CHARLIE DANIELS' NON-PROFIT THE JOURNEY HOME PROJECT PARTNERS WITH RICH POVERTY ORGANIZATION FOR VETERANS ART EXHIBIT AT THE PENTAGON IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

New Veterans Photo Gallery, The Alliance Collection, Now Open for Public Viewing

Country music legend Charlie Daniels' veterans non-profit The Journey Home Project (TJHP) has partnered with the Rich Poverty organization to assemble a new art exhibit at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. The exhibit, titled The Alliance Collection, is a gallery of combat and civilian photographs taken by veterans and their families. The collection is now on display for public viewing.

"It's a real honor to do anything that benefits our heroes in the military, and to be a part of something displayed in the Pentagon makes it even more special," says Daniels.

Including photos from over 50 artists from around the globe, The Alliance Collection's purpose is to highlight veterans in the arts.

"Each corridor of the Pentagon has displays of our nation's military history," says TJHP board member Major General Terry "Max" Haston (retired). "These professionally designed exhibits reflect the factual lineage of our services. The Rich Poverty Alliance Collection goes beyond history but into the hearts and minds of our service members and their families. It reveals raw emotions and truth as seen through the lens of experience. It allows those, whose only exposure to the reality of military service is through what is reported in the media, a glimpse into our world."

Much like the coalitions of overseas deployment, The Alliance Collection includes imagery from international partners. Photographers hailing from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada and more are prominently featured. The collection includes photos taken during various conflicts throughout history, ranging from WWII through present day.

"For The Journey Home Project to step up and partner with us for an exhibit in the Pentagon means the world to us," notes Rich Poverty founder Tim Wallace. "The Alliance Collection is proud to get the backing of legendary musician and consummate veterans advocate Charlie Daniels in helping us showcase our world class photography. Our artists are sharing more than just stories of their wartime missions. This is the full journey through the eyes of the veteran."

"Now retired, Tim Wallace is a 26 year Army Ranger that has witnessed a lot of what we are sharing in the exhibit," adds TJHP co-founder David Corlew. "We met during a Ranger leadership course and realized that the concept of providing veteran photographers the opportunity to tell their personal story through the exhibit is a form of healing. And that's the business we're in."

The exhibit will be on display through March of next year and is free to the public for viewing while touring the Pentagon.

SEE IT WHILE YOU CAN! KENNY ROGERS: THROUGH THE YEARS ENDS JUNE 15, 2015 AT COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (June 1, 2015) – The spotlight exhibit devoted to multi-talented legend Kenny Rogers will end its run at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum on June 15, 2015 giving CMA Music Fest fans one last opportunity to see the exhibit before it closes. Incorporating awards, costumes, sheet music, memorabilia, and more from Rogers’s personal vault as well as from the collections of frequent collaborators, Kenny Rogers: Through the Years provides a comprehensive look at Rogers’s acclaimed musical phases and other artistic outlets.

Rogers has sold more than 120 million records worldwide. What’s more, he has charted a single in each of the last seven decades—including 21 Billboard #1 country hits. According to the RIAA, he has one diamond album, 19 platinum albums, and 31 gold albums. He has earned three Grammys, six Country Music Association awards (including a 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award), eight Academy of Country Music awards—including Entertainer of the Year in 1978—and was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013.

The exhibit features dozens of artifacts including:

Costume pieces worn and used by Rogers in the five-part Gambler TV movie series, including a fedora and gun belt, a Western-cut jacket, shirt and brocade vest, and a cane with a brass knob

A Tony Alamo of Nashville denim outfit, embellished with rhinestones and studs, worn by Rogers as the front man for Kenny Rogers and The First Edition in the 1970s

Dolly Parton’s rhinestone-embellished velvet jacket and dress, which she wore during a performance of “Islands in the Stream” with Rogers on her TV show, Dolly

Dottie West’s Bob Mackie outfit with bugle beading and Dolcis pumps, worn in performance with Rogers

Assorted cameras used by Rogers, including two Polaroid models; a Calument Scientific Inc. 8" x 10" folding camera; and a Linhof Master Technika Classic camera, used by Rogers to capture the fifty-eight studio portraits of country artists in his third book of photos, Kenny Rogers: This Is My Country

Numerous awards, including the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award; Grammy statuettes; the Academy of Country Music’s Cliffie Stone Pioneer Award; and the Honorary Master of Photography award presented to Rogers by the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) at its annual conference and more!

