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An Apollonaut travel guide
The place behind the detail.
A hall of fame, a collection and a building designed around music offer several ways into the story of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
On this page
A hall of fame
The Country Music Association created the Hall of Fame in 1961. Its members are honoured with bronze plaques in the museum’s Rotunda, where the words of the Carter Family song “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” ring the walls.
The first members were Jimmie Rodgers, Fred Rose and Hank Williams. Roy Acuff, elected in 1962, was the first living member.
A collection of country music
The museum is run by the Country Music Foundation, a non-profit chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964. It has been accredited by the American Alliance of Museums since 1987.
Its collection includes more than 900 instruments, hundreds of thousands of recordings and photographs, stage wear and vehicles such as Elvis Presley’s 1960 “Solid Gold” Cadillac.
A building made of music
The downtown building opened in May 2001. Its designers worked musical references into it: a bass clef seen from the air, front windows like piano keys and a tower modelled on the WSM radio tower.
This history belongs to the place and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
