Country music fans explore Kentucky<\/p>\n
By Roger Alford<\/p>\n
PRESTONSBURG, Kentucky (AP): Naomi and Wynonna Judd, Ricky
\nSkaggs, Loretta Lynn and Patty Loveless have always talked - or
\nsung - about growing up in eastern Kentucky.<\/p>\n
That kind of free advertising has lured thousands of enamored
\nfans to Kentucky's mountains to find out for themselves what it
\nis about this region that produces so many country music stars.<\/p>\n
\"Someone said it must be in the genes,\" says Billie Jean
\nOsborne, founder of the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg. \"I
\nsay it must be in the drinking water - we have so many.\"<\/p>\n
The tiny house where Dwight Yoakam spent his childhood has
\nturned Betsy Layne into a tourist destination. The blue-collar
\ntown of Flatwoods, where Billy Ray Cyrus grew up, and Butcher
\nHollow, Loretta Lynn's fabled childhood home, are popular on bus
\ntours through the region.<\/p>\n
Kentucky tourism officials, trying to capitalize on the
\ngrowing popularity, have begun developing museums and performance
\nhalls to cater to the fans. They've also renamed a stretch of
\nU.S. 23 the Country Music Highway and erected signs honoring
\nstars who grew up along the 150-mile (240-kilometer) mountain
\nroute.<\/p>\n
Gov. Paul Patton is personally pushing a new initiative: The
\nKentucky Country Music Academy, which would involve the famous
\nsingers being mentors to young musicians who want a career in the
\nmusic industry.<\/p>\n
\"It offers them a way that they could help some of the other
\nyoung people coming up,\" says Tourism Secretary Ann Latta.
\nPatton was in Nashville in October to invite some of Kentucky's
\ncountry music stars to be a part of the academy. He's also asking
\neach of the singers to schedule at least one show a year in
\neastern Kentucky.<\/p>\n
Keith Caudill, who hosts performances at the Mountain Arts
\nCenter for local singers and musicians, says eastern Kentucky has
\ndeveloped a mystique in the country music industry that fans want
\nto explore.<\/p>\n
Tour buses now are common throughout the region, bringing
\ngroups from as far away as Canada, to see the hometowns of their
\nfavorite singers and to hear the yet undiscovered singers at the
\nMountain Arts Center.<\/p>\n
Before the Mountain Arts Center opened in 1996, local singers
\nhad only churches or night clubs in Lexington and Huntington,
\nWest Virginia, to hone their skills. Now, they have a 1,000-seat
\nauditorium to perform in, and a steady stream of people to fill
\nthe seats.<\/p>\n
\"We go out in the parking lot and look at license plates,\"
\nCaudill says. \"They're coming from all over. They're here just to
\nsee eastern Kentucky.\"<\/p>\n
State and private investors are sinking millions of dollars
\ninto developing attractions in the region.<\/p>\n
In December, crews began construction of the Kentucky Music
\nCountry Museum and Hall of Fame at Renfro Valley. The US$6
\nmillion building, financed primarily with state funds, is
\nexpected to open in March 2002 and announce its first round of
\ninductees later that year.<\/p>\n
Among those on the list of possibles are Bluegrass great Bill
\nMonroe, Merle Travis and Red Foley.<\/p>\n
\"Certainly, there are more country music stars per capita that
\ncame from Kentucky than any other state in the country,\" says Rob
\nRumpke, manager of the building project. \"It's been just long
\noverdue to pay tribute to these stars.\"<\/p>\n
Latta says country music should play a major role in the
\nstate's US$8.2 billion-a-year tourism industry because it is a
\nunique part of Kentucky's culture.<\/p>\n
\"Children really learn music at home when they're very young,\"
\nshe says. \"In a lot of areas, the kids might be going to the
\ntennis court after school. Well, in the mountains, they go to
\nsomebody's house to play music.\"<\/p>\n
Fred James, executive director of the Prestonsburg Tourism
\nCommission, predicts that many of the children and teen-agers now
\nperforming at the Mountain Arts Center will be big names in
\nNashville one day.<\/p>\n
\"There are more stars out there that are just on the verge of
\ndiscovery,\" he says.<\/p>",
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