This Mississippi Marching Band Is Famous For Its Electrifying Performances
Jackson State University’s Sonic Boom of the South marching band has delighting football fans—and beyond—since 1971.
Around these parts,
college football is king, but in
Jackson, Mississippi, another contender competes for the public's attention when fall rolls around each year. The
Sonic Boom of the South, Jackson State University's marching band, is an award-winning program with a longstanding legacy of excellence. In 2021, the near-300-student marching band and Prancing J-Sette dance line celebrated 50 years under the name Sonic Boom with a rousing homecoming performance that brought back dozens of school alumni to take the field once again.
Led by five drum majors, who strutted onto the field with tasseled hats flying, the band gave one of its most electrifying performances yet. There was plenty of high stepping, jumping, and dancing—and of course the signature booming sound for which the group was named. The performance was particularly special for band director Dr. Roderick Little, a former Sonic Boom drum major who has helmed the program since the summer of 2020 and is now the youngest director in school history.
"This is something I take very seriously not just for the sake of the Sonic Boom of the South being on par with other band programs and being the best program in the nation, but more importantly in making sure that our students are successful."
Though the band performed for nearly 54,000 attendees at homecoming, it was far from their largest audience to date. In 2021 alone, they performed at the presidential inauguration and in a
Pepsi commercial. Over the years, they've also made appearances at the NAACP Image Awards, played for Motown, and performed during NFL halftime shows (including alongside Usher in the 2024 Super Bowl 58 show).
Though they prepare and perform as professionals—with daily practices and rehearsals often lasting until 10 p.m. or later—the highly talented musicians and athletes that make up the Sonic Boom are between 18 and 22 years old. They're full-time students, many on band scholarships, juggling classes, social lives, and being away from the families for the first time. Most agree that being a part of Sonic Boom has felt like having a home away from home.
"They're my family," former trumpet player Marice Graham told
Southern Living. "People say, 'Band is not your life,' but for the Sonic Boom of the South, you will look back on this as a huge part of your life. Being part of this band makes me feel like I have a place to belong."
Former band member Marvin Garcia Meda, who made history by becoming the program's first Hispanic head drum major in 2022, agrees that it's the familial atmosphere that sets Sonic Boom apart from other collegiate marching band programs.
"What the Sonic Boom means to me is family," he explains. "All my people are here from different states and different cultures, but at the end of the day, all those differences make us stronger and better through everything."
The Sonic Boom of the South is far from your typical college extracurricular. It's proven to be an integral part of the Jackson community and will continue to create legacies and traditions for years to come. For Little, the experience of being the Boom's band director is a full-circle moment that started when he was just a pre-teen.
"My middle school band director was a Jackson State graduate and he used to show us tapes of the Sonic Boom," he remembers. "Of course, I didn't know who the band was, but I knew the blue looked good and they had nice straight lines."
The Sonic Boom of the South, Jackson State University's marching band, is an award-winning program with a longstanding legacy of excellence. Keep reading for more on the iconic marching band.
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