COLLECTION

Breathes Life Into Museum Storytelling

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has amassed a collection of country music artifacts and archival items that is the finest and most complete of its kind in the world. Its temporary exhibitions often provide opportunities to expand the permanent collection as recording artists and others learn about the importance of preserving items that help tell their stories. That was certainly the case in 2022 with the major exhibition Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ’70s, which examined the vibrant music scenes of Nashville and Austin, Texas, during a pivotal era when country recording artists gained greater creative control. As the exhibition neared its close, the Museum’s curatorial and collections staff worked closely with artists to arrange donations to the permanent collection of items loaned to the Museum for the exhibition. Among the items that artists generously donated were a custom-made Ted NewmannJones electric guitar, owned and played by Joe Ely, and a distinctive cowboy hat worn by Country Hall of Fame member Bobby Bare, given to him by fellow Hall of Famer Willie Nelson in the 1970s; the hat features a snakeskin band, a mink skull, and a malachite gemstone.

In addition to seeking instruments, stage wear, and other personal items, the Museum continues to add to its unrivaled country music collections of important audio and video recordings, documents, correspondence, and photographs. In 2022, the Museum was fortunate to receive a generous donation of more than 1,000 blackand-white and color photographs made by bluegrass musician Charmaine Lanham, who documented Nashville’s thriving bluegrass scene from the 1970s into the 1990s.