Opening Festivities to Include Songwriter Session, Family Program, Film Screening and Songwriters Round

NASHVILLE, Tenn., April 23, 2014 – The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will explore a year in the life of Grammy Award-winning superstar Miranda Lambert with the exhibition Miranda Lambert: Backstage Access, which opens May 16, 2014, and runs through November 9, 2014.  The exhibit will feature gowns, stage costumes, awards and much more; Lambert’s own Tweets will provide the narrative thread of this journey through the artist’s life in 2013.

Opening weekend festivities will include a Songwriter Session featuring Lambert’s Pistol Annies bandmate Ashley Monroe, a songwriting program for families and a free film screening. Later in the month, songwriters Nicolle Galyon, Natalie Hemby and Jimmy Robbins will participate in a songwriter round. (A detailed schedule of grand opening activities is below.)

“Miranda Lambert is one of contemporary music’s most popular and acclaimed artists, and for good reason,” said Museum Director Kyle Young.  “She’s a dynamic performer; an emotive and powerful vocalist whose voice is equally at home with lyrics tough or tender; and a songwriter with a deft touch for feeling and place.  Her numerous hits, from empowering anthems like “Gunpowder and Lead” to introspective set pieces like “The House That Built Me,” are rich contributions to country music’s storytelling tradition.  We are looking forward to taking our visitors behind the scenes with Miranda during her amazing successes in 2013.” Lambert’s fifth album, Platinum, is set for release June 3. The first single, “Automatic,” is her highest charting first-week single to date.

Among the artifacts included in Miranda Lambert: Backstage Access are:

• Roberto Cavalli gown with plunging neckline Lambert wore at the 2013 CMA Awards
• Blue vintage-style lace dress Lambert wore in her music video for “Mama’s Broken Heart”
• Rolling pink wardrobe case from Lambert’s Locked & Reloaded Tour with Dierks Bentley
• Black Ani & Ari corset with pink flames Lambert wore at LP field during CMA Music Fest
• Jovani dress embellished with chains and studs worn at the 2013 ACM awards
• Custom Gibson acoustic guitar with pink finish and pearloid pickguard
• A prototype of the Miranda by Miranda Lambert platinum-colored boots worn on the Platinum album cover
• Outfit Lambert wore in the “We Were Us” music video with Keith Urban

Miranda Lambert: Backstage Access Grand Opening Month Program Schedule

All programs are included with museum admission and free to museum members, except as noted below.

Saturday, May 17  11:30 a.m.

Songwriter Session: Ashley Monroe

Ashley Monroe co-wrote every song on her acclaimed 2013 release, Like a Rose. The album was named the #1 country album of 2013 by writers at the New York Times, Rolling Stone and Billboard, and was produced by country superstar Vince Gill.

As one-third of the trio Pistol Annies with Miranda Lambert and Angaleena Presley, she contributed lead and harmony vocals and songwriting credits to the group’s top-selling albums Hell on Heels and Annie Up. Monroe co-wrote Lambert’s #1 hit “Heart Like Mine,” and her songs have been recorded by Jason Aldean (“The Truth”), the Nashville cast (“A Life That’s Good”), Guy Clark, Vince Gill, Cassadee Pope, Carrie Underwood, Rhonda Vincent and Dwight Yoakam. Limited seating. Program pass required.

Saturday, May 17  1:00 p.m.

Family Program: Songwriting 101

Create a song with professional songwriters as you learn songwriting fundamentals, including the basics of song form, rhyme scheme, meter and secrets behind the creative process. Participants will analyze a song written by Miranda Lambert and learn about what inspires and motivates her as a songwriter. Ages 7–12. Takes place in the Taylor Swift Education Center. Children and up to two accompanying adults may attend the program and tour the museum at a discounted rate. Visit CountryMusicHallofFame.org for details.

Sunday, May 18  2:00 p.m.

Film Screening: Revolution: Live by Candlelight (2010)

Miranda Lambert tells the stories behind her songs and performs intimate acoustic versions of some of the hits from her ACM Album of the Year Revolution. 28 minutes. Free

Saturday, May 24  1:30 p.m.

Songwriter Round: Miranda as Muse: Nicolle Galyon, Natalie Hemby and Jimmy Robbins

Hear the songwriters behind the Miranda Lambert hits “Automatic,” “Baggage Claim,” “Only Prettier,” “We Were Us” (with Keith Urban) and “White Liar” perform these songs and others and tell the stories behind them. Nicolle Galyon has also written songs for Danielle Bradberry and Lady Antebellum. Natalie Hemby’s other hits include “Downtown” (Lady Antebellum) and “Pontoon” (Little Big Town). Jimmy Robbins also wrote “Sure Be Cool if You Did” (Blake Shelton) and “Whatever She’s Got” (David Nail). Limited seating. Program pass required.

Museum programs are made possible, in part, by grants from the Metropolitan Nashville Arts Commission and by an agreement between the Tennessee Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is operated by the Country Music Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964. The museum’s mission is the preservation of the history of country and related vernacular music rooted in southern culture.  With the same educational mission, the foundation also operates CMF Records, the museum’s Frist Library and Archive, CMF Press, Historic RCA Studio B and Hatch Show Print®

More information about the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is available at countrymusichalloffame.org.

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