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Was the late Colonel Thomas A. Parker a visionary genius or master of exploitation? Music historian Peter Guralnick argues that the answer is both.

Curly Putman’s career proves that sometimes elusive dreams come true. As writer or co-writer of the country classics “D-I-V-O-R-C-E,” “Green, Green Grass of Home,” “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” and “My Elusive Dreams,” among many others, Putman worked his way up from a struggling rural Alabama songwriter to become one of country music’s most heralded tunesmiths, moving through various cities and jobs along the way.

Vince Gill finished the final of three sold-out artist-in-residence performances at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum much as he began them: By peeling away layers of celebrity gloss to expose the down-to-earth stories and relationships behind his climb to stardom.

Jerry Carrigan vividly remembers his first major Nashville session, after having made a name for himself as part of the primary rhythm section at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Surrounded by A-team players—Ray Edenton on acoustic guitar, Grady Martin on electric guitar, Bob Moore on bass, and either Floyd Cramer or Pig Robbins on piano—Carrigan was told to play a shuffle.

Vince Gill’s only plan going into his second performance as the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s artist-in-residence was to offer up a different batch of songs from his previous show.

Vince Gill lowered his voice to a whisper as he spoke of the song he wrote after his brother Bob’s death in 1993. “I wrote this song, and I didn’t have any idea if anybody would want to hear it, or like it,” Gill said of “Go Rest High on That Mountain.” “All I wanted to do was grieve for him and celebrate his life. That’s how I always process grief—sit down with a guitar and make something up. Turns out that if anybody remembers any of my songs, it’ll be this one.”

Lycrecia Williams Hoover beamed as she tapped her foot along to one of her favorite Hank Williams songs, “Fly Trouble.” 

Dean Dillon vividly remembers the day in 1979 when he stood on a porch on Seventeenth Avenue, on Nashville's famed Music Row, and watched producer Blake Mevis pull up in his car. Mevis approached Dillon and songwriter Frank Dycus to ask if they had any songs they wanted to pitch for a young Texas cowboy singer Mevis had started recording in the studio. the singer, unknown at the time, was George Strait.

Gordon Stoker and Ray Walker, two members of the legendary vocal group the Jordanaires, can pinpoint the moment when they fully embraced making a career of singing behind stars—instead of trying to become stars.