MERIDIAN, Miss. (Queen City Newsfeed) – Music and literature came together Thursday night at the Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience (The MAX) as musician and author Paul Burch presented a book reading and live performance centered on his debut novel, Meridian Rising.
The event, titled “Meridian Rising with Paul Burch,” featured Burch in conversation with blues historian Scott Barretta, host of Highway 61 on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. The program combined live music, discussion and readings from Burch’s novel, which imagines the life of legendary Meridian native Jimmie Rodgers.
Presented in partnership with the Jimmie Rodgers Museum, the free event invited the public to explore what organizers described as a blend of history and fiction tracing the life of Rodgers, widely known as the “Father of Country Music.”
Burch’s novel, Meridian Rising, is styled as an imagined memoir that reinterprets Rodgers’ life story. By weaving documented history with fictional elements, Burch offers an alternate lens on the singer’s influence and the people he inspired.
The book has drawn praise from notable figures in music and literature. Singer-songwriter Steve Earle described Burch as someone who can “show you where the ghosts reside” in the history of country music. Author Roy Blount Jr. called the novel “a tour de force of musical imagination,” while critic Greil Marcus praised it as “a book of wonders.”
Thursday’s program was part concert, part literary discussion, allowing attendees to experience Rodgers’ legacy not only through words but through live performance.
The event underscored Meridian’s deep musical roots and continuing efforts to celebrate its cultural heritage through collaborative arts programming.
