Country Connoisseur RENFRO VALLEY ENTERTAINMENT CENTER , Mount Vernon MUHLENBERG COUNTY MUSIC MUSEUM , Central City More than 85 years of classic country, southern gospel and mountain blue-grass music soars from the historical stages of Renfro Valley Entertainment Center, a sprawling destination com-plex with Music Valley RV Park and next-door neighbor Kentucky Music Hall of Fame & Museum, steward of Kentucky’s music heritage. Among the musicians celebrated at the Muhlenberg County Music Museum — the Everly Brothers, John Prine and Merle Travis — is flutist Jim Walker, a local who performed in hundreds of Hollywood movies, including the solo in “Titanic.” See scooters, hot rods and souped-up racecars under the same roof at the Kentucky Motorsports Hall of Fame. T he FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH , Franklin A historical marker at the First United Methodist Church in downtown Franklin reads: “Country music icons Johnny Cash and June Carter were married here on March 1, 1968, one week after Cash proposed on stage in Ontario.” Why Kentucky versus Nashville? No waiting period. COUNTRY MUSIC HIGHWAY CRAZY QUILT MURAL , Ashland The Beatles’ iconic “Abbey Road” album cover gets a country music twist with superstars Wynonna Judd, Naomi Judd and Billy Ray Cyrus striking a pose beneath a sunbeam formed in part by the neck of a guitar in the Country Music Highway Crazy Quilt Mural. JOEL RAY’S LINCOLN JAMBOREE , Hodgenville Jerry Lee Lewis, Skeeter Davis, Earl Scruggs — dozens of country music legends have graced the stage at Joel Ray’s Lincoln Jamboree, Ken-tucky’s longest-running live coun-try-music show. Plus, you can enjoy homestyle cooking at “Kentucky’s finest family-style restaurant.” LORETTA LYNN HOMEPLACE , Van Lear Grab a soda at Webb’s Grocery, once a coal-mining camp store, where the Loretta Lynn Homeplace tour begins. In the family cabin, witness the humble beginnings that shaped a coal miner’s daughter into the legendary first lady of country music. COUNTRY MUSIC HERITAGE HALL , Ashland The Country Music Heritage Hall at Highlands Museum & Discovery Center honors a dozen local musi-cians — Billy Ray Cyrus among them — in a gallery filled with their stage costumes and personal memora-bilia, like the red dress Naomi Judd wore for the 1988 American Country Music Awards. U.S. 23 COUNTRY MUSIC HIGHWAY , Staffordsville Embark on an essential pilgrimage for country music fans: the U.S. 23 Country Music Highway Museum and the U.S. 23 Country Music High-way, which meanders through seven eastern counties and highlights a veritable gold mine of country music icons — The Judds, Keith Whitley, Crystal Gayle — and landmarks connected to them. Photos from top: Master Musicians Festival, Somerset; Kentucky Music Hall of Fame & Museum, Mount Vernon Kentuckytourism.com/music 35
The Official Kentucky Visitor's Guide The Official Kentucky Visitor's Guide 2026: Page 35
