Today’s Tune Tuesday post is near and dear to my heart. Trent Harmon is one of the top three on the final season on American Idol, and he also happens to be from my little hometown in Mississippi. When we were younger, we took lessons from the same voice teacher, sang at the Amory Railroad Festival, and performed in a musical together in high school. (Anybody else still know all the lyrics to Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat?)
Trent’s success on American Idol has brought such a wonderful sense of community to the town where we both grew up. His homecoming events happened to fall on Easter weekend, so I was lucky to get to see my little Mississippi hometown come together to support one of their own. My social media feeds have been filled to the brim with support and that hometown hashtag (#AmoryProud) sure does put a smile on my face.
While I was one of the ones that had to get away after graduating from high school, Amory will always hold a special place in my heart. It’s the town where I grew up, and the town where my mama and daddy grew up. I have wonderful memories of riding my bike around town as a kid with friends who lived three or four blocks away, spending afternoons at my grandfather’s office before he took us for (the best) burger and fries from Bill’s Hamburgers. The school district still shuts down for a Friday in April so the kids can take full advantage when the Railroad Festival is in town and the old Frisco Steam Engine is right in front of City Hall. All celebrating the history of that railroad town that only came to be because there was a need for a halfway point between Memphis and Birmingham.
Mississippi tends to get a bad rap, but it’s a pretty good place to grow up. Most of us turn out to be pretty good people, and Trent definitely did. And I have to say, it sure is special to see people really come together to support one of your friends (especially when they have worked as hard as Trent). While I know we’re all rooting for our hometown boy, I hope you will too.
