The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum collects, preserves, and interprets the evolving history a
Located in the heart of downtown Nashville, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum documents and interprets the history of country music—a musical genre and culture central to the identity of the city, the state, and the nation. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the museum proudly combines subject expertise, ambitious research, and preservation of an unparalleled collection with
expressions of creativity in music, art, and history. The museum collects artifacts that illustrate the evolving history and traditions of country music while providing diverse learning opportunities. The core exhibit follows the story of country music from its folk beginnings through its emergence as a commercial art form. Rotating exhibits examine a broad range of topics, from country classics to ultra-contemporary and emerging artists in American Currents. The museum owns Hatch Show Print, a letterpress print shop opened in 1879, and it operates Historic RCA Studio B, where Elvis Presley and many others recorded.
Museum memberships include a wide range of perks, including unlimited gallery admission, access to exclusive events and concert ticket pre-sales, dining and shopping discounts, and more.
And every membership supports the Museum's enduring mission: to preserve, protect, and share the story of country music for generations to come.
Be a part of country music history — become a member today!
Learn more here: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/support/membership
To celebrate the opening of the exhibit, "Bill Anderson: As Far As I Can See," Trisha Yearwood visited the Museum to perform the Connie Smith hit "Once a Day," a song penned by Country Music Hall of Fame member Bill Anderson.
In this clip, Yearwood notes Anderson's attention to detail and masterful play between lyric and melody as the mark of "an incredible songwriter."
Don't miss the chance to visit "Bill Anderson: As Far As I Can See," open now through March 2023: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/calendar/bill-anderson-as-far-as-i-can-see
In case you missed it—the Museum celebrated the launch of its newest online exhibit, "Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945–1970,” with a special concert and conversation in the CMA Theater last night. Presented in partnership with the National Museum of African American Music, the program featured key members of the Nashville soul music scene of the 1960s, Levert Allison of the Fairfield Four, Jimmy Church, Peggy Gaines Walker, Frank Howard, Charles "Wigg" Walker, and a special performance from The War and Treaty.
Explore “Night Train to Nashville,” made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/night-train-to-nashville
In October of 2022, Rodney Dillard, Chris Hillman, John McEuen, and Herb Pedersen visited the Museum for the special panel discussion, "From Bluegrass to Country-Rock." In this clip, Pedersen and Dillard discuss The Dillards's non-traditional sound and how it once inspired Don Henley of the Eagles to drive through a snowstorm to see the group perform.
This "Live at the Hall" program was offered in support of the major exhibition "Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock," presented by City National Bank. It was made possible in part by the ACM - Academy of Country Music, and exhibit travel partner, American Airlines.
To watch the full program, visit the Museum's video hub: Watch.CountryMusicHallofFame.org
Celebrate Country Music Hall of Fame member Ray Stevens' January 24 birthday with this 2014 Songwriter Session. In it, Stevens performs and tells the stories behind some of his biggest hits, including “Guitarzan,” “Everything Is Beautiful,” “Mr. Businessman,” and “The Streak.”
In addition to discussing the essential elements of a hit song, he talks about his unconventional creative process. “I’m a crisis writer—I wrote many of my songs the night before the session,” Stevens says during this performance and interview.
Watch the program below or visit the Museum's video hub for more at Watch.CountryMusicHallofFame.org.
Ray Stevens performs and tells the stories behind some of his biggest hits, including “Guitarzan,” “Everything is Beautiful,” “Mr. Businessman,” and “The Streak,” during a 2014 Songwriter Session at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
The Countr...
‘American Currents: State of the Music’ opens March 8.
This annual exhibit takes a broad view of the genre over the past year to explore musical developments, artist achievements, and notable events, as determined by the Museum’s curators and editorial staff.
Among those recognized:
The Black Opry, Luke Combs, Charley Crockett, Sierra Ferrell, Rhiannon Giddens, Ashley Gorley, HARDY, Cody Johnson, Wynonna Judd, Miranda Lambert, Ashley McBryde, Parker McCollum, Scotty McCreery, Reba McEntire, Amanda Shires, Billy Strings, Sunny Sweeney, Molly Tuttle, Shania Twain, Morgan Wallen, Lainey Wilson, Jordan Davis, Miko Marks, and Morgan Wade.
Don’t miss it: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/calendar/american-currents-state-of-the-music
A highlight of the Museum’s current major exhibition "Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock" is pictured here: three wondrous Nudie suits worn by Flying Burrito Brothers Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons, and Sneaky Pete Kleinow.
Here’s the story of these outfits. In late 1968, the Flying Burrito Brothers went to Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors in North Hollywood to order extravagantly embroidered, rhinestone-embellished stage costumes, which they associated with authentic country music. Collaborating with Nudie’s head designer, Manuel Cuevas, each musician selected colors, fabric, and embroidery to reflect his personal style and taste. The band showcased their spiffy new suits on the cover of their 1969 debut album, "The Gilded Palace of Sin," a landmark in country-rock.
The costumes left to right: Sneaky Pete Kleinow’s black velvet suit features embroidered dinosaurs and a pterosaur outlined with rhinestones, front and back. The suit worn by Gram Parsons has chain-stitched ma*****na leaves, poppies, pills, pinup girls, hellfire, and a radiant cross. Chris Hillman’s blue velvet suit is decorated with peacocks, seahorses, the Greek god Poseidon, and, on the back, the face of an Aztec-style sun. On the album cover, the fourth band member, Chris Ethridge, wore a white suit embroidered with roses. His suit was not available for the exhibition.
The costumes were made available courtesy of the Autry Museum of the American West, Manuel Cuevas, Nicholas Hillman, Anita Kleinow, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and Melanie Wells.
Learn more: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/calendar/western-edge-exhibit
David Crosby’s delicate tenor voice, psychedelic- and jazz-influenced guitar playing, and poetic explorations as a songwriter made him a central figure in Los Angeles folk-rock acts the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. A two-time member of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Crosby—who died January 18 at age eighty-one—influenced generations of country, pop, and rock artists.
