| Museum will tell the stories of Brooks & Dunn, Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, Kacey Musgraves and Keith Whitley. |
| NASHVILLE, Tenn., – March 1, 2019 – The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum has unveiled the balance of its stellar exhibition schedule for 2019. Exhibits on Keith Whitley, Kacey Musgraves, Brooks & Dunn and Country Music Hall of Fame members Boudleaux and Felice Bryant will join previously announced exhibitAmerican Currents: The Music of 2018. |
| On Oct. 4, the museum will open a special exhibit on songwriting husband and wife Boudleaux and Felice Bryant. The couple, who were the first full-time songwriters in Nashville, were elected together to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1991. They found initial success in the 1940s when Little Jimmy Dickens recorded their song “Country Boy.” During the 1950s and 1960s, they had hit after hit with the Everly Brothers, including the siblings’ first big song, “Bye, Bye Love” and chart-toppers such as “Wake Up Little Susie.” Among the Bryants’ hits for others are Red Foley’s “Midnight” (co-written with Chet Atkins), Eddy Arnold’s “How’s the World Treating You” (also with Atkins), Jim Reeves’ “Blue Boy,” Bob Luman’s “Let’s Think About Living,” and Roy Orbison’s “Love Hurts,” later an international hit for the rock group Nazareth. One of the Bryants’ best known songs is “Rocky Top.” Popularized by the Osborne Brothers in 1968, “Rocky Top” is now an official Tennessee state song and the beloved anthem for the University of Tennessee’s athletic teams. During their distinguished career, the Bryants had some 800 songs recorded by more than 500 artists, amounting to sales of hundreds of millions of records. This exhibition is presented by the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation.
“Dad used to say that he thought their songs were like wine that aged well in their ledgers. Like wine, songwriters’ lives and bodies of work are the unpredictable product of earthly and heavenly elements,” said Del Bryant, son of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant. “Our parents would be thrilled that the museum is decanting their songs and their love story for all the world to taste and enjoy. They would have many people to toast. So on behalf of our folks, my brother Dane and I, and our entire family, thank God for all those who poured their hearts and talents into the full-bodied blend that is Boudleaux and Felice.” |