The Country Music Foundation (CMF) chartered by the state of Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

 in 1964, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and education surrounding Country Music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

. The CMF currently employs more than 70 full-time professionals and is "the world's largest research center devoted to a single form of popular music."

Mission Statement

"The Country Music Foundation, Inc. (CMF) is dedicated to preserving and teaching the evolving history of country music—from its early, traditional roots to its present-day manifestations as a community-based music and a thriving form of popular culture."

Location

The Country Music Foundation was originally located with the first Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum identifies and preserves the evolving history and traditions of country music and educates its audiences...

 at the corner of 16th Avenue and Division on Music Row in Nashville, TN. The Country Music Foundation is still housed with the Hall of Fame at its new location in Downtown Nashville when the new building opened in 2001.

History

The CMF was founded in 1964 and charged with operating the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum identifies and preserves the evolving history and traditions of country music and educates its audiences...

, whose original location opened on Music Row

Music Row

Music Row is an area just to the southwest of Downtown Nashville, Tennessee that is home to hundreds of businesses related to the country music, gospel music, and Contemporary Christian music industries...

 in Nashville, TN on April 1, 1967. Until 1971, the CMF shared staff with the Country Music Association

Country Music Association

The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...

 (CMA). It moved locations in 2001 to the new Country Music Hall of Fame in downtown Nashville.

Programs

• CMF Press
• CMF Records
• Country Music Foundation Library (1968)

Open by appointment only, the library is available to CMF staff, schools, music industry, and the media. "Library holdings presently include more than 175,000 recorded discs, 8,000 books, 450 periodicals, 150,000 photographs, and thousands of songbooks, films, business documents, and other materials."

Print

• the Journal of Country Music
• Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music in America (2006)
• New and out-of print titles in partnership with the Vanderbilt University Press
  Vanderbilt University Press
  Vanderbilt University Press is a university press that is part of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.Vanderbilt University Press is the principal publishing arm of Vanderbilt University. The Press selects, edits, and markets scholarly texts, especially in the areas of the humanities and...
  
  

Recordings

The CMF regularly produces and consults for other labels' historic performances, and itself issued the first historic recording on their Country Music Foundation Records label, which preceded later releases including:

• The Bristol Sessions (1987)
• Hank Williams: Rare Demos, First to Last (1990)