Chris Hillman cites Crosby’s sophisticated understanding of vocal harmonies with influencing the sound of early Byrds hits “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Eight Miles High.” A co-founder of the band with Crosby, Gene Clark, Michael Clarke, and Roger McGuinn, Hillman also noted during interviews for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s exhibition Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock that Crosby’s interest in modal jazz and psychedelic musical flourishes proved integral to the sound of the Byrds’ early albums.
Similarly, Graham Nash—who formed Crosby, Stills & Nash with Crosby and Stephen Stills in 1968—recalled the first time he harmonized with Crosby and Stills. “It was a song called ‘You Don’t Have to Cry,’” Nash said in an interview for Western Edge. He asked the two singers to repeat the song twice, and by the third pass, “Stephen started, and I added my harmony. We had to stop after forty-five seconds. We were amazed at the sound that three voices into one sounded like. And you know what? My life changed.”
Crosby, Stills & Nash’s sound contrasted with the era’s harder-edged rock of the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and the Who and helped launch a trend in popular music that embraced melody, harmony, and acoustic instruments.
As a solo artist and with members of the Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, Crosby continued to make music and tour until his death.
(photo by Henry Diltz)
Just announced: The War and Treaty join the list of performers—including Levert Allison (of the Fairfield Four), Jimmy Church, Peggy Gaines Walker, Frank Howard and Charles "Wigg" Walker—for a special "Night Train to Nashville" program on January 25.
The Museum has released more tickets for this free performance and conversation celebrating the launch of its online exhibition “Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945–1970." The program, presented in partnership with the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM), has been moved to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s CMA Theater to accommodate additional seating.
Don’t miss it! Explore the exhibit and reserve tickets today: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/night-train-to-nashville
Today, January 18, is Museum Selfie Day!
Join in on the fun by taking a selfie during your visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Take your photo anywhere in the galleries or stop by the selfie station in the Taylor Swift Education Center. Make sure to share it to your socials using the hashtags and in addition to tagging the Museum.
Support country music preservation by voting us as the "Best Music Museum" in the 10Best Readers' Choice Awards brought to you by ! Voting ends Feb. 13.
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum: Vote for your favorite music museum!!
The 1945 Hammond CV organ pictured here belonged to Otis Blackwell, who helped shape popular music in the 1950s by writing “Don’t Be Cruel,” “All Shook Up,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Breathless,” “Fever,” and other major hits.
Blackwell was born in Brooklyn in 1931. In his teens, he became a fan of singing cowboys, particularly Tex Ritter, while working as a floor sweeper in his neighborhood movie theater.
“Like the blues, it told a story,” Blackwell once said of country music. “But it didn’t have the same restrictive construction. A cowboy song could do anything.”
He began his career singing and playing keyboards in blues clubs, and in 1953, he wrote and recorded a regional R&B hit, “Daddy Rollin’ Stone.” Blackwell scored his first #1 as a songwriter with “Fever,” released by Little Willie John in 1956 (later covered by Peggy Lee).
Elvis Presley’s recordings of “Don’t Be Cruel” and “All Shook Up” and Jerry Lee Lewis’s releases of “Great Balls of Fire” and “Breathless” each rose to the upper reaches of the country, R&B, and pop charts.
Blackwell wrote over a thousand other songs, including another Presley hit, “Return to Sender,” and “Handy Man,” made famous by Jimmy Jones and later James Taylor.
In the 1980s, Blackwell opened a Nashville office called Blackwell Music Enterprises, which included his publishing company (Westfall Music), record label (Bullion Records), and small recording studio.
Making Nashville his full-time residence, he bought a home in the Oak Hill section of the city in 1990. He died of a heart attack in 2002. When Kirk and Lora Harnack bought his home, they were surprised to discover his Hammond organ was still there. They donated the instrument to the Museum in 2012.
We don’t know when Blackwell acquired the World War II-era organ. However, still stuck to the back of the Hammond is a small piece of old, red embossing tape with three words punched out in white: ALMOST PAID FOR.
In this episode of "Live at the Hall," four-time Country Music Association Musician of the Year, Jeneé Fleenor, discusses the murky divide between stage and studio musicians, what it’s like to be the only woman in recording sessions, and other stories from her life and career.
Watch below or visit the Museum's video hub for more exclusive content: https://watch.CountryMusicHallofFame.org
In this “Live at the Hall” episode, Jenee Fleenor--a two-time Country Music Association Award-winning instrumentalist of the year, and the first woman to ever win that prize from the CMA--performs live and talks about her journey from a precocious child...
“Dick Curless: Hard Traveling Man from Maine” is now open.
The expressive baritone singer—best known for his national 1965 hit, the truck-driving anthem “A Tombstone Every Mile”—was one of the most versatile and powerfully eloquent singers of his time. The exhibit traces Curless’s life and legacy, from his rural Northeast upbringing and popular truck-driving songs of the '60s-'70s to his critically acclaimed 1995 album, “Traveling Through.”
In support of the exhibit opening, the Museum is hosting a conversation and performance on Saturday, February 18, featuring award-winning author Peter Guralnick; musician, producer, and artist manager Jake Guralnick; and musician Chuck Mead, co-founder of country band BR549 and longtime Americana solo artist. Don't miss the chance to learn about the man behind "Traveling Through," a rootsy exploration of the sad and spiritual sides of country, blues, and gospel music that Curless completed just months before his death.
Learn more about Dick Curless and the upcoming exhibit and program: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/calendar/dick-curless-exhibit
"Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945–1970," an online version of the Museum’s award-winning exhibition, is now live.
This online exhibit revives, updates, and preserves the significant story of Nashville’s pioneering R&B scene and its role in building the city into a world-renowned music center.