In addition to the exhibit’s closing on June 15, Rogers will also embark on his Farewell South Africa Tour the same day. For a complete list of tour dates click here.

Kenny Rogers: Through the Years is supported by SunTrust. To learn more about Rogers and the spotlight exhibit, visit countrymusichalloffame.org. Join the conversation using #KennyRogersExhibit and follow @countrymusichof on Twitter

CRYSTAL GAYLE: 'WHEN I DREAM' SPOTLIGHT EXHIBIT OPENS MAY 2 AT THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME AND MUSEUM

May 3 Program with Gayle Celebrates Exhibit Opening

PRESS RELEASE

Nashville, Tenn. (April 29, 2014) – The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will debut a spotlight exhibit devoted to iconic crossover star Crystal Gayle on May 2, 2014. Crystal Gayle: When I Dream will feature fashion, awards, letters, family photos and more from her groundbreaking career. The exhibition will run through November 3, 2014.

On Saturday, May 3, Gayle will participate in a special program, Concert and Conversation: Crystal Gayle. The 2:30 p.m. presentation, held in the museum’s Ford Theater, is included with museum admission and free to museum members. Hosted by Curatorial Director Mick Buck, the interview and performance will allow Gayle to discuss her life and career and perform songs from her extensive repertoire. Seating for the program is limited, and program passes are required for admittance. The program will be streamed live on the museum’s website. For complete admission and streaming information, visit http://countrymusichalloffame.org/calendar/.

Crystal Gayle: When I Dream recounts Gayle’s unique rise to stardom. She began as a young dreamer emboldened, but nearly pigeon-holed, by the pioneering success of her older sister Loretta Lynn. Determined to make her own mark, Gayle grew into a superb vocalist whose signature glamour and pop-infused hits charmed the entire country.

The youngest of eight children, Gayle was born Brenda Gail Webb on January 9, 1951, in Paintsville, Kentucky. Not long thereafter, as the coal mines closed, her family left Appalachia to find work and moved to Wabash, Indiana, northeast of Indianapolis. As a child watching her older sister’s success, Gayle harbored her own musical aspirations. While still in high school, Gayle performed regionally and sampled life on the road with Lynn, joining her onstage for a couple of songs. Before graduating, Gayle signed her first contract with Decca Records, Lynn’s recording home, and was asked to change her name because one of her musical heroes, Brenda Lee, was a mainstay on the label. Her adopted stage name, “Crystal,” was suggested by Lynn as the two drove by a Krystal hamburger franchise.

In 1974, Gayle, now signed to United Artists Records, began to work with producer Allen Reynolds, a great song man whose musical instincts and mentoring perfectly complemented Gayle’s developing vision and smooth alto. Later that year she scored her first Top Ten hit with “Wrong Road Again.” Her first #1, “I’ll Get Over You,” followed two years later, along with another chart-topper, “You Never Miss A Real Good Thing (Till He Says Goodbye).” In 1977, she became a household name when “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” perched atop the country charts for four weeks and climbed the pop charts in America and around the world.

Gayle enjoyed fifteen additional Billboard #1 hits between 1978 and 1987, including “Talking in Your Sleep” and “It’s Like We Never Said Goodbye.” In 1978, her album We Must Believe in Magic was certified platinum, making her country music’s first female artist to sell one million units. She also had success singing duets, including chart-topping hits with Eddie Rabbitt (“You and I”) and Gary Morris (“Makin’ Up for Lost Time”). Gayle won back-to-back female vocalist honors from the Academy of Country Music in 1976 and 1977 and from the Country Music Association in 1977 and 1978. Later, she moved to different record labels, scoring hits at Columbia, Elektra and Warner Bros.

