Country Music Hall Of Fame & Museum Acquires The British Archive Of Country Music

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Photo of a 78-rpm record by Big Bill Campbell and His Rocky Mountain Rhythm, released in 1947 and included in the British Archive of Country Music collection. Photo: Courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has expanded its collection with the addition of the British Archive of Country Music, comprising over 50,000 recordings alongside books, periodicals, videotapes, photographs and more.

The collection, established in 1987, was assembled over a span of seven decades by late British collector Dave Barnes. This treasure-trove of country music history contains extensive recordings and files regarding artists from the UK, Europe, Australia, Canada and the US. After Barnes’ death in 2020, his family began working with the museum to facilitate the acquisition and transport of the collection from Dover, England with support from the Tyson Family Foundation.

“My father Don Tyson was a huge, lifelong fan of country music,” says John H. Tyson, Chairman of the Board of Tyson Foods, Inc. “He passed that love of music on to his children and grandchildren as well. When we learned of the British Archive of Country Music, we immediately knew it was a treasure that should be located in posterity at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. We are pleased to have been able to work with Mr. Barnes’ son, Alan, and the team at the museum to make this a reality. My son, John Randal and daughter Olivia and I are delighted to have made this collection available so that future generations of country music fans can continue to enjoy this music as Mr. Barnes did years ago as he was putting the archive together.”

With the addition of the BACM collection, the museum now ranks among the world’s largest collections of country music recordings, boasting over 250,000 sound recordings ranging from phonograph cylinders to digital files.

CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Kyle Young, expresses his gratitude to the Barnes family and the Tyson Family Foundation for their pivotal role in bringing the BACM collection to the museum. “The British Archive of Country Music speaks to the international influence of country music. We’re honored to preserve the collection and continue BACM’s legacy of making this music available to researchers and scholars across the world,” he says.

John Nix Arledge
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