To mark the exhibit’s launch, the Museum, in partnership with the National Museum of African American Music, will host a special concert and conversation featuring performances by Levert Allison of the Fairfield Four, Jimmy Church, Peggy Gaines Walker, Frank Howard, Charles “Wigg” Walker, and other key members of the Nashville soul music scene of the 1960s. Musicians will also share memories of the city’s vibrant R&B community, which included pioneering television shows (“Night Train,” “The!!!!Beat”), influential radio stations (WLAC, WSOK, WVOL), and venerated Black music venues (New Era Club, Club Del Morocco, Club Baron). Ticket reservations start at 10:00 AM on January 12.
The online exhibit is made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Explore the Online Exhibit: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/night-train-to-nashville
In 1972, the Museum acquired one of the crown jewels of its world-class holdings: the core of what is now known as the Bob Pinson Recorded Sound Collection. Born in 1934 in Texas, Bob Pinson began collecting records at age twelve, especially those by western swing and honky-tonk artists. By the time he sold his collection, he had amassed more than 14,000 phonograph records and radio transcription discs, mostly from the 1920s to 1940s. Many were rare. Acquiring Pinson’s collection doubled the size of the Museum’s recorded-sound holdings.
Museum officials were thrilled by the acquisition but faced considerable logistical challenges getting the records from Pinson’s home in Southern California to Nashville. Ultimately, a Nashville-based transportation company agreed to ship the collection at no charge and even supplied a truck driver who was an avid country music fan. The 14,000 records, which weighed a whopping three-and-a-half tons, were carefully packed and transported in a temperature-controlled trailer to prevent them from warping or cracking. The collection was priceless but, for the purposes of the trip, was insured for $1 million, a fact that, as seen in this photograph, was emblazoned across both sides of the trailer. To further publicize its extraordinary purchase, the Museum enlisted country radio stations for special promotions and planned a series of stops along the 2,800-mile route.
It was a momentous trek. On October 1, 1972, in Santa Maria, California, the truck began zig-zagging its way across the Southwest, through Texas and Oklahoma, then on to Nashville. The truck made nearly a dozen scheduled stops at shopping centers and radio stations to celebrate with country music fans, including in Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Antonio, Dallas, and Tulsa. Nine days after the journey began, a special welcome ceremony was held at the Museum to mark the collection’s arrival at its new permanent home in Nashville. Only a single record broke during the trip.
In 1973, Pinson joined the Museum staff as its first acquisitions director. He soon became known as one of the premier authorities and discographers of country music and helped preserve, curate, and expand the collection. It now contains an estimated 98 percent of all pre-World War II commercial country recordings, in addition to tens of thousands of country recordings released afterwards, all the way up to the present day. With more than 200,000 phonograph cylinders, disc records, tapes, CDs, and digital files, it ranks among the world’s largest collections of country music recordings. This spring, the Museum will commemorate Bob Pinson and the fiftieth anniversary of the acquisition with a gala panel-discussion tribute and listening party. Stay tuned for more details.
Pictured at the truck’s arrival at the Hall of Fame in Nashville, October 10, 1972 (from left): Doris Lynch, director of special events for the museum (standing at lectern), Brad McCuen, museum library director Danny Hatcher, Frank Jones, Frances W. Preston, museum director Bill Ivey, Bill Denny, and Tommy G. Wilson, executive vice president of the trucking firm, General Transportation Services, Inc.
One of the most innovative and audacious figures in the history of American music, Sun Records founder Sam Phillips was born 100 years ago today, January 5, 1923. He introduced the world to Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Howlin’ Wolf, B. B. King, Ike Turner, Roy Orbison, Charlie Rich, Carl Perkins, and other musical trailblazers. Blurring class and color lines, Phillips set out to break down barriers of racial segregation and discrimination through music, just as the Civil Rights movement was gathering force in the South.
“I have one real gift,” Phillips told journalist David Halberstam. “And that gift is to look another person in the eye and be able to tell if he has anything to contribute, and if he does, I have the additional gift to free him from whatever is restraining him.” By putting his philosophy into practice and opening the doors to extraordinary talents, Sam Phillips helped unleash a revolution in American music. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
In 2016, the Museum hosted a public program celebrating and examining one of Phillips’s great triumphs: the discovery of Carl Perkins and his subsequent million-selling 1956 hit “Blue Suede Shoes.” Watch the video to see an in-depth panel discussion and performance. https://watch.countrymusichalloffame.org/videos/remembering-carl-perkins-blue-suede-shoes-at-sixty
In December 2013, Morgane Stapleton bought Chris Stapleton a 1979 Jeep Cherokee located in Phoenix, Arizona, and they spent eleven days driving the vehicle back to Nashville. The old Jeep was plagued with mechanical problems—the alternator needed to be replaced, the windshield wipers gave out, and the gas tank couldn’t be fully filled up—but the trip proved musically fruitful: early one morning, Stapleton composed the lyrics for his song “Traveller,” which would be the title track of his first album.
The Stapletons were joined on the trip by photographer Becky Fluke, who took many Polaroid photographs during their travels. The final photo in this series became the “Traveller” album cover image.
The exhibition “Chris Stapleton: Since 1978,” presented by Ram Trucks, includes reproductions of Fluke’s photos, her Polaroid camera, and more items from the road trip, along with many other personal items from Stapleton’s life and career. Learn more about the exhibit and make plans to visit: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/calendar/chris-stapleton-since-1978
“Mystery Shrouds Death of Singer Hank Williams” proclaimed a January 2, 1953, front-page headline in the “Knoxville Journal,” and that summary remains true today. Seventy years ago, the twenty-nine-year-old country music star passed away in the backseat of his chauffeur-driven Cadillac convertible, somewhere between Knoxville, Tennessee, and Oak Hill, West Virginia, on his way to play two New Year’s Day concerts in Canton, Ohio.
Few events in country music history have inspired such endless speculation as Williams’s now-legendary death trip, the details of which remain frustratingly murky. What is clear is that Williams departed Montgomery, Alabama, on December 30, 1952, to play two concerts in Charleston, West Virginia, on New Year’s Eve, then two more in Canton, Ohio, on New Year’s Day. Bad weather prevented him from making it to the Charleston shows, so he and his chauffeur, an Auburn freshman named Charles Carr, were racing to make the next day’s shows in Canton.
