Exhibition Reviews

"Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945–1970." Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, 222 Fifth Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37203.       Temporary exhibition, March 27, 2004–Dec. 31, 2005. Daily 9–5, closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. Adults $15.95, youth $7.95, under 5 free, seniors, students, military $13.95. 5,000 sq. ft. Carolyn Tate, senior director of museum services; Daniel Cooper and Michael Gray, curators; ESI Design, 1220 Exhibits, and Country Music Hall of Fame, designers.       Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945–1970. By the staff of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. (Nashville: Country Music Foundation Press, 2004. 70 pp. $9.95, ISBN 0-915608-22-7.)       Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945–1970. Audio compact discs. Prod. by Daniel Cooper and Michael Gray. (Universal City: Lost Highway, 2004. 2 cds. $19.98, ASIN B0001DMWFW.)
Ray Charles at Maceo's in Nashville, c. 1959. Charles was one of many renowned rhythm and blues performers who included Nashville on their touring itineraries. Such stars, along with local luminaries and the rollicking venues where they earned their acclaim, are the focus of "Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues." From left to right are Edgar Willis, Ray Charles, David "Fathead" Newman, Hank Crawford, Marcus Belgrave, and the Raelettes. Courtesy Larry Taylor.
For over three-quarters of a century, people have recognized Nashville, Tennessee, as the home of commercial country music. This well-known affiliation commenced when radio station WSM began broadcasting the Grand Ole Opry barn-dance program in the mid-1920s. In the ensuing decades, countless white rural and working-class artists, musicians, songwriters, and fans—along with numerous recording companies, booking agencies, management services, and music publishers—transformed the "Athens of the South" (a nineteenth-century moniker adopted by the city's elite) into a "hillbilly" mecca known around the world as "Music City, USA."	1
Many, however, have long considered the Roy Acuff–Hank Williams–Loretta Lynn mule- and tractor-driven version of Nashville's musical history one-dimensional. Necessarily excluded (along with a venerable fine art and classical music tradition) are the many contributions of the city's sizable African American community. Ironically, it is the country music establishment that is addressing this deficiency, reconfiguring and expanding the municipality's official musical narrative to include the vibrant local rhythm and blues (R&B) activity that existed in the post–World War II era. In housing the "Night Train to Nashville" exhibition, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has certainly made a strong statement, although at times more implicit than obvious: despite a troubled history of racial segregation and antipathy, the city's working-class inhabitants represented a cloth that was of one piece. They consequently created a cultural and musical legacy that cannot be understood fully if unraveled into separate and isolated black and white strands.	2
The exhibit and its community-directed programs—which include educational workshops for local schoolchildren and teachers as well as public panel discussions on issues such as segregation in the music industry, the effects of urban renewal on the black community, and African American radio programming—have succeeded in reconstructing the tapestry. Thematic rather than artist-driven (with special attention devoted to the local origins, venues, commercial and electronic dissemination, crossover influence, and long-term legacy of rhythm and blues), the multimedia display establishes an inviting educational environment. Enlarged and strategically placed photographs of nightclub interiors, audio snippets of radio disk jockey chatter and advertisements, video excerpts from two locally produced R&B television programs, and miniature hands-on jukeboxes transport patrons back to the halcyon days (and nights) of the Fourth Avenue North and Jefferson Street entertainment districts. The journey is assisted tremendously by artifacts, all of which are skillfully contextualized, and the use of blown-up wall maps of neighborhoods and areas in the city that pinpoint where musicians, vocalists, and fans congregated to sing, dance, and create alternate spaces for themselves. An interactive oral history component that would relate the stories of such people to visitors would seem to be a logical addition when or if the exhibition finds a permanent home.	3
"Night Train to Nashville" does what a museum exhibit is supposed to do: it provides information while imparting knowledge. And it does so in a manner that is erudite and enjoyable. The focus, of course, never strays very far from rhythm and blues, the subject at hand. Yet a notice at the panorama's entrance sets a serious tone, asking guests to consider the music's larger ramifications. Thus by bringing a diverse group of people together in what is perceived as a traditionally "white" space to comprehend and celebrate African American culture, the exhibit serves to create an unprecedented bridge between the two communities. Unofficial numbers indicate that the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, typically reliant on tourists for its patronage, has, since the opening of the R&B display, enjoyed an upsurge of popularity among the city's residents. While admission prices may be prohibitive for a working-class clientele literally or historically connected to the exhibit's subject matter, such costs are partially offset by museum-sponsored outreach and local school programs. A well-integrated undertaking that has received significant support from government, corporate, entertainment industry, media, and higher education sources in the area, it is a project that has definitely raised the bar regarding what people will expect of their public history.	4
One and a half years in the making, "Night Train to Nashville" echoes the sensitivity and tastes of its curators, collectors, and enthusiasts, who envisioned the project as a glimpse into a world that produced unforgettable music. The exhibit indeed conveys how rhythm and blues reflected the life of a community. It likewise compels patrons to come away with a broader and deeper appreciation for Nashville's claims to being Music City, USA.	5
Michael T. Bertrand Tennessee State University Nashville, Tennessee

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