Secretary of State Cord Byrd announces launch of ‘Florida’s Backroad Country’ on Florida Music Tours

October 3, 2025

*Billy Dean. Photo courtesy of Billy Dean.*

Press release from Secretary of State Cord Byrd

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Secretary of State Cord Byrd and the Florida Department of State launched Florida’s Backroad Country, the newest music tour on FloridaMusicTours.com. Florida’s Backroad Country highlights the Sunshine State’s place in country music history. Florida has been a training ground for influential country musicians such as Slim Whitman, Pete Carr, Jim Stafford, Mel Tillis, Billy Dean, and Brian Kelley.

“Country music has a rich and important history in Florida, with many pioneering musicians who have helped shape the music we love today,” said Secretary of State Cord Byrd. “Through Florida’s Backroad Country music tour on Florida Music Tours, we are able to share that rich history with country music lovers across the state.”

Florida’s Backroad Country launched concurrently with the free Florida Folklife Artist-in-Residence concert last Saturday, September 27, with artists Matthew Sabatella and the Rambling String Band performing a medley of country hits. Discussing the importance of country music to Florida’s history, Sabatella stated, “Country music resulted from the blending of traditions from different cultures, including early European Immigrants, Black Americans, and Indigenous Americans; it is quintessentially American.”

FloridaMusicTours.com is an educational, travel, and media website that spotlights Florida’s important role in American musical history and promotes the state as a top destination for music enthusiasts. Each Florida Music Tour is an interactive guide to a musical genre or style that takes a visitor through Florida’s musical history and across the state to where that music originated and where it can be heard today.

Launched in 2017, the debut Florida Music Tour Florida’s Got the Blues spotlights the history of blues music in Florida as well as related genres of gospel, jazz and rhythm and blues. The Florida Rocks! music tour, launched in 2018, focuses on Florida’s unique influence on rock and roll. Following Florida’s history of Latin musical talent, ¡La Sonada Florida! launchedin 2023.

Also launched with Florida’s Backroad Country is a series of playlists on Spotify covering the genres highlighted on the website.