Eighteen years ago, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s “Night Train to Nashville” exhibition revived interest in soul music in central Tennessee between 1945 and 1970. A Grammy-winning compilation of two discs. museum showcase.
Now, thanks to a major grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, “The Night Train to Nashville” will return online for free starting January 12, 2023, and the museum’s 5,000-square-foot temporary gallery. Save and revisit your showcase. Outer space almost 20 years ago (March 2004 to December 2005).
The event will be commemorated through an event on Wednesday, January 25 at 6:30 PM at the Ford Theater at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Performers include names familiar to the era and exhibits, such as Levert Allison (of the Fairfield Four), Jimmy Church, Peggy Gaines Walker, Frank Howard, and Charles “Wig” Walker. Michael Gray from the museum and his NMAAM Dr. Bryan Pierce join the discussion. Tickets can now be reserved from the exhibit’s homepage (https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/night-train-to-nashville).
The Night Train to Nashville online exhibit features artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Little Richard at Black North Nashville venues such as Club Baron, Club del Morocco and New Era Club. It records how you played. It also focuses on the genre’s roots, which emerged from pre-World War II jazz, blues, and gospel. In segregated Nashville, jazz and blues flourished in black nightclubs and theaters, gospel influences took hold in churches, and musicians learned their craft in the city’s black high school and college education programs.
“The ‘Night Train to Nashville’ story provides important context for how R&B played an important role in Nashville becoming ‘Music City,'” said the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. CEO Kyle Young said. “Like the first exhibit in 2004, the online version offers a multifaceted perspective, exploring race relations and the city’s black music culture at the time, and how they contributed to the making of this great music and the evolution of Nashville. Against the backdrop of urban change, as cities develop into major recording centers, racial barriers are tested and sometimes broken in band stands, in recording studios, and on the airwaves. was.”
Specifically, the exhibit explores the “urban renewal” of running Interstate 40 through Jefferson Street, which ultimately devastated the city’s vibrant R&B nightlife.
Other concepts highlighted include:
- Nashville’s influential R&B radio includes WLAC, a 50,000-watt powerhouse that blasted R&B on the midnight airwaves, and WSOK and WVOL, one of the first stations in the country to adopt the all-black format. will be
- R&B on TV, including syndicated TV shows “Night Train” and “The !!!! Beat”. Produced in Nashville, the show featured the city’s top heir artists alongside R&B’s top stars.
- The city’s R&B recording industry includes the live album “Etta James Rocks the House at the New Era Club,” Arthur Gunther’s R&B classic “Baby Let’s Play House,” and Robert Knight’s 1967 R&B pop crossover hit. It contained some groundbreaking R&B recordings. Everlasting love. “
- Similarly, R&B songwriters and performers with strong ties to country music include R&B singer-songwriters like Nashville native Bobby Hebb. In the 1950s, he was a member of Country Music Hall of Fame member Roy Acuff’s band.
For more information on the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, visit https://www.countrymusichalloffame.org.
