Published: April 29, 2009 11:20 am      

Blues artist touched by marker

Charlie Musselwhite said he couldn’t stop smiling.

He smiled so much on Friday afternoon after the dedication of his Blues Trail Marker that it almost hurt, he said.

The world-renowned harmonica and blues artist was excited to be back home where it all began.

“This is like getting a Grammy, only better,” he said. “I just wish my mom and dad were here to see it.”

Musselwhite said he has fond memories of Downtown Kosciusko where his great uncle, Lamar Coalson, owned a store.

The former Spain Building, now Merchants and Farmers Bank, is where Musselwhite heard harmonica player Charlie Peeler and fell in love with the instrument.

For that reason, the marker was placed downtown. Musselwhite's marker is the 70th of its kind and promoted around the world by the Mississippi Blues Commission.

A panel of historians and blues scholars have developed an inventory of sites, and each being identified with a distinctive cast marker fearing high resolution maps, photographs and a text on the reverse side.

Musselwhite along with Taft Jr. Hawthorne and Coot Harmon are featured on the back of the marker. Hawthorne, who has spent most of his life in Attala County, said it was a honor to be on the marker. Coot Harmon’s family was in attendance. He currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisc.

Other officials speaking at the dedication were Kosciusko Mayor Jimmy Cockroft, Sen. Lydia Chassaniol, chair of the tourism committee, Alex Thomas with the Mississippi Development Authority’s Heritage Trails Program.

A reception followed at the Mary Ricks Thornton Cultural Center.

Musselwhite performed at the Natchez Trace Festival’s Friday night concert.