Pontotoc native Jim Weatherly achieved renown in both sports and music. Best known as the author of "Midnight Train to Georgia," a huge hit for Gladys Knight and the Pips, he also succeeded as a country songwriter and recording artist, with Charley Pride, Ray Price, Glen Campbell, and Bryan White all topping the country charts with his compositions. A star quarterback at the University of Mississippi, he pursued football and music from his earliest years in Pontotoc. Born on March 17, 1943, he grew up in a "football family" that produced many quarterbacks; his paternal grandfather sang in gospel quartets and led a "singing school," and his maternal grandfather ran a store on the square where he had free rein over the latest records. He began playing guitar and writing songs at twelve, when Elvis Presley of nearby Tupelo began dominating the charts, and he credited Presley as "the one person directly responsible for my career in the music business." In the ninth grade he formed his first band, which evolved into Jimmy Weatherly and the Empaladors, performing at high school dances, community houses, the Pontotoc VFW, over Houston radio station WCPC, and on the television show "Dance Party" on Memphis' WHBQ. His football success at Pontotoc High School earned him a scholarship to the University of Mississippi. During football season he put music aside, but in the off-season and after graduation he traveled widely with Jimmy Weatherly and the Vegas before deciding to pursue music professionally. In 1966 the band, then called The Gordion Knot, moved to Los Angeles, where it became popular with Hollywood celebrities and recorded with limited success. Influenced greatly by Jimmy Webb, Weatherly became active as a songwriter and was signed by Larry Gordon, who promoted his songs. He recorded seven albums under his own name, including the hit single "The Need to Be" in 1974, but his greatest achievements came through songs he wrote. "Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me," "Neither One of Us," and "Midnight Train to Georgia" were each recorded by more than a hundred artists. Gladys Knight and the Pips recorded more than a dozen of his songs, and other rhythm and blues artists who recorded his work included Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Mississippi's Dorothy Moore, who recorded nine. Much of his impact as a songwriter came through country artists: Ray Price recorded dozens of his songs, and Bill Anderson, Lynn Anderson, Carl Jackson, Charley Pride, Kenny Rogers, Vince Gill, Steve Wariner, Eddy Arnold, and Johnny Lee also recorded multiple Weatherly compositions. He was ASCAP's Country Songwriter of the Year in 1974, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York, the Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame, and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006, and received the Mississippi Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. "Midnight Train to Georgia" entered the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 1999, was chosen as number 29 in the 365 Songs of the Century by the National Endowment for the Arts and the RIAA, and was selected as one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. He continued recording and writing songs well into the 2000s and died on February 3, 2021.
