Last Thursday, Oct. 18, country music star Alan Jackson did not go unnoticed very long after he stopped in town to eat at the Grill, “Me and Steak (Derek Gibson) saw him walk in, and we just looked at each other,” MSU senior Jonathan Trawick said, explaining that Jackson took his seat on the back patio at the hangout. “We walked to the bathroom so we could see if it was really him.”
Trawick, who is known among friends as Trailmix, quickly got his cowboy hat out of his car.
“I walked by and tipped my hat to him, and he tipped his back,” Trawick said. “I asked him if I could get a picture with him, and he agreed.”
After trying to persuade Jackson to trade cowboy hats with him, Trawick handed his hat over to be autographed.
“He said his formed to his head pretty well so he did not want to trade,” Trawick said.
Jackson signed “To Trailmix. Yee Haw! Alan Jackson.”
Trawick walked to his house on University Drive to put up his hat, and while walking back spotted Jackson boarding his tour bus.
“He is from Newnan, Ga., and I was born about 30 minutes from there in Pine Mountain, Ga., so I said “Hey Alan. Go Braves,” Trawick said. “He gave me a thumbs up and got on his bus.”
Trawick did not ask Jackson how he found the Grill in Starkville or why he was there–he just enjoyed meeting him.
“He was really nice to everyone there,” he said.