On Monday 1 May 2023, Gene Watson reflected on a visit to Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Nashville, in late April 2023.

'Years back, it was our first time to go to the new Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum building, and a very witty, former band member, when asked if he knew how to get to the Hall of Fame quipped, 'Yes, it all starts with a song'.  We all know that’s true.



Gene Watson with Ryan Halquist (Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville) at The Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville in late April 2023

This week, fortunately, we knew how to get there, and we enjoyed a great tour with the very knowledgeable museum’s, Ryan Halquist.

If you haven’t had the chance to tour this great museum, put it on your bucket list for your visit to Nashville.



The museum has incredible displays of the original instruments from the greatest names in country music and, of course, all sorts of clothing, original lyrics, as well as Elvis’s gold Cadillac, the Smokey & The Bandit car, and the custom Pontiac which belonged to Ferlin Husky (Thursday 3 December 1925 - Thursday 17 March 2011), which you’ll just have to see to believe.



Right now, there’s a tribute to the great Bill Anderson that you don’t want to miss, as well as a display about West Coast country and more.

You can read more about the museum here.

In these photos, below, you can see some of the unique items we enjoyed'



Ryan Halquist (Country Music Hall of Fame), Gene Watson & The Farewell Party Band at The Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville in late April 2023



Gene Watson at The Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, where he viewed the gold Cadillac, which was once owned by Elvis Presley (Tuesday 8 January 1935 - Tuesday 16 August 1977), the paint of which was made from crushed diamonds and fish scales to add the shine.  The cadillac also had a refrigerator that made ice, a telephone to talk to the driver, and Elvis Presley's 45 single hits lining the inside



Gene Watson and Chad Phillips (lead guitar player with The Farewell Party Band) at The Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, where they viewed an early prototype of the solid body electric guitar, which was designed by the famous guitar wizard, Les Paul (9 June 1915 - Wednesday 12 August 2009). They call this guitar 'The Log'. Les Paul wanted to show that a solid body would hold string vibrations longer, and make a better tone than the usual hollow-body guitar.

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• Gene Watson on Facebook