The Latta Ramblers perform at a 1949 Latta Jamboree.
Glory Days: Latta Ford Motor Company and the Latta Jamborees
The Latta building was constructed in the mid 1930s to serve as a local Ford dealership. The one story brick building bore the unmistakable stamp of the period with its high quality construction and Art Deco details and finishes. Built by Selmer entrepreneur, Earl Latta, It would remain an auto garage, service station, and Ford showroom for more than forty years. But Latta, a community-minded music enthusiast, and 2021 Hall of Fame inductee, made the property into much more than a car lot. Generations of McNairy County residents remember his gracious hospitality in opening the doors to the community. Almost from the beginning, the building became a busy gathering place during the day, and an entertainment venue by night.
Beginning in the 1940s the Latta family hosted weekend music jams in the garage area which, almost miraculously, had perfect acoustics. Cars were removed to an adjacent lot, equipment pushed to the walls, and a makeshift stage brought in for the evening. Period photos show hundreds of music fans gathered in the shop area enjoying an evening of live music with friends and family. For more than a decade, regular performances featured some of the region’s best talent. As one local put it, "everybody who was anybody played at the Latta jams." That included legendary radio personalities such as Waldo Davis, Elvis Black, Con Crotts and Arnold English among others. A smoking hot house band styled the Latta Ramblers, included, Rob Richard, Tom McCormack, Eunice Smith, and Paul Taylor. The Ramblers, who were inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2020, backed legendary performers a the Latta shows and doubled as a studio band for the Stanton Littlejohn (class of 2013) recording sessions at nearby Eastview, Tennessee. A young guitarist named Carl Perkins got in on the action at both places.
The Latta Jamborees and Littlejohn sessions have become the subject of intense interests among music scholars and journalists who understand the historic and cultural significance of the thriving postwar music scene in southwest Tennessee. Littlejohn’s incredible lifework is well documented, and as Earl Latta’s Hall of Fame induction bio rightly noted, the Latta Jamborees were an “incredibly rich environment that bred fruitful musical collaborations, preserved locally treasured repertoires for another generation, and kept music at the forefront of social life in McNairy County at time when corporate media encroachment threatened to push it away for good…it’s hard to know what the traditional music of the region, as we’ve come to know it, would sound like without [the Latta Jamborees].”
Decline: A Deafening Silence
Though the Jamborees continued into the 1960s, by the early 70s Earl Latta's once booming Ford dealership was in steady decline, finally closing its doors in 1975. The building changed hands several times finding new life as a manufacturing plant, warehouse, and even a radio and TV station for a short time. At the turn of the millennium, the place had seen better days. Once the jewel of the community, the Latta building became an eyesore, vacant and deteriorating, just across the street from the county courthouse. Rats scurried where audiences once cheered, and the only songs heard on the premises were the birds nesting in the rafters.
Revival: Local Music Makes a Comeback
By 2006, The Hall of Fame & Trail of Legends' parent organization, Arts in McNairy (AiM), was desperately searching for a place to call home. The agency had outgrown its vagabond roots and was in dire need of a dedicated space to continue and expand art and music programs. Brainstorming sessions between AiM leadership, the county mayor's office and building committee members resulted in the suggestion that the Latta property might serve as a good location for Arts in McNairy programs, due in part to the Latta’s roots as a cultural space.
A little over five years in planning and execution resulted in the reclamation of a magnificent historic building with deep connection to McNairy County’s community and cultural life. Fittingly, the garage area where the famed Latta Jamborees were held was renovated as a spacious theater with first-rate sound and lighting systems, multimedia capabilities, and seating for 200. The space is now home to Arts in McNairy's popular community theater season, regular music concerts, and a variety of other arts programs. The former automotive showroom is an art gallery featuring local artist exhibitions, and a learning space where the digital archives and material culture collections of Arts in McNairy and the Tennessee Folklore Society are accessible to the public.
The Hall of Fame and Trail of Music Legends: Back to Where it all Began
Tourists and locals alike are welcome to launch their Southwest Tennessees adventure from the Latta Visitors and Cultural Center. McNairy County tourism and Arts in McNairy staff are on hand during regular business hours to greet and arm visitors with the information needed to explore the region’s rich music heritage. A good place to start is The McNairy County Trail of Music Legends, a .8 mile, self-guided walking tour that begins at the Latta trailhead. Trail highlights include:
McNairy County welcomes you to the historic Latta and the McNairy County Trail of Music Legends!
The Latta building was constructed in the mid 1930s to serve as a local Ford dealership. The one story brick building bore the unmistakable stamp of the period with its high quality construction and Art Deco details and finishes. Built by Selmer entrepreneur, Earl Latta, It would remain an auto garage, service station, and Ford showroom for more than forty years. But Latta, a community-minded music enthusiast, and 2021 Hall of Fame inductee, made the property into much more than a car lot. Generations of McNairy County residents remember his gracious hospitality in opening the doors to the community. Almost from the beginning, the building became a busy gathering place during the day, and an entertainment venue by night.