Even after all these decades, researchers are no closer to resolving the baffling questions of exactly when and where Williams died. Officially, he was pronounced dead shortly before 7:00 AM at Oak Hill’s hospital. By then, though, he had probably been dead for at least several hours. A Tennessee highway patrol investigation concluded that Williams was already dead by 10:45 PM on December 31, when two porters carried the allegedly unconscious singer from his Knoxville hotel room to his car. However, Carr claimed he spoke with Williams several hours later when they stopped in Bluefield, West Virginia. Surely, though, Williams barely saw the dawn of the new year, if he lived that long. He most likely died along U.S. Route 19 in southern West Virginia during the predawn hours of New Year’s Day 1953.
Nor is it certain what caused Williams’s death. An autopsy attributed it to heart failure, with “acute alcoholism” as a contributing factor. Rumors persist that Williams consumed several tablets of the sedative chloral hydrate on the trip, and he may have received up to four morphine injections to ease his chronic back pain in the forty-eight hours before he died. The coroner failed to test for these drugs, however, and the autopsy revealed only alcohol in Williams’s bloodstream. Further deepening the mystery were contemporary allegations that the singer’s death was the result of foul play or even su***de. Today, many details about his final hours seem destined to remain unknowable.
Williams’s mysterious death has contributed immeasurably to his mystique. It set in motion his ascension into the pantheon of American musical giants as the greatest singer-songwriter in country music history and as one of the first three people inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Seven decades on, the fascination with the man and his music remains.
Pictured: cover of the 1954 "Hank Williams Memorial Souvenir Program," produced for a memorial concert of Grand Ole Opry stars in Montgomery, Alabama, who paid tribute to Hank Williams.
Learn more about Hank Williams: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/hall-of-fame/hank-williams.
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Sunday night, the Country Music Hall of Fame inducted Keith Whitley, a premier vocal stylist and recording artist who helped define country music’s New Traditionalist movement in the 1980s. Whitley made his mark in bluegrass in the 1970s after Ralph Stanley discovered Whitley and recruited the teenager for his Clinch Mountain Boys band. He spent about twelve years playing with Stanley and then with J. D. Crowe and the New South, but Whitley’s childhood musical heroes were hard-country singers such as Lefty Frizzell, George Jones, and Hank Williams, so he moved to Nashville to pursue recording as a mainstream country artist, starting in 1984. Whitley’s rich, instantly identifiable baritone could convey melancholy, vulnerability, or devil-may-care exuberance. His solo career was barely five years long, but he earned eight Top Twenty songs during his lifetime, as well as six posthumously. His death of acute alcohol poisoning in 1989, at the age of thirty-four, left a promising and still-influential career unfinished. Whitley was inducted along with Joe Galante and Jerry Lee Lewis. Press play to learn more about Keith Whitley’s life and career. To dig deeper, click here: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/hall-of-fame/keith-whitley
Joe Galante, whose work as a longtime record label chief did much to modernize country music business practices and expand the genre’s commercial horizons, was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday night. A native of Queens, New York, Galante started his career as a budget analyst with RCA Records in New York in 1971. He moved to the label’s Nashville office three years later and, although initially viewed as an outsider, took charge of RCA Records Nashville in 1982—the youngest person ever to lead a major label’s Nashville division. After twenty-eight years in record label leadership, Galante retired as chairman of Sony Music Nashville in 2010. Under Galante’s leadership, RCA Nashville was the top-selling country music label for eleven consecutive years. With his aptitude for recognizing and developing talent, Galante also played a crucial role in advancing the careers of Alabama, Kenny Chesney, The Judds, Miranda Lambert, Ronnie Milsap, and many other artists across four decades. Galante was inducted in the year’s class of new Country Music Hall of Fame members, along with Jerry Lee Lewis and Keith Whitley. Press play to learn more about Joe Galante’s life and career. To dig deeper, click here: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/hall-of-fame/joe-galante
Three distinguished artists were officially inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame during a star-studded, emotionally moving Medallion Ceremony on Sunday, October 16. Joe Galante, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Keith Whitley were honored in the CMA Theater at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum with heartfelt testimonials and once-in-a-lifetime musical tributes over the three-hour ceremony. Artists who performed included Country Music Hall of Fame members Teddy Gentry and Randy Owen of Alabama, Bill Anderson, Garth Brooks, and Ricky Skaggs, as well as Kenny Chesney, Mickey Guyton, Chris Isaak, Miranda Lambert, the McCrary Sisters, Justin Moses, Molly Tuttle, and Lee Ann Womack, with backing by the Medallion All-Star Band. Witness highlights from the event in this exclusive video. For more, visit: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/hall-of-fame/current-class
Chris Hillman's live performance of "Wheels," featuring Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins of Watkins Family Hour, anchors the first look at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's newest major exhibition “Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock,” presented by City National Bank . Hillman and Sara Watkins also shared stories during the exhibition's opening, which speaks to the immense scope of "Western Edge," a decades-spanning exhibit that traces communities of visionary singers, songwriters, and musicians in Los Angeles who set about reinvigorating the sounds of pop and rock by infusing elements of country, bluegrass, and folk music in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s. The exhibit features a range of artists, bands, and players — from the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, to the Flying Burrito Brothers and Emmylou Harris, to Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles, to the Blasters and Dwight Yoakam. You don't want to miss this. Visit today: https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/calendar/western-edge-exhibit
