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 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 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 exhibit, and much more. For a complete list of rules as well as to enter, visit countrymusichalloffame.org.
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