Todays adventure took us to the Country Music Hall of Fame. It is located in downtown Nashville, which was only about 30 minutes away - so no long car rides today!
And, lucky for us, the exhibit for Luke Bryan was open today! Woo Hoo! Brandon and Sky have both been downtown before, so they knew where to park (cheaper), so the walk was easy for us.
As we were waitin in line to get our tickets, we saw a building across the way that looked like "Batman". Turns out it is the AT&T building. It was really cool.
The tour that we purchased tickets for was the self guided one. The first section was of the Taylor Swift Education Center. I didn't even know that she had such a thing. I know that Taylor Swift can be kind of crazy at times, but to know that she actually has an education center impressed me.
She had all kinds of stage costumes on display that she used in her music videos, hat you could read about and see.
Here on this wall, was a question that asked: What country artist I want to see in concert this year is......then people would write down their reply on a stickie note and add it to the wall.
There were some letters from other famous singers talking about how great she is, and medals that she had received throughout her life.
There are all kinds of glitzy dresses that she has worn at her concerts, and she even has her own Barbie doll!
Trisha's actual wedding gown was on display too. It was gorgeous! It had a snow white collar with lots of rhinestones. She married Garth Brooks in December of 2005.
Music Hall of Fame 2015
There sure was a lot of stuff in here to see. If you plan on going when you visit Tennessee, make sure that you allow a lot of time - because you need to read everything for some fun details about all these singers.
This guy was rather short, like Sky - so she was showing us how tall he would be standing next to her.
There were some really crazy, jazzy costumes and instruments throughout the building. Some of these I have never heard before. I could only imagine how much work went into these costumes back in the day. The rhinestone work had to have all been done by hand!
Now, I was a little confused. Elvis Presley was included in here. I didn't know that he was known for country music?! But, I think that they were including him because he was in the Music Hall of Fame. And, we got to see his "blue suede shoes" (they actually looked purple to me).
Elvis Presley's "Solid Gold" Cadillac was on display. Everything inside was gold or gold colored.
Bryce & Brandon
All the upholstery was really nice. Gold colored of course. He also had a land-line telephone in the back. The side mirrors on the outside were gold too. The car was behind glass, so that you couldn't touch it, unless you climbed over.
Then, right beside his car was Elvis Presley's gold piano!
I can't believe what some of these men actually wore! They were the gaudiest outfits ever, and some I have to say were pretty ugly!
Then, there was good ol' Johnny Cash! Love his music.
These guys found a really cool old car. It was tricked out something crazy. Take a look at some of these photos.
There was a saddle where the console usually is, all decked out with old coins on it. Right away, Brandon was wondering how much they were actually worth.
There were old guns as door handles...
...and a gun was even mounted on the trunk...
...and on the hood! I'm not quite sure who Webb Pierce was, but this was his "Silver Dollar" convertible. The kids thought it was pretty cool. Unfortunately, someone had reached over and broke off one of the guns as a door handle. Who would do such a thing? Sad.
But, what I thought was absolutely crazy was the longhorns on the very front of the car! Can you imagine driving this thing around town? I guess if someone didn't get out of your way, you could just horn em! Yee Haw - get outta my way!
The picture doesn't do it justice, but Connie Smith had a bedazzled (all glittery) guitar strap. It was pretty.
On the left is a Triple-Neck instrument. I have never heard of such a thing! Then, on the right is old recording studio equipment. Wow, how the times have changed. (Note: I haven't seen a modern recording studio, but I think that most of it is electronically and digitally done now a days).
On the wall were Gold or Platinum albums from every kind of country singer you could think of. Here are 2 - Johnny Cash & Elvis Presley.
In this room, all of the walls were covered with them!
Here are some of Ronnie Milsap's crazy outfits.
And, some of the many awards that he has received over his lifetime!
They even had recognitions on the floor where you you walked! This one is for Tim McGraw & Faith Hill.
Walking downstairs, we looked out the window, and they actually had horse drawn carriages working today - and it is HOT!
Gotta get a picture of Sky!
The gangs all here!
Wynonna Judd - one of my very favorites. Bart and I got to go to her concert when she was still performing with her mother Naomi. When they were called The Judds. It was a great concert, and we got to sit right up front!
Here is another old recording studio/office. Notice the cassette tapes on the desk? I still have a bunch of those! Wait. I can't be that old!
On the left is an original check for $26. The reason I took a picture of this, is that I remember when was a little girl, and I would go to the shop with my Dad. Sometimes I would get to stay in the office and play with the office equipment. I remember embossing paper with the check machine. It was really cool! On the right, is the original hand written lyrics to one of the songs that was written and produced.
The Cash's drawn picture behind me. I love listening to their music. I didn't take a picture, but in some places over certain singers displays, hung speakers, and if you stood right under them, you could hear their music, and it didn't disturb other people or other displays.
And, here is Dolly Parton! Know how I could tell? The pink dress of course.
Then from the back woods, here is the original Smokey & the Bandit transam! Wow, this brought back some good ol' memories!
I thought this was pretty neat. This is what the award envelope looks like on the inside. So, you know when you are watching TV and they open the envelope to reveal the winner - well this is what it looks like. Then here are some of the ACM awards.
There were some gorgeous gowns that were worn by some of the wives too. This one was worn by Luke Bryan's wife.
Handwritten lyrics to some great songs.
This, too was part of Luke Bryan's display. He is an avid hunter. And he had some of his guns and archery stuff there. I knew Brandon would like him.
I guess they are called manuscripts. Here is the lyrics written by Luke Bryan for the song "I See You". I find this interesting to see the famous people's handwriting, and wondering how they got all those words to finally come together for a great hit!
Taylor Swift's guitar was by far the most glittery of all! It sparkled so much, that I think it could actually become distracting. But is was sure beautiful! This was Sky's very favorite!
Then, my favorite: Carrie Underwood. They had a video of her singing, and you could stand under the speakers that I was talking about and listen to her sing her first major hit "Jesus Take the Wheel" - when she was on "America's Got Talent". Also on display was the dress that she wore when she won!
Then, there was a rotunda that had the awards for the singers as they became elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Here are only a few of our favorites. Millie Pearl? Man that goes waaaaayyyy back!
It was a lot of fun, and there was a lot to see, it was almost too much!
But, Brandon brought the entertainment to us on the way home with some of his fireworks that he had left over! (Of course - he didn't actually light them, but he loves to go to the extreme).
All in all, I think that we all had a great jam packed time with family and friends. Beth leaves at 8:00am tomorrow morning, and Bryce leaves at 2:40pm. They won't be on the same flight back this time. Neither one of them had ever been to Tennessee. Both enjoyed themselves, but agreed that it was really far away from home.
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