Museum Exhibitions

On-Property Exhibits

Step inside the story. Inside the Museum galleries, exhibitions featuring priceless artifacts—instruments, stage wear, one-of-a-kind recordings, films, and more—offer intimate insights into the people who have shaped country music’s story, from the genre’s pre-commercial roots to today.

Luke Combs:

The Man I Am

From his blue-collar North Carolina roots to his place at the top of the country charts, the exhibit will trace Luke Combs’s life and career by way of musical instruments, song manuscripts, stage wear, tour memorabilia, and more.

Night Train to Nashville:

Music City Rhythm & Blues Revisited

In celebration of its twentieth anniversary, Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues Revisited returns to the Museum on April 26, 2024. The acclaimed 2004–2005 exhibit explored an often-overlooked chapter of Nashville’s musical history—an influential rhythm & blues scene that thrived from the 1940s through the 1960s. And the exhibit’s companion compilation album won a Grammy in 2005. This twentieth-anniversary edition of Night Train revisits highlights from the exhibit’s debut, along with new artifacts and rare photos.

American Currents:

State of the Music

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s annual exhibition American Currents: State of the Music offers a broad look at country music and its place in American culture over the past year. The latest installment, open now through February 2025, features music and moments from cozy clubs to arena rafters.

An American Masterwork:

Thomas Hart Benton’s "Sources of Country Music" at 50

An American Masterwork: Thomas Hart Benton’s “Sources of Country Music” at 50 explores Benton’s process in creating his final painting, which was commissioned by the Museum in 1973. The exhibit includes sketches, drawings, lithographs, photographs, and a three-dimensional model of the painting, along with a 1975 video of Benton speaking about the mural.

Patty Loveless:

No Trouble with the Truth

Patty Loveless: No Trouble with the Truth explores the influential career and enduring music of Patty Loveless. From staking out a distinctive place in country music beginning in the 1980s to her talent for finding memorable material and her embrace of traditional influences, this exhibit illustrates Loveless’s role in the genre through personal and career artifacts, photos, interviews, and more.

Western Edge:

The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock

Western Edge examines the close-knit communities of Los Angeles-based singers, songwriters and musicians who, from the 1960s through the 1980s, embraced country music, frequented local nightclubs, and created and shaped the musical fusion known as “country-rock” – ultimately making an indelible and lasting impact on popular music.

Sing Me Back Home:

Folk Roots to the Present

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s core, permanent exhibition tells the story of country music from its pre-commercial roots in the nineteenth century through its vibrant life today. This exciting, multi-layered experience includes artifacts, photographs, original recordings, archival video, newly produced films, touchscreen interactive media, and beautifully rendered text panels.

Free On-Property Exhibitions

July 25 - September 20, 2024

Fuse

The Haley Gallery at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum presents Fuse, a collaborative exhibition with STATE Gallery + Studios of The Forge. The exhibition, which is free and open to the public beginning the evening of July 25 through Sept. 20, will showcase a retrospective of a selection of STATE’s 2021-2024 artist residency recipients.

May 31 – December, 2024

The Bradley Barn Sessions

The Bradley Barn Sessions, a Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum exhibition, features photographs by renowned photographer Fritz Hoffmann from the recording sessions for Country Music Hall of Fame member George Jones’s 1994 album, The Bradley Barn Sessions.

Online Exhibitions

How Nashville’s vibrant, pioneering R&B community played a significant role in building Music City’s worldwide reputation.

Adapted for an online audience, this exhibition explores the impact of Bob Dylan’s 1960s Nashville recordings, Johnny Cash’s groundbreaking TV show, and the ace musicians known as the “Nashville Cats.”

The online exhibition Suiting the Sound spotlights the artistry of Western-wear designers, often known as “rodeo tailors,” whose couture designs helped create the indelible “rhinestone cowboy” image.

Online Experiences

The expanded 2024 edition of From Where I Stand: The Black Experience in Country Music documents the many ways Black Americans have created, contributed to, and been influenced by country music. From Where I Stand: The Online Experience  is a free resource containing all of the music, essays, photographs, and historical track notes featured in the physical box set, plus educator tools and additional content culled from the Museum’s digital archives.

Explore the history of Music Row—the longtime center of Nashville’s music community—with a new multimedia web exhibit that brings that creative neighborhood's story to life. Produced by the Museum and free to access, “Historic Music Row” uses archival video, photos, music, and more from the Museum’s collections to trace the history of several of Music Row’s landmark businesses and the people who made world-famous music there.

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