Low-key response to the Jan. 2 anniversary of Tex Ritter’s death was not necessarily a surprise.

It was overcast and cold that day at Oak Bluff Memorial Cemetery in Port Neches, where Nederland’s singing cowboy’s remains rest.

The Heritage Museum in downtown Nederland was closed for winter hours.

There was little to remind his hometown that 44 years before, Woodward Maurice “Tex” Ritter had died. Had we not received notice from the Texas Historical Association, which noted the date’s importance, it would have evaded us as well.

What’s remarkable is not that Ritter was necessarily forgotten — it’s been a long time — but that there are so many musical figures to remember in Greater Port Arthur and Jefferson County.

We in this office keep track of many of them through Google reminders, the better to stay in contact with the great musicians who once called this coastal county home.

That means George Jones and the Big Bopper, Janis Joplin and Clifton Chenier and Pimp C. And, of course, country crooner and movie star Ritter.

Joplin, dead since 1970, may be the singer whose star shines brightest in global recognition. Dead at 27, with but three albums to her credit, she’s a source of never-ending fascination to the world.

Her 75^th birthday will be celebrated next week as part of the “A Night with Janis Joplin” performance in Boston. They’re calling it a “one of a kind” event.

Her music will be included elsewhere in a “Women in Rock” show. Talk about her biopic is generating some heat; Oscar nominee Michelle Williams will play the lead role. That was just some of the news on a mundane Thursday for a performer who has been gone for almost 50 years.

George Jones, who burned his fuse as harshly as Joplin did, survived into his 80s. But he had plenty of history around Beaumont, and the old riding lawn mower story — did he drive it to the liquor store there? — has some roots here.

Rapper Pimp C, gone 10 years, still generates news for his work with the Underground Kingz , while the Big Bopper frequently shows up in the daily news, but mostly because he died in a plane crash with Buddy Holly.

(Jiles “JP” Richardson, “the Big Bopper,” born in Sabine Pass, deserves better. He was a singer, songwriter, radio personality, rockabilly pioneer. Some credit him as a forerunner for music videos.)

All that is preface to this: That the brightest lights in entertainment aren’t necessarily from the big city. Some come from Sabine Pass or Nederland or Port Arthur or small towns across the country.

They burn their energy and leave their marks on the planet. For their every brilliant effort, we should remember them.