After a several year hiatus, the much celebrated Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum will reopen its doors to the public on Thursday, August 29th at 10 a.m. in its new location at Nashville’s Historic Municipal Auditorium located at 417 4th Ave. North, Nashville, Tennessee. The long awaited opening will feature brand new exhibits and exciting additions to the already deep catalog of items in the museum’s possession.
Museum Founder, Joe Chambers, said, "We're looking forward to the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum's next chapter. It's been a long time coming."
The Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum not only honors those artists and musicians who have been in the spotlight, but it also honors the talented musicians who actually played in the studio on the greatest recordings of all time.
Well-known artists like Jimi Hendrix are represented, however, the museum also showcases musicians such as L.A. session drummer Hal Blaine and other unsung heroes of music who have played on hundreds of hit records from Elvis, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, The Byrds, The Mamas and The Papas, The Beach Boys, and many more.
Furthermore, the museum boasts many new historically important exhibits. One new exhibit features the Atlanta Georgia Southern Tracks Studio founder and music publisher Bill Lowery. This exhibit showcases Lowery's actual office desk, BMI Awards, and Gold records as publisher and studio owner. Local talent that received their start at Southern Tracks Studio with Mr. Lowery includes: Billy Joe Royal, Joe South, Ray Stevens,The Classic's Four, and The Atlanta Rhythm Section to name a few. Also on display are gold records starting in the 90's recorded at the updated Southern Tracks Studio from bands like Aerosmith, The Black Crows, Bob Dylan, Stone Temple Pilots, and Bruce Springsteen.
The new G-Men Exhibit spotlights the studio musicians who recorded and were instrumental on all of Garth Brooks’ award winning records. This exhibit includes a large number of the actual instruments used on Brooks' sessions along with the recording console they used at Jack's Tracks Recording Studio.
Visitors will also see items from Memphis featuring the actual vocal booth and interior wall with built in sound baffles from American Sound Studio designed by Chips Moman in 1967. This is the studio where Elvis recorded his biggest records "Suspicious Minds" and "In The Ghetto.” Also recorded at American Sound Studio was B.J. Thomas’ "Hooked On A Feeling,” Dusty Springfield’s "Son Of A Preacher Man,” The Box Tops' "The Letter,” Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline," and Joe Tex’s "I Gotcha," along with many others.
The Musicians Hall Of Fame and Museum showcases the very instruments that some of history's greatest musicians used to record many of these classic hits. The museum will constantly add new exhibits for visitors to enjoy from all genres of music.
The museum is divided into cities that have a history of recorded music such as Detroit, Nashville, Muscle Shoals, Los Angeles, Memphis, and Atlanta. Each of these cities had musicians who were present when the recording industry began to evolve and who were talented enough to play any music that was presented to them regardless of style. These musicians had nicknames like The Swampers, The A-Team, The Memphis Boys, The Funk Brothers, and The Wrecking Crew. Some of these studio bands actually became hit bands themselves like Booker T & The M.G’s and TOTO. During the late 50′s through the mid 80′s, these groups of studio musicians played on almost all the records recorded in these geographical music centers.
The museum will be open daily Monday-Saturday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and will also be available to rent as an event space. Visitors can check the website for a full schedule http://www.musicianshalloffame.com.
