NASHVILLE – The Country Music Association (CMA) and the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix have partnered to create a one-of-a-kind exhibit celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the CMA Awards in honor of the music makers.
Multi-instrumentalist and CMA Awards winner Hunter Hayes will be on hand Monday, Oct. 24 (10:30 AM/MT) to officially open the exhibit, which features instruments on loan from several CMA Musician of the Year nominees and winners including Roy Clark, Jerry Douglas, Mac McAnally, and Mark O’Connor. Together, they have 61 total CMA Awards nominations and 25 wins.
“CMA has always recognized and done great work highlighting not only the people on stage but everyone who shapes this industry with hard work and dedication to their craft,” said Hayes. “This exhibit is another example of the many stories behind the music we love and what makes that music great!”
“Music is at the heart of everything we do as an association and this exhibit shines a deserving spotlight on some of our best players,” said Sarah Trahern, CMA Chief Executive Officer. “It is a welcome opportunity to reflect on the outstanding musical legacy we have as a format – especially as we approach the 50th Anniversary of the CMA Awards.”
The opening of the exhibit will feature a performance by students from Rosie’s House, a music academy for children in Phoenix, which is one of the CMA Foundation’s grant recipients. The CMA Foundation supports quality, sustainable music education programs across the U.S. reaching more than one million students.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for our music students from Rosie’s House to help open the exhibit and pay tribute to some of the finest professional musicians in the format,” Trahern said. “They are the next generation of music makers ushering in an exhibit honoring our best musicians – this is a full-circle moment.”
Included in the initial CMA Awards display:
Roy Clark, who is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, has 23 CMA Awards nominations and seven wins including Entertainer of the Year (1973); Instrumental Group of the Year (1975, 1976); and Instrumentalist of the Year (1977, 1978, 1980). The exhibit includes a Fender Jazzmaster (electric guitar/1962), which was featured on Clark’s debut album The Lightning Fingers of Roy Clark.
World-renowned dobro player Jerry Douglas has 15 CMA Awards nominations and three wins for Musician of the Year (2002, 2005, 2007). Douglas loaned a particularly special Resophonic guitar built by Rudy Q. Jones (1979), which he used during his most prolific era of studio recording sessions from 1985 to 2000. The companion, well-traveled fiberglass case features a hand painted crest by legendary dobro player Tut Taylor.
Mac McAnnally has received 10 nominations for Musician of the Year and won a record eight consecutive times (2008-2015). McAnally contributed an acoustic guitar (B.C. Rich Guitars/1978) and his 2013 CMA Musician of the Year trophy to the exhibit. McAnally has collaborated with some of the biggest stars in Country Music including Kenny Chesney, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Reba, and countless others. McAnally will perform live in the MIM Musical Theater on Sunday, Oct. 23, the evening before this special event.
You’ve got to have a fiddle in the band and Mark O’Connor donated one that he used on hundreds of albums in the 1990s when he was the most in-demand session musician in Nashville. He has received 13 CMA Awards nominations and has won seven times including six trips to the podium as Musician of the Year (1991-1996). The famous fiddle was built by Earsel V. Atchley in 1963 and will be on display with a bow.
“I was very honored to be approached about an instrument that I could contribute to the exhibit,” O’Connor said. “We chose one that was my most prominent fiddle during my Nashville music days. I played this particular fiddle on 450 albums; played it every week on the ‘American Music Show’ TV show for four years on national television; and on and on!”
“The new CMA Awards display celebrates the outstanding musicianship and showmanship that have defined Nashville’s Country Music scene for decades,” said Dr. Richard Walter, MIM’s curator for U.S./Canada. “It is an honor to feature instruments that have been played on literally thousands of recording sessions and live performances, and the video monitors allow us to share additional performance highlights from the CMA Awards broadcast over the years.”
“The 50th Annual CMA Awards” will be hosted by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood and broadcast live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Wednesday, Nov. 2 (8:00-11:00 PM/ET) on the ABC Television Network.
About Hunter Hayes
Hailed as a “Country-rock-blues guitar hero in the making” by the Los Angeles Times, five-time Grammy nominee Hunter Hayes is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who roared onto the music scene with his double-Platinum-selling, No. 1 self-titled debut album and chart-topping sophomore album, Storyline, on Atlantic/Warner Music Nashville. With three No. 1 singles already under his belt (including the multi-Platinum smash “Wanted,” double-Platinum “I Want Crazy,” and “Somebody’s Heartbreak”), Hayes delved into unprecedented territory with the innovative rollout of new music via streaming and digital platforms in 2015, culminating in the release of a special, three-disc collection dubbed The 21 Project. While recording for his forthcoming third full-length studio album, Hayes surprised fans by releasing three new songs via social media (“Yesterday’s Song,” “Amen,” and “Young Blood”) and his new single, “Yesterday’s Song,” will impact Country radio on Oct. 24.
About MIM
The Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) enriches our world by collecting, preserving, and making accessible an astonishing variety of musical instruments and performance videos from every country in the world. MIM offers guests a welcoming and fun experience, incomparable interactive technology, dynamic programming, and exceptional musical performances. MIM fosters appreciation of the world’s diverse cultures by showing how we innovate, adapt, and learn from each other to create music—the language of the soul. More information at MIM.org.
For information on “The 50th Annual CMA Awards” and to sign up for CMA emails and exclusives, visit CMAawards50.com. Celebrate Country Music Month in October!
