CMHOFM Opens ‘Night Train To Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues Revisited’ Exhibit

Pictured (L-R): Museum Board Chair Mary Ann McCready, Jimmy Church, Misti Bragg, Frank Howard and Vice President of Museum Services Michael Gray. Photo: Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum celebrated the opening of its latest exhibit, “Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues Revisited,” last night (April 25).

The exhibit explores the significance of Nashville’s pioneering R&B scene and its important role in the city becoming a world-renowned music center. “Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues Revisited” is a 20th anniversary edition of the museum’s award-winning original exhibit, which was featured in its galleries from 2004–2005. It includes many of the same items and themes, along with additional/newly-discovered artifacts and photographs. The exhibit is included with museum admission and runs through September 2025.

It is supported by a free-to-access “Night Train to Nashville” online exhibit, which launched last year, and was made possible by a major grant awarded from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). A newly-published exhibit companion book is also available now and includes more than 100 photographs and descriptions of classic R&B records cut in Nashville.

To mark the opening of the exhibit, the museum will host a panel discussion tomorrow (April 27), about Nashville’s television series Night Train. Participants will include performers Jimmy Church and Frank Howard, who appeared regularly on the show along with Katie Blackwell, wife of late Night Train creator and host Noble Blackwell, and Tracye Blackwell, Katie and Noble Blackwell’s daughter. The discussion will be illustrated with video clips from the show. The program will take place at 2:30 p.m. in the museum’s Ford Theater and is included with museum admission.