Anita Kerr, one of the Nashville Sound’s most influential background vocalists and arrangers, died Monday, October 10, 2022, in Geneva, Switzerland. She was three days shy of her ninety-fifth birthday. During the 1950s and 1960s, she and her namesake group, the Anita Kerr Singers, provided the background vocals on thousands of country and country-pop recordings and helped broaden country music’s appeal in the face of the commercial threat posed by rock & roll. Born into an Italian-immigrant family in Memphis in 1927, Kerr moved to Nashville in 1948 and organized a singing group for WSM’s "Sunday Down South" radio program. Her big break came when her group, the Anita Kerr Singers, provided a featured vocal part on Red Foley’s 1950 crossover hit “Our Lady of Fatima.” She became a regular on the Grand Ole Opry’s "Prince Albert Show" and led her singing group in recording sessions, initially for Decca Records. In 1961, Kerr joined RCA Records as Chet Atkins’s recording assistant, working as a vocal group leader, arranger, and occasional, often uncredited, producer. In 1963, she resigned and, two years later, moved to Los Angeles, where she worked extensively on recordings of pop, jazz, and orchestral music. During the height of the Nashville Sound in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Anita Kerr Singers ranked as one of Music City’s most prolifically recorded and in-demand backup vocal groups, during the peak of their popularity filling as many as eighteen sessions per week. The group sang on recordings by such future Country Music Hall of Fame members as Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, and many others, as well as recordings for pop artists. The group’s inspired work can also be heard memorably on such classics as Bobby Helms’s “Jingle Bell Rock” (1957), Brenda Lee Official’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” (1958), and Roy Orbison’s “Only the Lonely” (1960). Among other awards, Kerr and her group won
ON DEMAND: Catch the premiere of the latest “Live at the Hall” episode featuring Black Opry founder and co-director Holly G, and recording artists and songwriters involved with the Black Opry, The Kentucky Gentlemen, Nikki Morgan, Aaron Vance, and Julie Williams Music. During the show, Holly G and the Museum’s Angela Stefano Zimmer discuss the history of the Black Opry, and each artist performs and shares about their career and how they became involved with the organization. Founded in April 2021 as a digital home for Black Americana music, blues, country, and folk artists and fans, the Black Opry now includes a series of showcases, known as the Black Opry Revue, that highlight the diverse sounds and stories of the Black artists in these genres. Watch here or stream the full episode on demand at: Watch.CountryMusicHallofFame.org.
Loretta Lynn died at the age of 90 yesterday. Listen as Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, takes a moment to reflect on her remarkable life, impact, and achievements. He delivered these remarks Tuesday during the annual Rite of Remembrance and Salute to all of the Hall of Fame members, which takes place every day for two weeks prior to the Medallion Ceremony inducting the newest Hall of Fame members on October 16. The Rite of Remembrance event is open to the public in the Hall of Fame Rotunda in the museum and takes place at 1 p.m. each day through October 15. Young is wearing the official ceremonial robe for the occasion.
Canadian singer Colter Wall performs Willie Nelson’s “Red Headed Stranger” at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum during the opening concert in 2018 for the museum’s major exhibition “Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring '70s." It's a song that helped shape a burgeoning Outlaw movement. That phenomenon increased country music’s audience in the 1970s, led by pacesetters such as Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Bobby Bare, and many others—a time defined by artists in Nashville and Austin demanding creative freedom to make their own music. In this series, we mark memorable performances from that opening concert. The exhibition closes June 7. Visit https://countrymusichalloffame1.vhx.tv/videos/outlaws-and-armadillos-country-s-roaring-70-s-opening-concert to view the full concert.
A powerful lineup of Jessi Colter, Shooter Jennings, Tanya Tucker, and Elizabeth Cook perform “Why You Been Gone So Long,” written by Mickey Newbury, at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum during the opening concert in 2018 for the museum’s major exhibition “Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring '70s.” The Outlaw phenomenon increased country music’s audience in the 1970s, led by pacesetters such as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Bobby Bare, and many others—a time defined by artists in Nashville and Austin demanding creative freedom to make their own music. In this series, we mark memorable performances from that opening concert. The exhibition closes June 7. Visit https://countrymusichalloffame1.vhx.tv/videos/outlaws-and-armadillos-country-s-roaring-70-s-opening-concert to view the full concert.
Gary P. Nunn, Texas singer and longtime member of the Lost Gonzo Band, performs his “London Homesick Blues”—which became the theme song for TV's "Austin City Limits"—at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum during the opening concert in 2018 for the museum’s major exhibition “Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring '70s.” The Outlaw phenomenon increased country music’s audience in the 1970s, led by pacesetters such as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Bobby Bare, and many others—an expressive time defined by artists in Nashville and Austin demanding creative freedom to make their own music. In this series, we mark memorable performances from that opening concert. The exhibition closes June 7. Visit https://countrymusichalloffame1.vhx.tv/videos/outlaws-and-armadillos-country-s-roaring-70-s-opening-concert to view the full concert.
Billy Joe Shaver performs his song “Honky Tonk Heroes” during the opening concert in 2018 for the museum’s major exhibition “Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring '70s.” The song, from the Waylon Jennings album of the same name, is one of nine compositions Shaver had a part in writing on that landmark record. The Outlaw movement increased country music’s audience in the 1970s, led by pacesetters such as Shaver, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Bobby Bare, and many others—a time defined by artists in Nashville and Austin demanding creative freedom to make their own music. In this series, we mark memorable performances from that opening concert. The exhibition closes June 7. Visit https://countrymusichalloffame1.vhx.tv/videos/outlaws-and-armadillos-country-s-roaring-70-s-opening-concert to view the full concert.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Peter Cooper introduces Joe Ely, the Texas roadhouse country-rocker, and longtime member of the legendary Flatlanders, as a performer who “embodied the soul of progressive country.” Here, Ely performs his song “I Had My Hopes Up High” during the opening concert in 2018 for the museum’s major exhibition “Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring '70s.” The Outlaw phenomenon increased country music’s audience in the 1970s, led by pacesetters such as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Bobby Bare, Ely, and many others—a time defined by artists in Nashville and Austin demanding creative freedom to make their own music. In this series, we mark memorable performances from that opening concert. The exhibition closes June 7. Visit https://countrymusichalloffame1.vhx.tv/videos/outlaws-and-armadillos-country-s-roaring-70-s-opening-concert to view the full concert.
