“Playlist” Exhibit Highlights Tennessee’s Music Heritage at State Museum
No one needs to tell you music permeates Tennessee.
But a new exhibit at the Tennessee State Museum explains just how much and — spoiler alert — it’s a lot.
The exhibit called The Tennessee Playlist: The People, Places, and Roots of Our Music opened at the Nashville museum last week and is slated to remain until 2028. It includes 4,000 square feet of physical displays showcasing artifacts exploring the state’s musical history and highlighting people who have contributed to the state’s many musical traditions
The Tennessee Playlist exhibit follows Tennessee music from its earliest forms, to the music business, and beyond.
Credit: Tennessee State Museum
One exhibit will focus on early music here: Southeastern Indian musical traditions in nations like the Cherokees and Choctaws, folk music like ballad singing and string band music, and hymns and spirituals.
Another follows Tennessee music through the 1800s and 1900s. Technology and music business is another exhibit, with artifacts like a WSM microphone, jukeboxes, and more.
Credit: Tennessee State Museum
Another piece focuses on how communities here built international centers for music and recording in Memphis and Nashville. A final piece highlights some of the greats that have called Tennessee home, like Dolly Parton, DJ Spanish Fly, Isaac Hayes, Johnny Cash, Chet Atkins, and more.
If you can’t make it to Nashville, check out an amazing online exhibit wherever you are. In the 95 Counties of Sound exhibit online, click on a county, and the site will offer up that county’s contribution to Tennessee’s music heritage.
For example, bluegrass icon Lester Flatt was born in Overton County in 1941. Up in Bristol, John Huron makes handcrafted instruments associated with Appalachian culture. In 1920, Noah Lewis wrote “Minglewood Blues,” a song related to a logging community in Dyer County. The song would later be recorded by The Grateful Dead in 1967.
Click here to see a calendar of events related to the new exhibit.
