After Bob Dylan came to Nashville in 1966 to record his classic album Blonde on Blonde, his embrace of Nashville and its unmatched session musicians—known as the Nashville Cats—inspired many other artists, among them Neil Young, Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen, and Paul McCartney, to follow. Around the same time, Johnny Cash was recruiting folk and rock musicians—including Dylan—to appear on his groundbreaking network television show, The Johnny Cash Show. This book was published as a companion to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum exhibition Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City and features more than twenty commissioned illustrations by noted artist and musician Jon Langford. This book also includes 240 rare photographs and celebrates a time of great cultural vitality for Nashville, tracking the city’s music scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and illuminates Nashville’s rise as a world-class recording center.

(Book). The Outlaw phenomenon greatly enlarged country music's audience in the 1970s. Led by pacesetters such as Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Bobby Bare, artists in Nashville and Austin demanded the creative freedom to make their own country music, different from the pop-oriented sound that prevailed at the time. Complementing the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's exhibition Outlaws & Armadillos: Country's Roaring '70s , this 120-page, fully illustrated book examines the 1970s cultures of Nashville and fiercely independent Austin, and the complicated, surprising relationships between the two.

(Book). Nestled at the southern end of California's San Joaquin Valley, the city of Bakersfield is best known for farming, oil fields, and a unique brand of country music called the "Bakersfield Sound." The term is generally used to describe a hard-edged honkytonk sensibility characterized by sharp, twanging Fender Telecaster guitars, crying pedal steel, and straight-ahead country vocals a sound that thrived in Bakersfield clubs in the 1950s and '60s. The music emanating from these venues was by no means homogeneous. One need only compare Buck Owens's razor-sharp honky-tonk attack with Merle Haggard's western swing and blues-inflected recordings to recognize that there is no single Bakersfield Sound. The label is best understood as an umbrella term encompassing a number of strains developed by Haggard, Owens, and their West Coast contemporaries. The Bakersfield Sound is a full-color exploration of what social and economic factors led to this country music hotbed, as well as a look at the many stars who rose to fame with roots in Bakersfield. Country luminaries with ties to the area include Bob Willis, Leon Payne, Jean Shepherd, Dallas Frazier, Bonnie Owens, Barbara Mandrell, and Ferlin Husky. Written by the experts at the Country Music Hall of Fame, The Bakersfield Sound describes with rich words and classic photos how the deep roots of the Bakersfield Sound are so much more than just a reaction to the pop-oriented Nashville Sound.

(Book). The high standards set by Chet Atkins as a performer, recording artist, and record producer continue to inspire others. Complementing the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's exhibition Chet Atkins: Certified Guitar Player, this book honors one of America's most influential musicians. To provide insight on the legend and his music, the Country Music Hall of Fame invited several experts to prepare essays, including Michael Cochran, Rich Kienzle, Walter Carter, and John W. Rumble. Chet only bestowed his degree of "Certified Guitar Player" on four other guitarists over the years: Tommy Emmanuel, John Knowles, Jerry Reed, and Steve Wariner. Reed passed away in 2008, but the other musicians have shared special memories of Chet in these pages. Chet Atkins: Certified Guitar Player is a heartening read of essays and reminiscences that provide a revealing picture of Chet Atkins and his extraordinary life.