Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Encyclopedia
The Country Music Hall of Fame
and Museum identifies and preserves the evolving history and traditions of country music
and educates its audiences. Functioning as a local history museum and as an international arts organization, the CMF, located at 222 Fifth Avenue South in Nashville, Tennessee
, United States
, serves visiting and non-visiting audiences including fans, students, scholars, members of the music industry, and the general public.
, Fred Rose
and Hank Williams, were announced at a CMA banquet in November. Bronze plaques, with the facial likeness and a thumbnail
biography of each new member, were cast in bas relief. They were unveiled on the Grand Ole Opry
by Ernest Tubb
. These plaques, and those for subsequent Hall of Fame inductees, were displayed in the Tennessee State Museum
in Nashville until 1967.
In 1963, the CMA announced that a Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum was to be built on Music Row
in Nashville. In that same year, Tennessee chartered the Country Music Foundation
(CMF) as a nonprofit, educational organization to operate the museum.
The original Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum opened on Music Row (Music Square East and Division Street) on April 1, 1967. Operations of the museum came to include educational programs, the CMF Press and CMF Records, the Country Music Foundation Library (1968), and the historic sites RCA Studio B (1977) and Hatch Show Print (1986). The Music Row location of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum was closed December 31, 2000. The building was later razed and a private parking lot for employees of music licensing firm BMI
now occupies the site. Before they went on to become major stars in the country music recording industry, Kathy Mattea
and Trisha Yearwood
worked as tour guides at the Music Row museum.
37,000,000 facility ten blocks away in downtown Nashville. Inside, the museum presents its collection to illustrate country music's story as told through the turns of two centuries. Included are historic country video clips and recorded music, as well as a regular menu of live performances and public programs, a museum store, and on-site dining.
The new building's exterior is laced with symbolic images of music. The most obvious are the windows that mirror the configuration of piano
keys. More conspicuous images include the diamond-shaped radio mast
, which is a miniaturized replica of the WSM
tower located a few miles south of Nashville. The round discs surrounding the tower symbolize the different size records
and CDs
used to record country music. When viewed from the air http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=&t=k&ll=36.158407,-86.776215&spn=0.001044,0.001808, the building is in the shape of a bass clef. The northwest corner of the building juts out like the tail fin of a 1950s Cadillac
. The Country Music Hall of Fame was designed by local architecture firm Tuck Hinton Architects and museum design firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates
.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums
, certifying that the museum operates according to the highest standards, manages its collection and provides quality service to the public. Of the 8,000 museums nationwide, only some 750 are accredited.
was housed in the museum's gift shop. Also, Country Music Television
broadcast its daily CMT Most Wanted Live
program from the museum lobby in 2001 before moving to Opry Mills
. The Opryland Hotel is a 20-minute ride by car from downtown Nashville.
, in partnership with the Country Music Hall of Fame, released two double DVD sets named for the TV special Country's Greatest Stars Live. Volume 1 covers the first three hours of the star-studded event (hosted by Glen Campbell
, Roy Clark
and Dolly Parton
), including live performances by Gene Autry
, Carlene Carter
, Loretta Lynn
and others. Volume 2 features the last four hours (hosted by Eddy Arnold
, Tennessee Ernie Ford
, Crystal Gayle
and Charley Pride
), including live performances by Asleep At The Wheel
, Freddy Fender
, Anne Murray
and more.
Hall of Fame
A hall of fame, wall of fame, walk of fame, walk of stars or avenue of stars is a type of attraction established for any field of endeavor to honor individuals of noteworthy achievement in that field...
and Museum identifies and preserves the evolving history and traditions of 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...
and educates its audiences. Functioning as a local history museum and as an international arts organization, the CMF, located at 222 Fifth Avenue South in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, serves visiting and non-visiting audiences including fans, students, scholars, members of the music industry, and the general public.
History and first museum
In 1961, the CMA announced the creation of the Country Music Hall of Fame. The first three inductees, Jimmie RodgersJimmie Rodgers (country singer)
James Charles Rodgers , known as Jimmie Rodgers, was an American country singer in the early 20th century known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling...
, Fred Rose
Fred Rose (musician)
Fred Rose was an American Hall of Fame songwriter and music publishing executive.-Biography:Born in Evansville, Indiana, Fred Rose started playing piano and singing as a small boy. In his teens, he moved to Chicago, Illinois where he worked in bars busking for tips, and finally vaudeville...
and Hank Williams, were announced at a CMA banquet in November. Bronze plaques, with the facial likeness and a thumbnail
Thumbnail
Thumbnails are reduced-size versions of pictures, used to help in recognizing and organizing them, serving the same role for images as a normal text index does for words...
biography of each new member, were cast in bas relief. They were unveiled on the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
by Ernest Tubb
Ernest Tubb
Ernest Dale Tubb , nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" , marked the rise of the honky tonk style of music...
. These plaques, and those for subsequent Hall of Fame inductees, were displayed in the Tennessee State Museum
Tennessee State Museum
Tennessee State Museum is a large museum in Nashville depicting the history of the U.S. state of Tennessee. Starting from pre-colonization and going all the way to the 20th century, the museum describes the American Civil War, the Frontier, and the Age of Jackson. The museum includes an area of...
in Nashville until 1967.
In 1963, the CMA announced that a Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum was to be built 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. In that same year, Tennessee chartered the Country Music Foundation
Country Music Foundation
The Country Music Foundation chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964, is a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and education surrounding Country Music. The CMF currently employs more than 70 full-time professionals and is "the world's largest research center devoted to a...
(CMF) as a nonprofit, educational organization to operate the museum.
