The Small Town that John Mellencamp immortalized in his 1985 hit song wasn’t just an imagined Mayberry sort of place. Mellencamp, the rock singer and songwriter known for his heartland ballads, was writing about Seymour, Indiana, a town of about 20,000 just an hour south of Indianapolis.

There have been Mellencamps in Jackson County since the 1850s when a German immigrant, Johann Herman Mollenkamp, settled in a nearby county and now an audio driving tour CD, “The Roots of an American Rocker”; lets travelers listen to his lyrics while visiting the places important to him when he was growing up.

The folksy reminiscences include Margie – who he dated in freshman year recalling how Mellencamp tried to win her back by playing Working My Way Back to You; on the telephone. Mellencamp also wrote a song about her titled To M.G. (Wherever She May Be); which talked about their stealing kisses underneath the porch. When the song came out, M.G.’s grandmother was shocked.