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If you ask Hugh Simpson why he's hiking across North
Carolina to make people more aware of Southern music and their heritage,
he'll tell you. And he'll keep on telling you for as long as you'll
sit and listen. If enthusiasm is all that's needed to get his project
off the ground, then his planned Southern Music Hall of Fame is a done
deal.
Simpson's foot journey across the Tar Heel State began Sept. 24 when
he left Franklin bound for Jackson County, but he started on the path
toward establishing a center dedicated to southern music more than 13
years ago.
At that time he was part of a group trying to get the Rock 'n' Roll
Hall of Fame to locate in Atlanta. While Simpson lost that battle (the
rock 'n' roll hall went to Cleveland), he turned his energy toward the
creation of a similar facility to honor the music of his own region.
That dream should come to fruition this spring in either Winston-Salem,
Greensboro or Durham, Simpson said while in Cullowhee last week.
He envisions a modern, interactive, high tech/high touch, wide-open
room featuring audiovisual kiosks with DVDs and monitors that will tell
the history of seven forms of music that originated in the South - jazz,
blues, rock, gospel, folk, country, and rhythm and blues. From the global
spread of these seven genres have come at least 100 other forms of music
including ballads, zydeco, Dixieland, ragtime, swing, country blues,
bluegrass, beach music, boogie-woogie, hillbilly, big-band swing, jump
music, soul, new wave jazz, punk, rap, Cajun, and even operetta - just
to name a few, Simpson said.
Simpson's abiding interest in music was sparked during high school when
he was a classmate of country-rock pioneer (and Byrds member and Flying
Burrito Brothers founder) Gram Parsons at a military school in Florida.
Parsons, who is often credited with paving the way for fusion bands
like the Eagles, died 30 years ago last month in the California desert.
Even as a teenager Parsons had charisma and charm, Simpson said.
"You just knew he would make it as a musician someday," Simpson
said of his former classmate.
According to Simpson, Parsons, a native of Winter Haven, Fla., who grew
up in Waycross, Ga., will be among the Southern Music Hall of Fame's
first inductees.
Simpson is walking across the state, stopping off at towns and cities
to share the importance of creating this facility, he said. Either of
the three potential host cities would be an excellent location because
all are in the area where "Piedmont Blues" got its start,
and each has a major downtown renovation program in progress.
"In each town our Hall could become an 'anchor' for either existing
or new restaurants, nightspots and retail stores selling music and books,"
Simpson said.
The planned Southern Music Hall of Fame will include a separate section
for each of the seven musical forms, and Simpson said he hopes it will
become a destination where school children can come and learn about
their Southern musical heritage.
If you'd like more information about plans for the Southern Music Hall
of Fame, Simpson invites you to join his mailing list by sending an
e-mail to southernmusic-subscribe@topica.com or a postcard to Southern
Music Hall of Fame, 481 Prime Hill Drive, Clayton, Ga. 30525.
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