Find the Jim Reeves Memorial about three miles east of Carthage on the eastbound side of U.S. 79.

CARTHAGE — It’s been more than 20 years in the making with roots deep in Panola County, but now Texas music lovers have a visual link to venues highlighting the various genres of music made popular across the state.

The Texas Music History Trail is an interactive map linking about 40 locations tying repositories of music history together. While the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame is the grand dame of the trail, the Carthage venue is in good company in the effort to focus on the unique role music and musicians with Texas connections have made over the decades.

Tommie Ritter Smith, executive director of the hall of fame, said she and former Carthage City Manager Charles Thomas testified before a Texas Senate committee about 20 years ago. A group was attempting to have public funds allocated to establish a music museum in Austin.

“We didn’t want that to happen,” she said. “Our suggestion to them was let’s unite all the ones which already exist. Let’s do things like videos, press releases, billboards and pamphlets” to highlight existing museums and halls of fame across the state.

Other than the Carthage tribute to the state’s country music heritage, there are venues such as the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, the Houston Blues Museum, the Selena Museum in Corpus Christi, the Janis Joplin Museum in Port Arthur and Gruene Hall in New Braunfels.

The Texas Music History Preservation Alliance grew out of those early efforts.

“This organization has banded together and is encouraging a united front to help all those who have already spent money in their towns to honor some kind of music legacy,” Smith said. The Texas Music Hall of Fame Commission was established and developed the Texas Music History Trail Program.

Part of that effort can be visited online at www.texasmusichistorytrail.us. In the March issue of Texas Monthly magazine, on page 75, is a full-page ad promoting the Texas Music History Trail and the music heritage tourism industry.

The ad has a QR code that directs the reader to an interactive map website. On the site, visitors can click on any of the 40 museums listed and be directed to specific information about the venues.

“Everybody who comes here is interested in Texas music,” Smith said of the Carthage hall of fame. “This is a great opportunity for us to advertise each other and support each other.”

For instance, by clicking on the link for the Carthage venue, visitors find information on the 2023 Hall of Fame Show, the John Ritter Tribute Showcase and more.

“We’re a part of this organization that is joining together all of the music related museums in the state to do some joint advertising,” Smith said. Similar to other promotional trails throughout the state such as the Texas Forest Trail, Texas Lakes Trail and Texas Hill Country Trail, the Texas Music History Trail provides specialized features on the state’s legacy of music.

“It’s very unusual,” Smith said.

According to information provided by promoters of the Texas Music History Trail, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a trademark for the “Texas Music History Trail” on March, 1, 2022.