All For The Hall Los Angeles

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All For The Hall LA (L-R): Kyle Young, Kevin Cronin, Sheryl Crow, Zac Brown, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill. Photo: Alex J. Berliner

All for the Hall Los Angeles, a Country Music Hall of Fame fundraising event held Sept. 13, featured the talents of Zac Brown, Kevin Cronin, Sheryl Crow, Vince Gill and Emmylou Harris. The five songwriters represented various generations and genres from across the nation as they performed the Nashville-style guitar pull.

With no set list to follow, the writers were encouraged to perform whatever came to mind. “You’ll hear some great songs, possibly some new songs, because we don’t really know which songs they’ll do, but then neither do the songwriters,” explained Kyle Young, director of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

Throughout the show, the performers told stories of their old guitars—many broken and repaired—and how they’d written some of their best songs on them. Crow shared how her rehearsal space was vandalized before her first national tour in 1993. While most of her instruments were stolen, the thieves left behind a broken acoustic Gibson guitar. Crow had it repaired and later wrote “If It Makes You Happy” on it.

The Gibson Foundation announced that night the limited edition run of the J-200 Ray Whitley Specials. All proceeds from this iconic guitar will be given to Working on a Building, the campaign which sponsors the $75 million expansion of the Country Music Fall of Fame and Museum in downtown Nashville.

Caitlin Rantala
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