The original Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum opened on Music Row (Music Square East and Division Street) on April 1, 1967. Operations of the museum came to include educational programs, the CMF Press and CMF Records, the Country Music Foundation Library (1968), and the historic sites RCA Studio B (1977) and Hatch Show Print (1986). The Music Row location of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum was closed December 31, 2000. The building was later razed and a private parking lot for employees of music licensing firm BMI
Broadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
now occupies the site. Before they went on to become major stars in the country music recording industry, Kathy Mattea
Kathy Mattea
Kathleen Alice "Kathy" Mattea is an American country music and bluegrass performer who often brings folk, Celtic and traditional country sounds to her music. Active since 1983 as a recording artist, she has recorded seventeen albums and has charted more than thirty singles on the Billboard Hot...
and Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood
Patricia Lynn Yearwood, professionally known as Trisha Yearwood , is an American country music artist. She is best known for her ballads about vulnerable young women from a female perspective that have been described by some music critics as "strong" and "confident."Trisha Yearwood signed with MCA...
worked as tour guides at the Music Row museum.
Current museum
On May 17, 2001, the CMF held the grand opening of its new $United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
37,000,000 facility ten blocks away in downtown Nashville. Inside, the museum presents its collection to illustrate country music's story as told through the turns of two centuries. Included are historic country video clips and recorded music, as well as a regular menu of live performances and public programs, a museum store, and on-site dining.
The new building's exterior is laced with symbolic images of music. The most obvious are the windows that mirror the configuration of piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
keys. More conspicuous images include the diamond-shaped radio mast
Radio masts and towers
Radio masts and towers are, typically, tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. They are among the tallest man-made structures...
, which is a miniaturized replica of the WSM
WSM (AM)
WSM is the callsign of a 50,000 watt AM radio station located in Nashville, Tennessee. Operating at 650 kHz, its clear channel signal can reach much of North America and various countries, especially late at night...
tower located a few miles south of Nashville. The round discs surrounding the tower symbolize the different size records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
and CDs
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
used to record country music. When viewed from the air http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=&t=k&ll=36.158407,-86.776215&spn=0.001044,0.001808, the building is in the shape of a bass clef. The northwest corner of the building juts out like the tail fin of a 1950s Cadillac
Cadillac
Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...
. The Country Music Hall of Fame was designed by local architecture firm Tuck Hinton Architects and museum design firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates
Ralph Appelbaum
Ralph Appelbaum Associates is the world's largest museum exhibition design firm. It has offices in New York City, London and Beijing.- Overview :...
.
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums
American Association of Museums
The American Association of Museums is a non-profit association that has brought museums together since its founding in 1906, helping develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and advocating on issues of concern to the museum community...
, certifying that the museum operates according to the highest standards, manages its collection and provides quality service to the public. Of the 8,000 museums nationwide, only some 750 are accredited.
The Hall of Fame in media
During the facility's early years, a studio for XM Satellite RadioXM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...
was housed in the museum's gift shop. Also, Country Music Television
Country Music Television
Country Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...
broadcast its daily CMT Most Wanted Live
CMT Most Wanted Live
CMT Most Wanted Live, or MWL, is a country music video countdown show which aired on CMT from 2001 to 2004.-History:Most Wanted Live was a country music spin-off of sister network MTV's Total Request Live, which features mostly pop, rap, and R&B videos...
program from the museum lobby in 2001 before moving to Opry Mills
Opry Mills
Opry Mills is a super-regional shopping mall owned by Simon Property Group, formerly by its initial owners Mills Corporation and Gaylord Entertainment...
. The Opryland Hotel is a 20-minute ride by car from downtown Nashville.
Releases
In 2010 Shout! FactoryShout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
, in partnership with the Country Music Hall of Fame, released two double DVD sets named for the TV special Country's Greatest Stars Live. Volume 1 covers the first three hours of the star-studded event (hosted by Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
, Roy Clark
Roy Clark
Roy Linwood Clark is an American country music musician and performer. He is best known for hosting Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969–1992. Clark has been an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and helping to popularize the genre...
and Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
), including live performances by Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
, Carlene Carter
Carlene Carter
Carlene Carter is an American country singer and songwriter. She is the daughter of June Carter and her first husband, Carl Smith....
, Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...
and others. Volume 2 features the last four hours (hosted by Eddy Arnold
Eddy Arnold
Richard Edward Arnold , known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more...
, Tennessee Ernie Ford
Tennessee Ernie Ford
Ernest Jennings Ford , better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country and Western, pop, and gospel musical genres...
, Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...
and Charley Pride
Charley Pride
Charley Frank Pride is an American country music singer. His smooth baritone voice was featured on thirty-nine number-one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. His greatest success came in the early- to mid-1970s, when he became the best-selling performer for RCA Records since Elvis...
), including live performances by Asleep At The Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel is a American country music group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, but based in Austin, Texas. Altogether, they have won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception. In their career, they have released more than twenty studio albums, and have charted more than twenty...
, Freddy Fender
Freddy Fender
Freddy Fender , born Baldemar Garza Huerta in San Benito, Texas, United States, was a Mexican-American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados...
, Anne Murray
Anne Murray
Morna Anne Murray CC, ONS is a Canadian singer in pop, country and adult contemporary styles whose albums have sold over 54 million copies....
and more.
See also
- Country Music AssociationCountry Music AssociationThe 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...
- Inductees of the Country Music Hall of FameInductees of the Country Music Hall of FameThis is a list of inductees to the Country Music Hall of Fame.Number of Inductees : 115 . Of these 15 are women and two are groups that include...
- Music City Walk of FameMusic City Walk of FameThe Music City Walk of Fame in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, is a walk of fame that honors significant contributors to Nashville's musical heritage and significant achievements in the music industry....