JASPER, Ga. — Country music star Trisha Yearwood is coming out with a new album and she is having the kickoff party in Monticello Friday night.
We talked with a woman who grew up with her and says Yearwood put Jasper County on the map.
Jasper County is decked out for their favorite daughter.
Mandi Tanner is with the Chamber of Commerce. "We are just excited that our hometown girl is coming back. She's showing some love -- this is her first stop of her album release," she said.
Tanner is in charge of a million details through the Chamber of Commerce for the big party Friday night.
"We are expecting between 2 and 4,000 people," she calculated.
Tanner has heard from folks in different states who plan to make the trip to Jasper county but Trisha will see a lot of familiar faces when she sets up her trailer on the square.
"She is excited to see some of her past teachers, her past classmates, some of the people that her mom taught with. There's literally five generations of people that will be out on the square to meet her and greet her for her album release," Tanner said.
One of those folks will be Tracy Roberts Wood. She has a picture of the two as teenage water girls for the football team.
"Trisha and I were in the same class, same grade, all the way through K-12th grade," Tracy recalled.
The two still talk today.
And even though Monticello is a small town, it's sliced out a piece of the pop culture pie.
"She really put us on the map," Tracy said.
Tracy says she is not surprised her friend did well in the music business. She said she always had a good head on her shoulders, so much so that she says Trisha was the co-salutatorian for the class of 1982, and those smarts and her success never went to her head.
"She is so down-to-earth. When you're with her, there's no celebrity aura around her at all. She is down-to-earth and just talks with you like anyone would and everybody adores her," Tracy said with a smile.
You get the feeling there is mutual admiration between the star and the town she grew up in.
Trisha plans to start signing CDs at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Right now, there is no word on whether her husband Garth Brooks will join her in Monticello.
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