Museum Exhibitions

Clint Black: The Hard Way on Purpose is now open. The exhibit explores the Texan’s journey, from ironworker to country music star, as he charts his course as an artist with both blockbuster appeal and singular authenticity.

This annual exhibit offers a broad look at country music and its place in American culture over the past year, exploring musical developments, artist achievements, and notable events. The latest installment, which will be open through January 2026 in the ACM Gallery, features music and moments from cozy clubs to cavernous arenas.

Even among living legends, Dolly Parton’s star shines with unusual brilliance. Her fame casts a wider, brighter light today than at any time in her career of sixty-plus years. The Country Music Hall of Fame member has enjoyed seemingly effortless success as a singer, songwriter, movie and television actor, author, businesswoman, and philanthropist ever since she first hit the record charts in 1967.

Muscle Shoals: Low Rhythm Rising, explores how an Alabama community developed a distinctive sound, became a global recording epicenter in the 1960s and 1970s, and continues to inspire music today. The exhibit tells the story of Black and white musicians who found a way to work together at a time when segregation prevailed.

Country’s Grandest Stage: The Opry at 100  celebrates notable performers and moments in the history of the longest-running radio show in the world, as well as one of the most important radio programs in broadcasting history.

Lainey Wilson: Tough as Nails is open now. The exhibit explores the Louisiana native’s ascent to stardom and her identity as both a pragmatic farmer’s daughter and the free-spirited originator of “bell bottom country.”

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s core, permanent exhibition tells the story of country music from its pre-commercial roots in the nineteenth century through its vibrant life today. This exciting, multi-layered experience includes artifacts, photographs, original recordings, archival video, newly produced films, touchscreen interactive media, and beautifully rendered text panels.

Cole’s second exhibition at Haley Gallery, “Old School” explores the meaning of words like “Love,” “Hate,” and “Dixie,” and the acronyms created by their letters, through a series of seven new “chalkboard” paintings. The show also features the largest work Cole has ever created, a painting inspired by the word “Patriot.” Examples of Cole’s chalkboard paintings are featured in the collections of the High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA), the Studio Museum in Harlem (New York, NY), and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (Salt Lake City, UT), among others.

The exhibit features photographs from Rode’s 2024 book, “Songwriter Musician: Behind the Curtain with Nashville’s Iconic Storytellers and Players.” The exhibit is free and will be open to the public through July 2026 in the museum’s first-floor gallery.