Historical Marker
Jim Reeves
Carthage, Panola County · Texas
Erected 1994
After a leg injury ended his baseball days in 1946, Reeves became an announcer at KGRI in Henderson in 1947 and sang locally as Sonny Day, according to the Handbook of Texas. A 1952 Abbott Records contract produced "Mexican Joe", and in 1953 he joined KWKH in Shreveport and appeared on the Louisiana Hayride. "Distant Drums", released after his death, topped the British and American country charts in 1966. He is buried in a two-acre memorial plot near Carthage on the road to Shreveport, where a life-sized statue stands over the grave.
What the plaque says
Jim Reeves (August 30, 1924 - July 31, 1964) Born in Galloway, James Travis Reeves played professional baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals' minor league team until an injury forced him to abandon that career. He became a radio disc jockey and formed a country western band. Joining the Grand Ole Opry in 1955, he became a world famous singer. Known fondly as "Gentleman Jim," Reeves was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1967, three years after he died in a plane crash. (1996)
Where it stands
32.17614, -94.28005 · Directions
Worth the stop nearby
- Tex Ritter Museum and Texas Country Music Hall of Fame — 3.9 miCarthage's country music museum, with Tex Ritter's boots, guitars and saddles in a room styled like a movie theater, and exhibits on other Texas stars, Jim Reeves among them.
More markers nearby
- Mount Zion C. M. E. Church — 3.5 mi
- Jonathan Anderson — 3.6 mi
- Margie Neal — 3.6 mi
- Carthage Book Club — 3.7 mi