From the Delta blues to the birth of rock’n’roll, many of the chords that shaped American music were first struck in the South, and a new gift aims to help the University of Mississippi study this rich history in depth.
The R&B Feder Foundation has added $100,000 to the Music of the South Endowment, supporting research, teaching and student opportunities focused on the region’s musical traditions. The endowment was established in 2006 with a long-term goal to fund a professorship in Southern music at UM’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture.
Kathryn McKee serves as director for the Center for the Study of Southern Culture and McMullan Professor of Southern Studies and English. She said the gift extends the center’s enduring and storied relationship with the sounds of the South.
“Its central benefit will be to students who will have multiple opportunities to learn more about the broad cultural heritage of this region and its many artistic expressions,” McKee said. “We are deeply grateful to Ron and Misty Feder for their long-standing and continued support of this endowment and its goals.”
The university’s location near Tupelo, Mississippi, where Elvis Presley was born, and the Mississippi Delta and Memphis, Tennessee, places it at the crossroads of blues, rock, soul and hip-hop history. Mississippi is also the birthplace of country icon Jimmie Rodgers and many other influential artists. The late Blues music legend B.B. King was a Mississippi native, and he left his vast record collection to the university.
Ron Feder, a Vicksburg, Mississippi, native, earned a bachelor’s degree from Ole Miss in 1974 and later attended the UM School of Law. He and his late wife, Becky, established the Music of the South Endowment in 2006. Feder continues that legacy through the R&B Feder Foundation, named for Ron and Becky Feder and as a play on rhythm and blues.
“There is a lot of valuable scholarship to be done on the origins of American music,” Ron Feder said. “It all begins in the South. If Elvis gave birth to rock ’n’ roll, it was midwifed on the road from Tupelo to Memphis.
“As a later counterpoint, musically, hip-hop was born in the urban areas of the South. How all of this happened needs to be studied.”
An additional gift of $1 million or more would fund a professorship to allow the study of music to take an even more central role in curriculum for both undergraduates and graduate students. The center, which will celebrate its 50thanniversary in 2027, could also host regular music symposia that bring together scholars, performers and fans.
The Feder family has supported the center for more than 20 years, beginning with major contributions to the Oxford Conference for the Book. In 2014, the Feder family pledged $100,000 toward establishing a professorship in Southern music.
The center has since expanded its music programming with the Music of the South symposia and concert series, which McKee expects to return in 2027. This complements Living Blues magazine, and the long-running Highway 61 radio program. The center also offers two 100-level courses on Southern music.
The Music of the South Concert Series is a partnership between the Center for the Study of Southern Culture and the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts that began in 2012. The inaugural Music of the South concert featured Southern Studies alumna Caroline Herring, known for her folk singing and songwriting. Performers have also included Cajun roots-rock band Feufollet, Randall Bramblett, Valerie June, Blind Boy Paxton and John “JoJo” Hermann.
Feder said he realized the global reach of Southern culture while stationed in the Philippines after rejoining the U.S. Air Force as a judge advocate. There, he connected to home through the center’s “Highway 61” radio program.
Ole Miss is a natural place to study Southern music, he said.
“My goal is to get a doctoral program where serious scholars can do the deep digging,” Feder said. “The evolution of American music reflects society. What is the economic impact of music in America? It is less than 1% of our overall GDP, but it has had a lot of influence culturally and socially.”
Feder’s wife, Misty, said the foundation’s focus on the arts reflects a belief in their unifying power.
“I love that when Ron first told me the reason that he started the foundation was that it was for art,” Misty Feder said. “Art has no boundaries. There’s nothing in it about race, religion or economics that excludes anyone. Art is just about the representation of our dreams and current situations.
“We love the University of Mississippi, and we love the Center for the Study of Southern Culture,” she continued. “We believe in the path that the center is on, and what they will be able to accomplish with the right support.”
Caroline Hourin, director of development for the College of Liberal Arts, lauded the couple’s commitment to shaping the university’s creative mission.
“Ron and Misty are champions of the creative culture across Mississippi,” she said. “Their commitment to the success of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture continues to have an incredible impact on our students, faculty and the university as a whole.”
To make a gift to the Music of the South Endowment, send a check to the University of Mississippi Foundation, with the fund’s name noted in the memo line, to 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655; or online here.
To learn more about supporting the Music of the South Endowment, contact Caroline Hourin, director of development, at cehourin@olemiss.edu or 662-801-3995.
To learn more about supporting the university, visit UM Development.
By Michael Newsom/UM Development