Lyrics Will The Circle Be Unbroken

What's new at the Country Music Hall of Fame

The 1970s and early ’80s for Nashville were kind of silly, full of overproduced, glitter-encrusted pop-country, but it hit me just right at the time. Crystal Gayle’s crossover hit, “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue,” caused me to turn my radio dial to the only country-music station in New York City and keep it there. When a boyfriend gave me a pair of cowboy boots, I wore them often and proudly. I was country where country wasn’t cool.

I moved to Texas in the early 1980s, and my real education began. I saw George Jones, Merle Haggard, Alabama, Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn. Then country had a rootsy rebirth and along came Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Randy Travis, Ricky Skaggs.

I’ve been to the Country Music Hall of Fame’s museum many times — sometimes more than once in one trip. It’s always new, it never gets old, it’s multimedia, and one visit barely scratches the surface. The museum has been educational for me, one of my resources for all the stuff that happened before I got my twang on. Arranged chronologically, the exhibits started in about the 1920s and ended in the mid-1960s.

But last year, the museum expanded its permanent exhibit to bring country up to date, with “Dreaming My Dreams: The Journey Continues 1960s to the Present.” Now a visit to the museum is both educational and nostalgic for me.

My first stop in the new gallery is a few awed minutes in front of John Hartford’s original lyrics for “Gentle on My Mind.” They’re handwritten with just a few small changes. They appear to have tumbled from Hartford’s brain whole. And as far as I’m concerned, the song is among the greatest ever written.

There’s an itty-bitty glittery Bob Mackie costume belonging to Dottie West. I almost forgot about Dottie West! I love her 1980 hit “Lesson in Leaving,” which was covered by Jo Dee Medina in 2003. Another case holds Loretta Lynn’s and Johnny Paycheck’s guitars, Tammy Wynette’s shimmering gold gown, George Jones’ black suit, and Tanya Tucker’s floral-print dress. Here’s a 1974 issue of Rolling Stone is here, and Gram Parsons’ infamous Nudie suit, embroidered with pot leaves and pills.

And then the 1980s: George Strait’s crisply creased Levi’s, the blue suede dress Reba McEntire wore to accept her 1986 CMA Entertainer of the Year award. And the new wave comes in. Here are Yoakam’s oh-so-tight, concho-trimmed jeans, and sundry garments from Randy Travis, Alan Jackson and Vince Gill (an unappetizing pair of “lucky loafers”). Here are Rodney Crowell’s production notes from a recording session with his then-wife Roseanne Cash. They divorced in 1992. Her well-worn boots are here, too.