The American Currents exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame is now open, featuring some of the career highlights of more than a dozen artists, including Kane Brown, Reba McEntire, Carrie Underwood, Bobby Bones, Florida Georgia Line and more.
“It’s crazy,” Brown told PopCulture.com of the honor. “I don’t think that I’ve actually took it in yet. It’s crazy to be in there. I’ve got a jacket from the AMAs [American Music Awards] that I wore. Brothers Osborne’s behind me, FGL is to the right of me. It’s just awesome to be a part of something in Nashville.”
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McEntire, who is a member of both the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame, called the exhibit meaningful especially because of the items on display.
“Well it’s a lot of fun,” McEntire gushed to PopCulture.com. “When I saw the blue dress, and the medallion, it reminded me of the weekend we were in Washington, D.C., at the Kennedy Center Honors. It was exciting. It was nostalgic. It was very sentimental, very patriotic. That function has been going on for many, many years, and I am now a member of the club of so many people in the arts, that have given their time and their energy to entertain folks. I was just very proud to be a part of that gang.”
Carly Pearce was honored with an exhibit alongside her mentor, Jeannie Seely, making it that much more meaningful because of her friendship with Seely.
“Country music has been my life since before I can even remember – even my parents said the only thing that would stop me from crying as a baby was the sounds of Vince Gill, Patsy Cline, Alison Krauss and many more legendary voices,” Pearce said in a statement. “So it is truly in moments like these, that I have to take a deep breath before believing it’s real and to have a mentor and friend like Jeannie alongside me in life and this exhibit is something I only could have dreamed.
“I hold the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the Grand Ole Opry in such high esteem and am so grateful to be a part of this moment,” she continued. “I love country music more than anything in the world and can’t believe this is real.”
Seely released her first album, The Seely Style, in 1966, making her one of the true pioneers of country music, and giving her a unique look at the lives and careers of rising stars like Pearce.
“I look at these exhibits and I realize what these people have gone through,” Seely acknowledged. “Everybody has their own unique trail, but it’s a hard path to get to where all these people are, and I’m just so proud for all of them to see them here.”
Bones may not be an artist, but his influence has certainly been felt in pop culture in recent years, especially with his Dancing With the Stars championship, his award-winning iHeartRadio Show, and his role as an in-house mentor on American Idol.
“All I know is I’m lucky enough to create in a lot of different ways,” Bones said of his rise in popularity. “If it’s being on tour all year last year, doing stand-up, or if it’s being on Idol this year full-time, or even, I wrote a second book [Fail Until You Don’t: Fight. Grind. Repeat], and oddly enough, it sold really well.
“The radio show’s going into Canada, and to see it all in that trophy case in the Country Music Hall of Fame is a bit strange,” he added. “I don’t think I deserve it, but I’m not going to say no to it.”
The American Currents exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame is now open, and will remain open to to the public until Feb. 9, 2020. More information can be found at the Country Music Hall of Fame’s website.
Photo Credit: Getty images/Alberto E. Rodriguez