Tanya Tucker performs “Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone)” at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. She originally recorded the song (written by David Allan Coe) when she was fifteen years old; it became a #1 country hit. The performance was recorded during the opening concert in 2018 for the museum’s major exhibition “Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring '70s.” The Outlaw phenomenon increased country music’s audience in the 1970s, led by pacesetters such as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Bobby Bare, and many others—an especially creative time defined by artists in Nashville and Austin demanding freedom to make their own music. In this series, we mark memorable performances from that opening concert. The exhibition closes June 7. Visit https://countrymusichalloffame1.vhx.tv/videos/outlaws-and-armadillos-country-s-roaring-70-s-opening-concert to view the full concert.
Mickey Gilley shows off his piano-playing dexterity, smooth baritone vocals, and effortless stage presence in this May 1974 clip from “The Porter Wagoner Show.” Gilley sings “Room Full of Roses,” a country and pop classic written in the 1940s by Tim Spencer of the Sons of the Pioneers. Gilley’s version was climbing the country record charts when he did this TV performance. It became the first of his seventeen #1 country hits on June 29, 1974. If Gilley’s style reminds you a little of Jerry Lee Lewis, there’s good reason. Lewis is Gilley’s cousin, and the two budding entertainers often played and sang together growing up in Ferriday, Louisiana. Gilley was thirty-eight years old when he made this TV appearance. He died this past Saturday, May 7, at age eighty-six.
Country Music Hall of Fame member Bobby Bare performs his #1 country hit from 1974, “Marie Laveau,” written by Shel Silverstein, at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, recorded during the opening concert in 2018 for the major exhibition “Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring '70s.” The Outlaw phenomenon increased country music’s audience in the 1970s, led by pacesetters such as Bare, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, and many others—an expressive time defined by artists in Nashville and Austin demanding creative freedom to make their own music. In this series, we mark memorable performances from the museum’s opening concert. The exhibition closes June 7. Visit https://countrymusichalloffame1.vhx.tv/videos/outlaws-and-armadillos-country-s-roaring-70-s-opening-concert to view the full concert.
Jason Isbell performs “Pancho and Lefty” at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum during the opening concert in 2018 for the major exhibition “Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring '70s.” One of Willie Nelson’s many hits, “Pancho and Lefty” was written by Texas songwriter Townes Van Zandt. The Outlaw phenomenon increased country music’s audience in the 1970s, led by pacesetters such as Nelson, Van Zandt, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, Bobby Bare, and many others—a time defined by artists in Nashville and Austin demanding creative freedom to make their own music. In this series, we mark memorable performances from the museum’s opening concert. The exhibition closes June 7. Visit https://countrymusichalloffame1.vhx.tv/videos/outlaws-and-armadillos-country-s-roaring-70-s-opening-concert to view the full concert.
Ray Charles brought increased attention and respect to country music with his widely popular renditions of classic country songs. Though known as the “Genius of Soul,” Charles made country songs a significant part of his repertoire from the 1960s onward. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday. Born in Albany, Georgia, on September 23, 1930, he lost his sight by age seven. Enrolled in the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, he learned to read and write music in Braille, play piano and clarinet, and compose musical scores in his head. After his mother died in 1945, Charles dropped out of school at age fifteen to follow what he called “the light of music.” He made his way as a professional musician, building an audience. Between 1954 and 1959, he recorded a string of explosive R&B hits for Atlantic Records that established him as an originator of soul music, a marriage of gospel music style and worldly lyrics. In late 1959, ABC-Paramount Records lured Charles away from Atlantic. Charles soon struck gold with “Georgia on My Mind,” his first #1 pop hit, in 1960. In 1962, Charles recorded “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,” a landmark LP introduced country music to a broader audience. “Modern Sounds” topped the Billboard album chart and contained Charles’s classic recording of Don Gibson’s “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” The album was certified gold in July 1962, a few months after its release, and its success encouraged a sequel, released the same year. Charles continued to record country music through the years. In the early 1980s, he signed with Columbia Records with the expressed intent of making music for the country audience. Charles insisted that he record an album of duets with country artists. The result was the #1 album “Friendship” (1984), produced by Billy Sherrill, which paired Charles with Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, and other country artists. By the time Charles pass
The Judds — mother Naomi and daughter Wynonna — helped return country music to its roots in the 1980s with songs influenced by folk music, acoustic blues, and family harmony acts. Between 1984 and 1991, they had twenty Top Ten country hits, including fourteen #1s. The Judds were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday, Naomi posthumously. Naomi was born Diana Ellen Judd on January 11, 1946, in Ashland, Kentucky. At seventeen, she married Michael Ciminella, and on May 30, 1964, she gave birth to daughter Christina Claire (later known as Wynonna). The Ciminellas moved to Los Angeles in 1968, and the couple divorced in 1972. As a struggling single mother, Diana moved often with her daughters, Christina and Ashley. In 1979, after settling in Franklin, just south of Nashville, Naomi and Wynonna (as they renamed themselves) began aiming for a music career. Naomi pursued musical opportunities while working as a nurse at a hospital. Producer Brent Maher, impressed by what he heard from the Judds, worked with the duo develop a distinctive acoustic sound. In 1983, the Judds signed to RCA/Curb Records. The Judds’ second single, “Mama He’s Crazy” became their first #1. Their first full-length album, “Why Not Me” (1984), also jumped to #1. The next three singles — “Why Not Me,” “Girls Night Out,” and “Love Is Alive” — gave the Judds four consecutive #1 hits, soon followed by ten more #1 country hits. In the fall of 1990, with their career still peaking, Naomi announced that she had contracted hepatitis C. The chronic illness led the Judds to stage a goodbye tour and end their musical partnership. Wynonna quickly established herself as a successful solo artist, although the duo periodically reunited for concerts and starred in their own reality TV series in 2011. Tragically, Naomi died at age seventy-six on April 30, 2022, the day before she and Wynonna were to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Toget
