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Press Photos

Night Train to Nashville

To download a full resolution photo, select the desired image and click the “DOWNLOAD HERE” button.

Downloadable Artifact Photos

  • Bessie Smith letter and photo

    Blues singer Bessie Smith sent this letter to Hatch Show Print in 1927, along with this photograph to use for designing her posters.

  • Hank Crawford bandstand

    A Memphis musician drawn to Nashville to study music at Tennessee State University (Tennessee A&I), saxophonist Hank Crawford performed in jazz bands and fronted an R&B group called Little Hank & the Rhythm Kings that played often at a club in Printers Alley. He left Nashville in 1958 to join Ray Charles’s group, soon becoming the bandleader. In 1963, Crawford formed his own jazz unit, which used matching, hand-painted bandstands.

  • Etta James album cover

    Etta James signed this cover of Etta James Rocks the House, her live album recorded at Nashville’s New Era Club in September 1963. The venue was chosen, said producer Ralph Bass, “because of the atmosphere generated by the public who patronize this club.” 

  • Little Willie John poster

    R&B singer Little Willie John, whose powerful vocal style was immortalized on his 1957 chart-topper, “Fever,” performed at Nashville’s Club Baron that year.

  • Sam Cooke ticket

    R&B great Sam Cooke was in his prime when this ticket was printed for a show at Nashville’s Sulphur Dell baseball stadium in 1962.

  • Jackie Shane poster

    Nashville native Jackie Shane was a pioneering transgender artist who worked in the city’s R&B nightclubs and recording studios. In 1960, she relocated to Canada, where she gained a rabid following, returning to her hometown to perform on the television show “Night Train” in 1965. This poster promoted an appearance by Shane in Bowling Green, Kentucky, in 1960.

  • Jimmy Church suit

    Vocalist and bandleader Jimmy Church performed in this three-piece suit, accented with a rhinestone crown on the breast pocket. A Nashville native who recorded with an R&B group while still in high school, Church was regularly featured on pioneering R&B TV shows “Night Train” and “The!!!!Beat.”

  • Johnny Jones Electric guitar and amplifier

    This Gibson ES-345 electric guitar and Lab Series L7 amplifier were used by Johnny Jones in the later part of his career. Nashville’s premier blues guitarist, Jones performed in the house band on pioneering R&B TV shows “Night Train” and “The!!!!Beat” and influenced Jimi Hendrix in the early 1960s.

  • Bobby Hebb spoons

    Bobby Hebb used these spoons as percussion instruments.

  • Johnny Bragg tapes

    After Johnny Bragg passed away in 2004, his daughter, Misti, found these reel-to-reel tapes among his belongings and contacted the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum to review and digitize the tapes, which include demos and rehearsals of Bragg’s original songs.