JACKSON, Miss. — Country singer Marty Stuart says he’s planning to develop a museum and performance hall in his Mississippi hometown to display his collection of 20,000 country music artifacts, including handwritten lyrics from Hank Williams.

Marty Stuart’s Congress of Country Music will be in Philadelphia, about 80 miles (129 kilometres) northeast of Jackson.

Appearing Wednesday at the state capitol, Stuart says international fans are “enchanted and mystified” by Mississippi — the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll king Elvis Presley, blues greats B.B. King and Muddy Waters and country music legend Jimmie Rodgers.

The music curator for the Smithsonian Institution, John Troutman, is on the advisory committee for Stuart’s project. He says Mississippi is a “wellspring” for American music.

Stuart is raising money for the museum, which he hopes to open in three years.

Emily Wagster Pettus, The Associated Press