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Ofelia and Manuel Cuevas
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Jeff Hanna, Maria Ivey
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Bob Kramer, Lloyd Green, Steve Fishell
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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - SEPTEMBER 29: Artifacts on display for the opening of Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock at Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on September 29, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)
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Del and Carolyn Bryant
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Chris Hillman, Brenda Colladay, Kyle Young
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Thomm Jutz, Jenee Fleenor
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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - SEPTEMBER 29: Artifacts on display for the opening of Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock at Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on September 29, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)
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Chuck Aly, Lisa Purcell, Damon Whiteside
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Sara and Sean Watkins
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Renee Pappas, Bernie Taupin, Nancy Lee Andrews
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Richie and Nancy Furay, Jesse Furay Lynch
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NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - SEPTEMBER 29: Guest view the opening of Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock at Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on September 29, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)
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Chris Hillman
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Earl and Janet Bentz, Pickslay Cheek, Mary Ann McCready, Bill Denny, Gary Overton, Davis Ross, Will Overton
On September 29, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum celebrated the opening of its major exhibition Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock.
The evening included special performances by:
- Watkins Family Hour performing "Different Drum," a song made popular by the Stone Poneys featuring Linda Ronstadt and written by Michael Nesmith.
- Chris Hillman with Watkins Family Hour performing "Wheels" a song made popular by the Flying Burrito Brothers and written by Hillman and Gram Parsons.
Western Edge, which is now open for a nearly three-year run, traces the Los Angeles-based communities of visionary singers, songwriters and musicians who, between the 1960s and 1980s, frequented local nightclubs, embraced country music, created and shaped the musical fusion "country-rock" and, ultimately, made a lasting impact on popular music.
The exhibit surveys the rise of the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Eagles, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, and others who found commercial success with a hybrid of rock sensibilities and country instrumentation and harmonies. These trailblazers’ musical contributions were expanded upon by the next generation of L.A. roots music performers — the Blasters, Los Lobos, Lone Justice, Dwight Yoakam and more — who once again looked to traditional American music for inspiration, blending hard-edged honky-tonk, Mexican folk music, rockabilly and punk rock. These artists — along with their country-rock predecessors — provided inspiration to future generations of country and Americana artists.
The museum’s curatorial and creative teams conducted more than forty hours of filmed interviews and collected an array of significant artifacts for display in Western Edge, which will be housed in a newly designed 5,000 square foot gallery space. Items featured in the exhibit include instruments, stage costumes, manuscripts, and personal artifacts. (countrymusichalloffame.org)