JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — When most people think of America’s great music cities, names like Nashville, Memphis, and New Orleans come to mind. But Jacksonville has been shaping America’s Music for more than a century.
The plaques in Jacksonville’s new Riverfront Music Garden honor some of the biggest names in music.
Ritz Theatre archivist Mitch Hemann says they tell a story much larger than most people realize. “People are starting to finally come together and understand that it’s important and worth talking about,” Hemann said.
Following Emancipation, the Lavilla neighborhood became one of the South’s most important centers of Black culture, entertainment and music.
By the early 1900s, Jacksonville was a major stop for Black entertainers traveling what would later become known as the Chitlin’ Circuit. Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and James Brown all performed here.
Just a few blocks from the Ritz Theatre, brothers James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson wrote Lift Every Voice and Sing in 1900. More than a century later, it’s still performed across the country and is known as the Black National Anthem.
Then came a young, blind musician named Ray Charles, who arrived in Jacksonville at just fifteen years old. “This is where he got started. This is where he found his voice as a teenager,” Hemann said.
Ray Charles lived in Lavilla, performed in local clubs and learned from musicians who helped shape his future.
“He didn’t sing the way he sang later,” Heman said of Charles. “He was copying Nat King Cole, copying people and it was here in Lavilla he got taken under many wings and really came into his own.”
By the time Ray Charles left Jacksonville, the city had already helped shape American music for decades. But Jacksonville’s musical influence was far from over. Jacksonville is known as the birthplace of “Southern Rock.”
Hemann says the Allman Brothers first came together in Riverside, before launching a movement that influenced rock music for decades. They were followed by Jacksonville’s most famous musical sons, Lynyrd Skynyrd. The Van Zant brothers carried Jacksonville’s name around the world. Other hometown Southern Rock bands like “38 Special” and “Molly Hatchett” also have roots in Jacksonville.
The city kept creating new sounds. In the 1990s, Quad City DJs brought a Jacksonville dance party to the nation. Then came another generation of artists: Tim McGraw, Limp Bizkit, Shinedown, and Yellowcard. They carried Jacksonville music to national charts and on world tours.
That musical legacy is now celebrated on the banks of the St. Johns at the Riverfront Music Garden.
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