The Birthplace of Country Music

New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music
2015-03-08 00:00 - 2015-09-30 23:59 (America/New_York) | VA
New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music
In 2015, the Birthplace of Country Music Museum featured a Smithsonian exhibit called New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music.
About the Exhibit
New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music explores the rich traditions in American music.
Music is all around us – at a local festival, at a dance hall on a Saturday night, or on your radio or MP3 player. Whether you’re listening to blues, zydeco, folk, tejano, or gospel, American roots music reveals our collective American story. Americans from a variety of backgrounds shared cultural influences, and as a result, musical sounds, instruments, and styles also merged in unique and unexpected ways.
Through a series of photographs and text panels, recordings, instruments, lyrics, and artist profiles, “New Harmonies” celebrates the variety of American roots music and illustrates the diversity of musical traditions and practices in the United States from bluegrass and blues to klezmer and Native American sacred music. The Birthplace of Country Music Museum strives to explore the interconnectedness of American music and this exhibit – with its core panels and added interactive components – helps the visitor to understand those connections.
“New Harmonies” was once part of Museums on Main Street and served as one of the Smithsonian Institution’s traveling exhibits; the Smithsonian gave it to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in January 2015.
