Country Music Hall of Fame

Still in Nashville, I may never leave, this is a nice place.

We went to downtown Nashville to see The Country Music Hall of Fame expecting to see a few old knick knacks maybe a gold record or two, a few pictures, etc.  It absolutely blew us away.  We spent four hours there and could have spent four days. 

The whole place is actually a giant museum designed and operated with only one goal.  To preserve the history of country music.  There are hundreds of displays for everyone to see but there is much more space behind glass walls in temperature and humidity controlled environments protecting the treasures they have there.

They state that they have more than 200,000 pieces of recorded music in their library.  Much of that music is on media that won't last through the ages so they are hard at work converting it all to digital music that can be preserved.  They have a couple of dozen different places you can stand to watch video, some of which dates back to the early 1900's accompanied by country music from that period in time, or the artist, that it represents.  One of the things they collect and display are copies of gold and platinum records that artists have earned.  We didn't try to count them but there are hundreds and hundreds of them.

There is no way I can load pictures that will do it justice.

The displays are magnificent.  They try to capture something from "ALL" of the stars.  In some cases it's an "on stage" costume, a pair of boots, a hat, holster, belt, 6 gun, you name it they try to have something from everyone.  Generously many of the stars allow the museum to display their private trophies and awards so you see tons of them all over the place.  Staff at the museum told us to always keep your eyes peeled because this is a meeting place for the stars and you could unknowingly be standing beside one of them at any time.  We found out it was true, not that we got to stand beside Faith Hill or Shania, :-(    but others have.

How about Roy Rogers and Dale Evans well worn boots.

How about one of Minnie Pearl's hats and dresses, or one of Hank William's suits.

Web Pierce's 1964 Pontiac convertible.  Check out the six gun door handles, the chromed and mounted rifles, the continental kit, and the saddle mounted over the hump in the front seat.  He has silver dollars mounted all over the interior that are now well tarnished but back in 64 this must hhave been a VERY flashy car.

Elvis Presley's "Solid Gold" Cadillac.  This was apparenelty his favourite car and it's pretty flashy, with real gold trim everywhere, a record player, and a phone.  Remember this was 64 so a phone WAS a big deal.

Right next door the new Nashville Convention Center is under construction.  I have no idea how big it is but these pictures will give you an idea.  Across the street is a square block hole in the ground at least two stories deep that will be the new/expanded Country Music hall of Fame.  I have to get back here someday to see all of this when it's finished.

This is the back of the building, I couln't get a picture from the front, just TOO big.

Thats it for today, next post, Memphis, Elvis, and the Tom Sawyer RV Park.

Thanks for stopping by and please do leave a comment when you can.

Neal and Bernie