Nashville – A Visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame
Country Music Hall of Fame provided tickets in exchange for this blog post but as always, all opinions are my own
If you know me, you know I LOVE country music so, of course, our first stop when we got to Nashville was the biggest and best collection of country music right!? I was blown away by how big this museum is and by how far back the artifacts go – you truly learn where country music started (its folk roots) and how much it has changed over the years to where it is now.
The museum collection includes manuscripts, sound recordings, videos, photographs, instruments, costumes, cars, and other objects. Artifacts and archival materials not on exhibit are housed in the museum’s 46,000 square foot secure, climate-controlled collections storage rooms and in the museum’s Frist Library and Archives.
Country Music Hall of Fame
The museum, one of the largest history museums in the United States, first opened on Music Row in 1967. The museum moved to its current home in Downtown Nashville in 2001 and doubled its size following a 2014 expansion.
The museum consists of its core exhibition Sing Me Back Home: A Journey Through Country Music, which tells the story of country music from its pre-commercial roots in the 19th century through its vibrant life today. The museum also runs limited-engagement exhibitions including the annually updated American Currents: State of the Music, which highlights today’s stars, songs, and stories, and how they connect to country music’s rich history.
What I love most about this museum is that the museum educators share the country music story and the museum’s mission through a variety of educational programs ranging from weekly family workshops to the museum’s flagship songwriting program for schools, Words & Music. More than 100,000 people participate in the museum’s education programs each year.
Hatch Show Print
Founded in 1879, Hatch Show Print is one of the oldest working letterpress print shops in America.
Today’s posters are printed using the same wood and metal type that has been used for generations.
With its extensive collection of carved blocks, Hatch Show Print designs and prints posters each year for the likes of the Black Keys, Country Music Hall of Fame member Willie Nelson, Miranda Lambert, the Rolling Stones, and others.
Tours of the shop, where visitors can watch Hatch Show Print’s designer-printers in action, are available daily
Historic RCA Studio B
Nashville’s oldest surviving recording studio, where landmark recordings by Country Music Hall of Fame members Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, and many others were made.
Built by Dan Maddox in 1957, RCA Studio B first became known as one of the cradles of the “Nashville Sound” in the 1960s.
Today, the studio is a cultural attraction for visitors and serves as a classroom for middle and high school students to learn about the science of sound and recording for technology.
Free Online Resources
The museum holds an online program series called Live at the Hall every other Tuesday that features interviews and performances from a musically and culturally diverse roster of country music creators. These programs are streamed on their website, YouTube, and Facebook at 7:00 p.m. Central/8 p.m. Eastern.
The museum recently launched three free-to-access online exhibitions:
Suiting the Sound: The Rodeo Tailors Who Made Country Stars Shine Bright, explores the artistry of Western-wear designers who helped create the indelible “rhinestone cowboy” image.
Dylan, Cash and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City, examines the artists and musicians who contributed to Nashville’s expansion as a music center in the 1960s.
Historic Music Row: Nashville’s Creative Crossroads uses curated archival materials from the museum’s collection to explore the history of Nashville’s Music Row and its creative community of recording artists, songwriters, studio musicians and producers, record companies, music publishers, and other music business professionals
Country Music Hall of Fame is a must-do if you are in Nashville. If you are a country music fan or just curious, you will probably leave this museum with a newfound view of country music.
