- Press Release
Dylan, Cash, And The Nashville Cats: A New Music City, Presented By Citi Opens Tomorrow
Museum Partners with Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC)
for Getaway Sweepstakes Celebrating Exhibit Opening and
Performance by Bob Dylan & His Band at TPAC April 27, 2015

NASHVILLE, Tenn., – March 26, 2015 – The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will unveil Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City, presented by Citi, a major exhibition of more than 5,000 square feet, this Friday, March 27, 2015. The exhibition will run through December 31, 2016.
The exhibition will explore Bob Dylan’s Nashville recordings in the 1960s and the impact he had on the local music industry. The exhibit also will examine the role of Johnny Cash’s groundbreaking television show in expanding the perception of Nashville as a music center welcoming to all. Finally, the exhibit will consider the importance of the community of ace musicians who played on iconic rock and folk recordings issuing from Music City during the same era.
“We have always known that Nashville has, historically, been home to some of the best professional musicians in the business,” said Museum Director Kyle Young. “Now we’re glad to shine a light on them through the lens of music icons Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan. Visitors will learn about some of the other great music created in our fair city, including recordings by Joan Baez, the Byrds, J.J. Cale, Leonard Cohen, Paul McCartney, Linda Ronstadt, Simon & Garfunkel and Neil Young.”
“The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum plays an immensely valuable role in preserving and amplifying the tradition of country music,” said Jennifer Breithaupt, SVP of Entertainment Marketing for Citi. “A large number of Citi cardmembers love Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan, so we’re especially pleased to sponsor this unique exhibit celebrating such legendary talent and their ties to Nashville.”
Co-curated by the museum’s curatorial team and guest curator Pete Finney, Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City, presented by Citi includes dozens of artifacts and a generous overlay of audiovisual treasures, including hundreds of archival photos, audio and video clips and rare artifacts. Among them:
- Manuscript, handwritten by Dylan and Cash, for “Wanted Man,” a song that Dylan wrote for Cash in Nashville, which Cash recorded for his 1969 album Johnny Cash at San Quentin
- Vintage clips from The Johnny Cash Show and rare archival footage, running in two mini theaters
- On display for the first time anywhere, Lloyd Green’s Sho-Bud pedal steel guitar, used on the Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968) and other classic recordings (The instrument traveled to the museum from Texas on a private plane.)
- Acetates from Dylan’s 1966 Blonde on Blonde sessions
- Charlie Daniels’s Fender Telecaster, used on Dylan’s 1969 album, Nashville Skyline
- Mac Gayden’s Lincoln electric guitar and pedal, used to create the innovative wah-wah slide guitar on J.J. Cale’s “Crazy Mama”
- Norbert Putnam’s Fender Precision bass, used on recordings by Linda Ronstadt (“Long Long Time”) Tony Joe White (“Polk Salad Annie”), Joan Baez, Kris Kristofferson and Elvis Presley
- Instruments that Charlie McCoy and Fred Carter Jr. used on Simon & Garfunkel’s classic hit “The Boxer”
- Cash’s outfit and guitar, featured on The Johnny Cash Show
- Paul McCartney’s tape box for the master tapes from his 1974 sessions in Nashville (“Junior’s Farm,” “Sally G”)
- Rare Dylan promotional ephemera from his early career, including the handbill from his first major New York booking
- Johnny Cash’s Grammy for writing liner notes to Dylan’s Nashville Skyline
- Handwritten letter by Joan Baez sent to the “Nashville Cats” in 1969
To celebrate the exhibit’s opening as well as Bob Dylan & His Band’s upcoming performance at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC), April 27, the museum and TPAC will launch the Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City, presented by Citi Getaway Sweepstakes. Beginning today at 9 a.m., fans can enter for a chance to win a two-night stay in downtown Nashville, two concert tickets to see Bob Dylan & His Band Presented by NS2 and TPAC, two tickets to the museum to see the new Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City, presented by Citi exhibit, and much more. For a complete list of rules as well as to enter, visit countrymusichalloffame.org.
For more information including an exhibit summary, photos, and video, click here. Join the conversation using #DylanCashExhibit and follow @countrymusichof on Twitter.
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About Citi® Private Pass
Citi offers Citi credit and debit cardmembers access to tickets to thousands of live events annually through Citi Private Pass, the bank's entertainment access program. In 2014, Citi offered cardmembers more than 6,000 music events. Last year alone, Citi worked with more than 1,400 artists ranging from preferred tickets and early access to concert tickets, to curated special events and VIP experiences. Live performances featured artists ranging from Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Coldplay, John Legend and Robert Plant. In addition, Citi partnered with Live Nation and Yahoo to present Yahoo Live, which offers fans live online concerts 365 days a year. For more information, visit www.privatepass.com or @citiprivatepass on Twitter.
Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is operated by the Country Music Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964. The museum’s mission is the preservation of the history of country and related vernacular music rooted in southern culture. With the same educational mission, the foundation also operates CMF Records, the museum’s Frist Library and Archive, CMF Press, Historic RCA Studio B and Hatch Show Print®. Museum programs are made possible, in part, by the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and under agreements with the National Endowment for the Arts.