Ralph Applebaum Associates

The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is the world’s largest museum and research center dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music.

RAA was asked to design the permanent exhibition for the institution. For inspiration, we looked at a variety of evocative elements, including country songs, general stores, classic cars, prisons, grain silos, and water towers. These were, in some cases, incorporated directly into the design—such as the Hall of Fame’s Rotunda, which was inspired by a grain silo. The signature “radio tower,” which projects from the museum’s top, resembles the WSM radio tower in tribute to the station that launched the one and only Grand Ole Opry.

We sought to reflect the themes of home, hearth, family, and storytelling throughout the Hall of Fame and Museum with tableaus of costumes, artifacts, musical instruments, and musical scores. These, along with photographs, original recordings, archival video, films, touch-screen interactives, and audio programs provide multiple points of access to the collection.

In addition to the Hall of Fame, Museum, and Archive, a performance space and recording studios convey the institution’s dual role: chronicler of country music’s advance and keeper of its origins.

The institution offers visitors and scholars alike a comprehensive view of the personalities and collections that have made this Nashville’s premier tourist destination.