On the Cover: Hot Pursuit on the Natchez Trace

HOT PURSUIT ON THE NATCHEZ TRACE

Cover image by Brian Pavlich

By James Fox-Smith

On a beautiful spring day in early March, 2020, photographer Brian Pavlich drove his utterly prosaic SUV to Natchez, Mississippi. His mission: Capture a cover-worthy photograph featuring five of the most beautiful vehicles ever built. With hundreds of highly desirable Porsches, Ferraris, Rolls-Royces, and Ducatis about to descend on Natchez for the annual Euro Fest Classic Car and Motorcycle Show, what better picture to feature on the cover of Country Roads’ April 2020 issue, we thought, than one of gorgeous classic cars swooping along the Trace at the height of springtime?

Brian Pavlich

Best-laid plans … As the whole world knows, the week following that photoshoot brought the cancellation of Euro Fest and every other event across the country as COVID-19 spread. Plans for that magazine cover had to change too, leaving our classic car photo shoot all dressed up, so to speak, with nowhere to go. But the resulting pictures were too good not to hold onto. So now, with the world open for business again and the Euro Fest Classic Car Show returning to Natchez this April 22–23, we can finally put Brian’s terrific photograph on the cover. We are grateful to the drivers, who brought their rare and valuable vehicles out to the Trace from Natchez, and as far afield as Baton Rouge and Jackson, Mississippi; then patiently drove around all day while we photographed them.