The next phase of the Oklahoma Music Trail will be launched this weekend at the inaugural Route 66 Heritage Festival in downtown Miami, Oklahoma.
The trail currently is a well-developed website shepherded by Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell, who also is Oklahoma’s tourism chief and a big Route 66 advocate.
The Joplin Globe had details on the music trail’s next phase:
The new phase will begin an effort to place physical markers and other visual displays honoring musicians such as Garth Brooks and Leon Russell in their hometowns. […]
Pinnell said the current plan includes creating renderings of markers that may include benches with headphones that play one of the artist’s songs, signs and a selfie station. […]
Visitors will be encouraged to submit documentation of their experiences in order to receive a completion gift. Pinnell said it may include a record that can be framed and displayed. Similar initiatives for the Oklahoma Fishing Trail and Oklahoma’s Route 66 include stickers and a commemorative coin, respectively.
Pinnell expects private funds will supplement money from the Oklahoma Department of Tourism. He hopes to begin to see the build-out of the physical trail by the first or second quarter of 2022.
Perusing the Oklahoma Music Trail website, its itineraries contain plenty of Route 66 connections with the aforementioned Brooks and Russell, along with musicians such as Hansen, Jana Jae, Gene Autry, Jimmy Webb, JJ Cale, Joe Don Rooney, John Fullbright, John Moreland, Leon McAuliffe, Roger Miller, Sheb Wooley, Ronnie Dunn, Toby Keith, Wayman Tisdale and Patti Page.
So don’t be surprised to see some displays along Route 66 of notable Oklahoma musicians sometime next summer.
(Image of Garth Brooks in concert in 2015 by fatherspoon via Flickr)