Beginning in the 1940s the Latta family hosted weekend music jams in the garage area which, almost miraculously, had perfect acoustics. Cars were removed to an adjacent lot, equipment pushed to the walls, and a makeshift stage brought in for the evening. Period photos show hundreds of music fans gathered in the shop area enjoying an evening of live music with friends and family. For more than a decade, regular performances featured some of the region’s best talent. As one local put it, "everybody who was anybody played at the Latta jams." That included legendary radio personalities such as Waldo Davis, Elvis Black, Con Crotts and Arnold English among others. A smoking hot house band styled the Latta Ramblers, included, Rob Richard, Tom McCormack, Eunice Smith, and Paul Taylor. The Ramblers, who were inducted to the Hall of Fame in 2020, backed legendary performers a the Latta shows and doubled as a studio band for the Stanton Littlejohn (class of 2013) recording sessions at nearby Eastview, Tennessee. A young guitarist named Carl Perkins got in on the action at both places.
The Latta Jamborees and Littlejohn sessions have become the subject of intense interests among music scholars and journalists who understand the historic and cultural significance of the thriving postwar music scene in southwest Tennessee. Littlejohn’s incredible lifework is well documented, and as Earl Latta’s Hall of Fame induction bio rightly noted, the Latta Jamborees were an “incredibly rich environment that bred fruitful musical collaborations, preserved locally treasured repertoires for another generation, and kept music at the forefront of social life in McNairy County at time when corporate media encroachment threatened to push it away for good…it’s hard to know what the traditional music of the region, as we’ve come to know it, would sound like without [the Latta Jamborees].”
Decline: A Deafening Silence
Though the Jamborees continued into the 1960s, by the early 70s Earl Latta's once booming Ford dealership was in steady decline, finally closing its doors in 1975. The building changed hands several times finding new life as a manufacturing plant, warehouse, and even a radio and TV station for a short time. At the turn of the millennium, the place had seen better days. Once the jewel of the community, the Latta building became an eyesore, vacant and deteriorating, just across the street from the county courthouse. Rats scurried where audiences once cheered, and the only songs heard on the premises were the birds nesting in the rafters.
Revival: Local Music Makes a Comeback
By 2006, The Hall of Fame & Trail of Legends' parent organization, Arts in McNairy (AiM), was desperately searching for a place to call home. The agency had outgrown its vagabond roots and was in dire need of a dedicated space to continue and expand art and music programs. Brainstorming sessions between AiM leadership, the county mayor's office and building committee members resulted in the suggestion that the Latta property might serve as a good location for Arts in McNairy programs, due in part to the Latta’s roots as a cultural space.
A little over five years in planning and execution resulted in the reclamation of a magnificent historic building with deep connection to McNairy County’s community and cultural life. Fittingly, the garage area where the famed Latta Jamborees were held was renovated as a spacious theater with first-rate sound and lighting systems, multimedia capabilities, and seating for 200. The space is now home to Arts in McNairy's popular community theater season, regular music concerts, and a variety of other arts programs. The former automotive showroom is an art gallery featuring local artist exhibitions, and a learning space where the digital archives and material culture collections of Arts in McNairy and the Tennessee Folklore Society are accessible to the public.
The Hall of Fame and Trail of Music Legends: Back to Where it all Began
Tourists and locals alike are welcome to launch their Southwest Tennessees adventure from the Latta Visitors and Cultural Center. McNairy County tourism and Arts in McNairy staff are on hand during regular business hours to greet and arm visitors with the information needed to explore the region’s rich music heritage. A good place to start is The McNairy County Trail of Music Legends, a .8 mile, self-guided walking tour that begins at the Latta trailhead. Trail highlights include:
- Rotating exhibits, cultural events, and the Tennessee Folklife Learning Center at the Latta.
- A series of interpretive markers honoring members of the McNairy County Music Hall of Fame with photos and short bios that detail the contributions of each inductee.
- Three spectacular "Rockabilly Highway" murals visually interpreting the region’s crucial role in the development of rockabilly and rock ’n’ roll music.
- A Tennessee Music Pathways post and panel display and Tennessee Civil War Trails marker on the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad.
- A number of historic sites and buildings, including several Mesker Brothers cast iron storefronts marked and interpreted by the McNairy County Historical Society.
- The Selmer Farmers Market and two public green spaces with additional art installations, a dog park, outdoor stage, and rockabilly themed splash pad for the kids.
- The McNairy County Historical Museum housed in the historic Ritz Theater.
- The McNairy County Courthouse, with McNairy County Archives, and several historic markers on the courthouse lawn.
- Unique downtown shopping and dining experiences including several purveyors of McNairy County’s culinary claim to fame, the slugburger.
McNairy County welcomes you to the historic Latta and the McNairy County Trail of Music Legends!
The W.S. Holland Band with guest guitarist Stan Perkins, perform to a sold out crowd at the Latta Theater. The concert was filmed in cooperation with the Hall of Fame and Arts in McNairy to promote Hollands final European tour.
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Hall of Fame inductees Beck Boggs, Billy Wagoner, and Lloyd Watkins at the dedication of the 2017 Trail of Music Legends marker. The fourth member of the class of 2017 was the late, great Carl Perkins.
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