the Follow Your Heart arts program.

“It was a natural fit to partner with (Playing for Change) to showcase Mississippi sounds—not only locally, but how it’s impacted all over the world,” Coats said. “You’ll get to see different artists from different countries using different instruments to play that Mississippi sound.”

The State of Mississippi has more Grammy wins per capita than any other state. Additionally, Mississippi is the only other state besides California to have a Grammy Museum, located in Cleveland, Miss. Photo courtesy Visit Mississippi

Paying homage to Mississippi’s nickname as the birthplace of America’s music, Visit Mississippi has dedicated itself to taking that title and running with it this year and beyond, Coats stated. The organization plans to continue promoting music events and historic venues as 2025 progresses so that potential visitors interested in music are more likely to consider Mississippi a travel destination.

“ We’ve got a lot of great offerings all over the southeast, but Mississippi is a wonderful place to kind of come and spend a weekend, not only to experience these music events, but also for our great food and our great lodging and attractions,” she said.

“ What really makes Mississippi special is its people, and you can’t find that everywhere,” Coats added. “When people come to Mississippi, they leave with a story, and they leave with an impact.”

Visit Mississippi is encouraging partners to highlight their local musicians, stories and music events on social media using the hashtag #MSMusiciansMonth for the opportunity to be featured on its platforms. Tourism partners with music related events they would like to see on Visit Mississippi’s events calendar can submit this form. To learn more about tourism in the state and Visit Mississippi’s music campaign, go to visitmississippi.org/go/music.

Read original article by clicking here.

Mississippi Musicians Month Celebrates State’s Musical Legacy With Month-Long Celebration

Local Dining Stream

Things To Do

Related articles

A Playwright’s Desperation Fuels Black Rose’s ‘Death Trap’ in Brandon Theater

Imitate Jesus

‘Sinners’ Mixes Blues, Vampires and the Mississippi Delta Into Ryan Coogler’s 1st Original Film