After more than forty years as a first-call Nashville studio musician, Eddie Bayers is now the first drummer in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Born January 28, 1949, in Patuxent River, Maryland, Edward Howard Bayers Jr. had a nomadic childhood. His family moved often, following his father’s military assignments in Maryland, California, North Africa, eventually settling in Nashville. At age sixteen, Bayers was effectively orphaned by the death of his mother and his father leaving the family. Bayers found he could make a living playing keyboards (and sometimes drums) in bands on the Jersey Shore and later Las Vegas. Moving to Oakland, California, Bayers became a member of the Edwin Hawkins Singers gospel group. While in the Bay Area, he also fell in with a bunch of musicians that included Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead and Tom Fogerty and Doug Clifford of Creedence Clearwater Revival, and through them got some studio work. Bayers moved back to Nashville in 1974, and top session drummer Larrie Londin hired him on the spot for his group. Londin mentored Bayers in his transition to full-time drumming, and the two remained good friends up until Londin’s death in 1992. Bayers’s standing in Nashville grew as he played percussion on George Jones’s “My Very Special Guests,” Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5 and Odd Jobs,” Ricky Skaggs’s “Highways & Heartaches,” and other albums. His resume eventually expanded to include work with pop, rock, and soul artists, including John Denver, Elton John, Mark Knopfler, Aaron Neville, Bob Seger, and Steve Winwood. All told, Bayers has played on around 300 gold and platinum albums. Bayers has been a member of the Grand Ole Opry’s house band since 2003, when he turned a six-month fill-in assignment into a long-running job. From 1991 through 2010, Bayers was named the ACM - Academy of Country Music’s Drummer of the Year fourteen times, including eleven consecutive times from 1991 through 2001. Press play t
“Stand by Your Man.” “Lay Lady Lay.” “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” Each of these classic records is instantly recognizable, in part due to the pedal steel guitar stylings of Pete Drake. The in-demand session musician contributed to dozens of country hits, and he also popularized the pedal steel guitar outside of country music on recordings by Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and ELVIS PRESLEY. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday. Roddis Franklin "Pete" Drake was born October 8, 1932, in Augusta, Georgia. He began playing steel guitar at age eighteen. Throughout the 1950s, he developed a reputation as one of the Atlanta area’s premier young instrumentalists. In 1959, Drake moved to Nashville and a year later played on Roy Drusky’s Top Five country hit “Anymore.” It opened the floodgates: the month he cut “Anymore” he played on twenty-four sessions. Drake’s skills earned him a coveted spot among Nashville’s elite group of first-call studio musicians. Lynn Anderson’s “(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden,” Charlie Rich’s “The Most Beautiful Girl,” and Jack Greene’s “There Goes My Everything” are among the many well-known recordings featuring Drake’s playing. Drake also played on Bob Dylan’s “John Wesley Harding” (1967), “Nashville Skyline” (1969), and “Self Portrait” (1970) albums, and George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass album (1970), pioneering the use of steel guitar in rock and pop music. While he was building his reputation as a leading studio musician, Drake was also recording as an instrumental artist. “Forever,” a #25 hit on Billboard’s pop charts, earned him the nickname “King of the Talking Steel Guitar” for the way he used a “talk box,” a device that transformed guitar sounds into vocals. His impact extended to owning a recording studio, founding two independent record labels, and establishing music publishing firms that promoted writers such as D
Studio drummer Eddie Bayers, singer-pianist Ray Charles, pedal steel guitarist Pete Drake, and the mother-daughter duo The Judds, officially joined the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday, May 1, in a star-studded Medallion Ceremony at the Museum’s CMA Theater. It was an evening filled with once-in-a-lifetime musical performances and heartfelt, and at times tearful, testimonials. The death of Naomi Judd on the eve of the induction ceremony gave the event a muted sense of mourning, tender reflection, and open-hearted fellowship. The audience observed a moment of silence in memory of Judd and two other Hall of Fame members who died since the last Medallion Ceremony in November: radio and television personality Ralph Emery and studio pianist Hargus “Pig” Robbins. Those presenting musical highlights from the inductees’ careers included Country Music Hall of Fame members Garth Brooks and Vince Gill. They were joined by Elizabeth Cook, Bettye LaVette, Wendy Moten, Carly Pearce, Tommy Sims, Trisha Yearwood, and the duos The War and Treaty (Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Blount Trotter) and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Country Music Hall of Fame member Marty Stuart led the audience in the ceremonial closing song, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” Following longstanding custom, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, chosen by the inductee, welcomed each new member. For the class of 2021 — whose official induction was delayed due to the pandemic — Charlie McCoy inducted Drake, Gill inducted Bayers, Ricky Skaggs inducted the Judds, and Ronnie Milsap inducted Charles. Filled with soaring musical performances and moving tributes, the Medallion Ceremony showcased the camaraderie and the broad range of talent — from legends to newcomers — that define the country music community. Watch the video and experience some of the special tributes that members of the music community shared in honoring these newest inductees of the Country Music Hall
ON DEMAND NOW: In honor of the EXIT/IN’s recent fiftieth anniversary, the Museum’s Peter Cooper hosts a special “Live at the Hall” episode featuring regular Exit/In performers Dianne Davidson, Jason Ringenberg, and Webb Wilder. The conversation and performance centers on this influential Nashville club’s history (since 1971). Presented in support of the exhibition “Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ’70s,” this March 26 conversation takes place in The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Ford Theater. Catch the premiere here on Facebook at 7:00 PM CT or stream on demand any time afterward at watch.countrymusichalloffame.org.
