Clinton native Jacob Dillard recently shared what it meant to step onto one of country music’s most iconic stages after making his Grand Ole Opry debut as the pedal steel guitarist for Walker Montgomery’s band.
For Dillard, who grew up learning piano and guitar in Mississippi before moving to Nashville, last month’s performance marked a milestone he had worked toward for years.
“It’s really been a dream,” he said in an interview with SuperTalk Mississippi News. “It’s been a lot of blessings and great opportunities up to this point.”
Dillard began playing music as a child, learning songs by memory and teaching himself new instruments through books and DVDs. By middle school, he was recording his own material at home, shaping the foundation that eventually led him to the Opry.
He credits early mentors like Clinton guitarist Casey Combest, as well as his six years in Clinton High School’s Attache Show Choir, with giving him the skills and discipline that prepared him for professional stages.
“We would just analyze stuff. listening to how the drums and the keys and the horns and the guitars communicated with each other,” he said about his time with Combest.
Dillard later discovered the pedal steel through a family friend and pastor, and quickly gravitated toward the challenge of mastering it.
“I didn’t know what I was doing, but the challenge is what really drew me to play the instrument,” he said.
After performing with Northeast Mississippi Community College’s Campus Country ensemble, Dillard moved to Nashville — a goal he had set for himself early in high school.
Reflecting on his Opry debut, he said Mississippi musicians should know that small-town beginnings don’t limit what’s possible.
“Mississippi has had a big influence on my sound,” Dillard said. “It’s really cool to see how a lot of music history has come from Mississippi.”
As for his message to young artists in places like Clinton, he points to his own path.
“I knew I wanted to do music,” he said. “I just didn’t know what that would look like. Now I get to figure that out every day.”
For the Clintonian, the Opry stage wasn’t just a dream realized. Instead, it was a reminder that Mississippi artists can make their way onto some of the biggest stages in the world, one step, one song, and one opportunity at a time.