MUSIC

On 'BIG Night at the Museum,' country music's precious artifacts get to sing again

Dave Paulson
Nashville Tennessean
Marty Stuart at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum for 'BIG Night at the Museum.'

Marty Stuart had "a conversation with an old friend" recently.

Once again, he got to play the 1950 Martin D-28 guitar owned by late bluegrass legend Lester Flatt. He was not only a hero to Stuart, but the man who recruited him to play in his band when he was just 13 years old.

Back then, he spotted the guitar lying around Flatt's house, and recognized it as the same one he'd seen him play on "The Beverly Hillbillies." Stuart eventually purchased the guitar, and then donated it to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, where it's stayed behind glass ever since.

Until this year.

As it grapples with a huge revenue loss due to the pandemic, the Nashville-based museum has taken an unprecedented step to raise funds. It's taking some of the most legendary instruments in its collection out of their climate-controlled cases, and letting today's country stars pick them up and play a song.

In its new video concert special, the Country Music Hall of Fame took its valuable instruments out the glass and let today's stars play them.

It's all captured in their new self-produced concert film, "BIG Night at the Museum" which premieres on YouTube this Wednesday.

Unlike Stuart, most of its participants were putting their hands on the artifacts for the very first time. Tim McGraw was visibly moved as he strummed the acoustic guitar owned by his idol, Keith Whitley. Blues mainstay Keb' Mo' was also overwhelmed to play the 92-year-old guitar owned by Jimmie Rodgers, regarded as the "Father of Country Music." Miranda Lambert, thought back to the John Prine records her dad would play, as she held the late songwriting legend's custom acoustic.

All of these performances were captured at the museum as it sat closed from March to September due to the pandemic. 

"To stand in the middle of a museum when you're all alone, and just hear the whir of the air conditioner," Stuart recalls. "That is a lonesome sound, man. That is lonesome defined. There were a couple of lulls between shots. I just kind of wandered around, looked at the exhibits. I thought, 'Man, I have this place to myself, and I don't like it.'" 

Marty Stuart stands on the stage of the empty CMA Theater at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum for 'BIG Night at the Museum.'

That emptiness, however, is what got the ball rolling on "BIG Night" in the first place. Museum CEO Kyle Young was inspired by Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, which let its penguins roam around the closed facility earlier this year for a series of digital videos.

At the start of 2020, Young says, “We were on a trajectory that was going to leave last year's record numbers in the dust.”

Now, the museum is estimating a revenue loss equal to $35 million this year. After being closed for six months, it reopened in September with a limited capacity – now, a “sold-out” day brings in 20 percent of its normal attendance revenue. 

In the meantime, it has greatly expanded its digital footprint, and Young is proud to note that "BIG Night" is entirely produced by museum staff (with audio supervision by renowned producer Dave Cobb). 

That staff also had "robust conversation" around the prospect of having these artifacts sing again, Young says. But in every case, the instruments were safely strummed, and quickly returned. 

"Because we can absolutely control this to the nth degree, we feel comfortable doing it," he says. "And then immediately getting (the instrument) back right where it belongs.”

Ashley McBryde plays Loretta Lynn's guitar at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum for 'BIG Night at the Museum.'

"BIG Night at the Museum" premieres October 28 at 8 p.m. CT on the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's YouTube channel (youtube.com/countrymusichof). 

The show is free to watch, but viewers are encouraged to donate at the "YouTube Giving" link on the page or texting the number on their screen. Proceeds will go towards exhibitions, collections preservation and educational programming.

'BIG Night' performers and instruments

Alison Brown - Earl Scruggs’s 1930 Gibson RB Granada banjo

Kane Brown - accompanied by Randy Travis’s Gibson J-185KOA guitar

Carlene Carter - plays her grandmother Maybelle Carter’s 1928 Gibson L-5

Rodney Crowell -pays tribute to songwriters Guy Clark and Boudleaux and Felice Bryant

Emmylou Harris -partners with Crowell and uses Boudleaux Bryant’s 1961 Martin

Miranda Lambert - John Prine’s David Russell Young custom-made guitar

Ashley McBryde - Loretta Lynn’s 1956 Gibson J-50 guitar

Reba McEntire - pays homage to Patsy Cline

Tim McGraw - Keith Whitley’s C.W. Parsons acoustic guitar

Keb’ Mo’ - 1928 custom Weymann guitar played by Jimmie Rodgers

Brad Paisley - Don Rich’s 1964 Fender Telecaster

Ricky Skaggs - Bill Monroe’s 1923 Gibson F-5 mandolin

Marty Stuart - Lester Flatt’s 1950 Martin D-28 guitar

The War and Treaty pays tribute to Ray Charles

Dan Tyminski joins Paisley in performance, using Buck Owens’s red, white and blue American acoustic guitar

Lucinda Williams - Johnny Cash’s customized Martin D-35S guitar

More statements from performers on 'BIG Night'

Kane Brown: “Growing up, my grandfather listened to Randy’s music, and he introduced me to him. I immediately gravitated to Randy’s voice. I started playing covers of his songs and then forged a friendship with him. To be able to play and then be accompanied by Randy Travis’s guitar was surreal.”

Ashley McBryde: “I was worried when I first picked (Loretta Lynn's guitar) up because no hands have touched that guitar except in linen gloves, so I was worried initially when they told me I could pick it up because I didn’t want to get the oils from my skin on the neck of her guitar. It’s incredible. The guitar is awesome, and being in the Hall of Fame, playing a song of hers that I love so much – when you’re looking at me, “You’re Looking At Country” – such a great statement she made. It was nerve wracking, but I can’t wait to see the whole thing put together.”