“Isn’t that the beautiful thing about songwriting—” says Rachel Wammack, “Turning heartbreak into something beautiful?” In this clip from CMT’s "Next Women of Country 2019" at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Wammack and Caylee Hammack discuss the relationship between songwriting and relationships. In Hammack’s words, “We are able to take a broken heart and try to spin gold with it.” View the full concert and conversation featuring Hannah Ellis, Lainey Wilson, Mickey Guyton, Caylee Hammack, and Rachel Wammack at our video hub: https://watch.countrymusichalloffame.org/special-programs/videos/cmt-next-women-of-country-2019-concert-and-conversation
Fifty years ago—on April 16, 1972—Apollo 16 astronauts Charlie Duke, Ken Mattingly, and John Young blasted off into space on NASA’s fifth crewed mission to land on the moon and explore its surface. Future Country Music Hall of Fame members Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer, Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Dolly Parton, Jerry Reed, and Porter Wagoner filled two sixty-minute audiocassettes with music and remarks just for the astronauts’ mission. Astronaut Charles Duke is pictured here along with one of the cassettes, now held in the Museum’s collection. The moon tapes were the brainchild of “Wild” Bill Bailey, a radio personality and program director at Houston country music station KIKK, a member of the CMA Country Music Association’s board of directors, and a friend of Apollo astronaut and country music fan Colonel Charles M. Duke Jr. Bill Bailey and the CMA enlisted Porter Wagoner and his Wagonmasters band, with his duet partner Dolly Parton, to kick off the first tape with a live-in-the-studio performance. Wagoner addressed the astronauts, saying, “This is the biggest show of the Wagonmasters and Miss Dolly . . . of our entire lives — the longest distance from home of any show that we have ever played, and the smallest crowd that we have ever played for.” The cassette’s flipside featured Merle Haggard and his crack band, the Strangers, delivering a live set of Haggard hits and Bakersfield honky-tonk music. Between songs, Haggard remarked, “I used to dream of being an astronaut.” The second tape contained more live-in-the-studio West Coast twang, courtesy of Buck Owens and his band, the Buckaroos, with Susan Raye. Their performance included an impression of Ernest Tubb singing “I’m walking the moon over you.” The final half-hour of the tapes showcased Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer, and Jerry Reed as disc jockeys, introducing their own records with quips such as “We never dreamed our careers would take us to such heights.” Learn more: http
Legendary Austin venue Armadillo World Headquarters hosted thousands of performances in the 1970s, providing a place where hippies and “rednecks” could come together to listen to artists such Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel, bluesman Freddie King, and roots and country favorites Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen. In this panel, Texas music journalist Joe Nick Patoski hosts singer-songwriter Gary P. Nunn and Armadillo co-founders Jim Franklin, Mike Tolleson, and Eddie Wilson, as they share behind-the-scenes stories about the venue and the first ever “Armadillo Country Music Review” tour. Don’t miss your chance to see photos and artifacts from the Armadillo at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s major exhibition “Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ’70s,” open now through June 5, 2022. View the full interview at our video hub: watch.countrymusichalloffame.org
ON DEMAND NOW: a new “Live at the Hall” featuring Bobby Tomberlin, Buddy Cannon, and Erin Enderlin. In this program, the songwriters share songs they wrote with Bill Anderson: Erin Enderlin co-wrote “Somewhere South,” Buddy Cannon co-wrote the George Strait hit and CMA Song of the Year, “Give It Away,” and Bobby Tomberlin co-wrote John Schneider’s song “Wherever She Is.” This award-winning group of writers will perform songs, share stories, and tell stories about the songs — all in support of the exhibition, “Bill Anderson: As Far as I Can See,” open now through March 19, 2023. To watch this and more “Live at the Hall,” visit: https://watch.countrymusichalloffame.org/live-at-the-hall...
ON DEMAND NOW: a new “Live at the Hall” episode featuring Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk — songwriters and producers who collaborated with Kacey Musgraves on her “Golden Hour” and “Star-Crossed” albums. These award-winning songwriters took the stage at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in February to perform live and answer audience questions in support of the exhibition “Kacey Musgraves: All of the Colors.” Tune in at 7:00 PM CT here on Facebook to catch the premiere, or stream the episode on demand any time afterward at watch.countrymusichalloffame.org.
Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Allison Russell is a featured artist in our newest installment of “American Currents: State of the Music,” an exhibit honoring artists, musicians, and songwriters who have shaped country music in 2021. Russell and cellist Larissa Maestro took the stage for a special “Live at the Hall” performance in 2021. In this clip from the show, Russell discusses the integrated relationship between music, listening, and empathy. In the artist’s words, “I define a good musician as someone who is able to listen and respond.” Make plans to see Russell’s feature in “American Currents: State of the Music” today: https://countrymusichalloffame.org/exhibit/american-currents/ Watch the full performance at our video hub: https://watch.countrymusichalloffame.org/live-at-the-hall/season:3/videos/allison-russell-live-at-the-hall-2021
“American Currents: State of the Music,” the Museum's annual exhibit spotlighting the artists, musicians, and songwriters shaping country music today, is open to the public now through 2023. Watch this video to hear some of this year’s American Currents artists reflect on their first visit to the exhibit (Breland, Lainey Wilson, Jimmie Allen, Grand Ole Opry, Jenee Fleenor, Thomm Jutz, Carly Pearce, Brittney Spencer, Old Dominion). Plan your own first visit today: https://countrymusichalloffame.org/exhibit/american-currents/
ON DEMAND NOW: “Live at the Hall” episode featuring Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter and label CEO Nicolle Galyon. In this episode, Galyon performs, takes questions, and shares behind-the-scenes stories about some of her biggest chart-toppers like Miranda Lambert’s “Automatic,” Kenny Chesney’s “All the Pretty Girls,” and Dan + Shay’s “Tequila.” Galyon earned BMI's Songwriter of the Year award in 2019 and founded the female-driven record label, Songs & Daughters, where she serves as president and CEO. Her songs have also been recorded by Dierks Bentley, Lady A, Florida Georgia Line, Kelsea Ballerini and more. Stream the episode on demand at watch.countrymusichalloffame.org.
Visionary and Outsider Contemporary Art Museu
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Willie Nelson and Friends Museum and General
Mcgavock Pike
Willie Nelson and Friends Museum and General
Mcgavock Pike
Grassmere Historic Farm and Croft House
Nolensville Road
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