The exterior entrance and steps of the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville
ByJohn P. Posted on

Country Music Hall of Fame – Nashville, TN

The Country Music Hall of Fame is actually kind of difficult to write about because there was SO much to see, it’s difficult to organize and share the experience. So lets just get this out of the way up front – YOU SHOULD VISIT FOR YOURSELF!

Now, having said all that, here are just a few things to whet your appetite for the visit.

The Chronology of Country Music

While going through the Country Music Hall of Fame, I really appreciated how they told the story of country music in chronological order.

Vintage music memorabilia and exhibits at the Country Music Hall of Fame, featuring historic posters, instruments, and multimedia displays showcasing country history and cultural influence.
A sprawling exhibit hall within the Country Music Hall of Fame displaying historic posters, musical instruments, and multimedia displays dedicated to celebrating Country music’s rich history and cultural significance.

The museum is organized to truly start at the beginning… for example, despite the horrific treatment of African-Americans during and after slavery – it was African Americans who introduced the banjo to America!

Let that sink in. You’ve got a bunch of racist hicks running around talking shit about dark skinned people – while playing their instrument non-stop! Anyway,

Handcrafted traditional African American folk musical instruments including a guitar, banjo, and violin displayed in a museum exhibit showcasing Black musical heritage and cultural history.
A parlor guitar, a banjo, and the broadsides that carried these songs before records did.

History of the Banjo

A MIGHTY GOOD ROAD
African American Folk Music

Enslaved African musicians introduced the banjo to America, and African Americans were the instrument’s primary players for two hundred years.

The fiddle came from Europe and the British Isles, and banjo and fiddle met each other in Tidewater Virginia, in the hands of Black musicians. Thus united, the instruments proved well-suited to each other, and provided music for all manner of social entertainment, until the banjo fell out of favor with African Americans because of its close association with the mean-spirited ridicule of Blacks in minstrel shows.

Black Americans developed other means of musical expression. The distinctive syncopated guitar work of East Coast musicians such as Blind Boy Fuller and Blind Blake represented the early Piedmont blues style, while others explored ragtime, jazz, and jugband or stringband music.

Vintage medicine and entertainment memorabilia display at a museum exhibit, including a Cherokee Chief patent medicine bottle, a miniature drum, and a minstrels show guide booklet.
A collection of early 1900s country music and medicine show artifacts, featuring Cherokee Chief patent medicine, a miniature drum, and a minstrels show guide booklet containing songs, sketches, jokes, and dialogues.

We also learned that African Americans basically worked as traveling salesmen to earn money. So technically they were among the first paid musicians!

Anyway, you go through the years, you’ll work your way around to Elvis’ gold plated Cadillac!

Elvis' vintage white limousine.
Elvis’ vintage white limousine.

And continue on through the most recent country music star’s exhibits.

Vintage country music memorabilia exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame showcasing legendary artists, guitars, stage costumes.

Country Music Hall of Fame Photo Gallery

Here are a bunch of sights from the museum. You could spend all day there, so make sure you budget at least 2-3 hours at a minimum.

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum lettering on the building exterior in Nashville.
The Country Music Hall of Fame seal with Honor Thy Music motto on a dark background in Nashville.
The soaring lobby of the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville from ground level.
Vintage concert tickets for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, featuring George Jones, Nashville, showcasing country music history and museum experience.
The exterior of the Country Music Hall of Fame building in Nashville with glass and concrete curves.
The painted map of country music recording centers across the United States at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
Post Malone's western stage wear, including cowboy boots, an embroidered jacket, and a cowboy hat, on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
George Jones and Tammy Wynette Hall of Fame display with acoustic guitars and biography posters, highlighting their country music careers and personal lives.
A display case of stage wear from recent country musicians at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
A Luke Combs exhibit with stage costumes and memorabilia at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
The recreated Guy Clark workshop display at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
Elvis Presley's customized 1960 Cadillac Fleetwood limousine, the Solid Gold Cadillac, on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
The front of Elvis Presley's gold Cadillac on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
The interior of Elvis Presley's Cadillac limousine seen through the window at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
Vintage white limousine with open door and interior seating, displayed in a museum exhibit dedicated to classic cars and musical history, featuring music memorabilia and historical displays.
A backlit wall of gold and platinum records at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
A display on Roy Rogers's influence, with fringed stage wear, guitars, and posters, at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
The Let's Have a Party: Real Gone Country rockabilly case at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, with stage wear, guitars, and plaques for Wanda Jackson, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
The lobby of the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville seen from the upper level.
The wall of bronze inductee plaques in the Hall of Fame Rotunda at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
The Chet Atkins Mister Guitar plaque panel, inducted 1973, at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
Roger Miller's Grammy trophies on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
The Roots of Country exhibit wall, with the From Barbara Allen to Omie Wise panel, at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
Vernon Dalhart and Fiddlin' John Carson, two pioneering country music artists, featured on exhibit panels highlighting their biographies, career achievements, and contributions to the history of country and traditional folk music.
Looking up inside the Hall of Fame Rotunda at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, with its ring of windows, hanging red steel spire, and the inscription Will the Circle Be Unbroken.
A giant guitar display at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
A wall of gold and platinum records at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
The recreated Owen Bradley studio workshop with instruments and equipment at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
A display with Kris Kristofferson's Army shirt and Bob Dylan's jacket at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.
Nineteenth-century sheet music, including Uncle John's Rubbin Dance and Oh Susanna, at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville.

By the way, if you’re going to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame, you should also stop by the historic Hatch Print Show shop that’s attached and inside the building.

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