For the last twenty years, Gayle has gained acclaim for compelling specialty recordings, including albums of gospel and children’s music, a tribute to Hoagy Carmichael, a collection of pop standards, and concert recordings—all featuring her effortlessly smooth vocals.

Among the artifacts on display in Crystal Gayle: When I Dream are:

Hand-stitched valentine Gayle made in the third grade for her mother, Clara

Gayle’s custom white microphone, with her name engraved in gold

Red parlor guitar, custom built for Gayle by luthier Danny Ferrington in 1980

Photos of teenaged Gayle and her sisters Loretta Lynn and Peggy Sue that hung on their mother’s living room wall

LP cover for the soundtrack album to the 1982 film One from the Heart, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, featuring Gayle and Tom Waits. The album featured Gayle performing solo or as a duet partner with Waits, who wrote the songs.

Flight suit and boots worn by Gayle on her F-16 flight in 1984

1977 Grammy for Best Female Country Performance, for “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”

1976 ACM Female Vocalist of the Year trophy

Marble and crystal Indiana Living Legend award, presented to Gayle in 2005

Mattel’s Crystal “Eagle” Gayle Air Force Barbie doll, which commemorated both her 1984 flight aboard an F-16 fighter and the fiftieth anniversary of the U.S. Air Force

Spotlight exhibits supplement themes or aspects of the museum’s core exhibition, Sing Me Back Home: A Journey Through Country Music. These short-term, informal displays either provide a closer look at a particular person, group or aspect of country music, or spotlight recently donated items or special anniversaries. Rotated often, spotlight exhibits also offer a glimpse into the museum’s unique collection, which includes recorded discs; historical photographs; films and videotapes; thousands of posters, books, songbooks, periodicals and sheet music; personal artifacts such as performers’ instruments, costumes and accessories; and more.  

COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME® AND MUSEUM TO HONOR KENNY ROGERS WITH BIOGRAPHICAL EXHIBIT

Kenny Rogers: Through the Years to Open August 15, 2014

Photo credit: Piper Ferguson / Webster and Associates 

PRESS RELEASE

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (April 24, 2014) – With driving artistic instinct, a trademark husky voice made for storytelling, polished showmanship and effortless charisma, Kenny Rogers conquered radio, television and film en route to becoming a beloved American icon. The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will pay tribute to Rogers with the cameo exhibition Kenny Rogers: Through the Years, which opens in the museum’s East Gallery on August 15, 2014, and runs through June 14, 2015.

“Kenny Rogers redefined and elevated country music superstardom in every sense,” said Museum Director Kyle Young. “He blurred traditional genre lines and substantially expanded the core demographics of country music’s audience, all by being true to his unique artistic vision. His versatility is astounding. We could not be more thrilled to share this detailed presentation of his story.”

Rogers has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. What’s more, he has charted a single in each of the last seven decades—including 21 Billboard #1 country hits. According to the RIAA, he has one diamond album, 19 platinum albums, and 31 gold albums. He has earned three Grammys, six Country Music Association awards (including a 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award), eight Academy of Country Music awards—including Entertainer of the Year in 1978—and was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013.

From the enduring wisdom of "The Gambler" and the forlorn tales of "Lucille" and "Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love to Town)," to the success of his collaborations with Dottie West, Dolly Parton and others, Rogers took hallmarks of classic country music, such as rich storytelling and iconic duets, and made them larger than life—and very much his own. That’s just skimming the surface of his musical contributions alone. In the 1980s, he starred in the five-part Gambler series that attracted more than 100 million television viewers. In addition to his achievements as vocalist and actor, his accomplishments as musician, photographer, author, Off-Broadway star, entrepreneur, and humanitarian round out his résumé.

Born in Houston, Kenny Rogers formed his first band—an R&B and doo-wop harmony outfit called the Scholars—while in high school, in 1956. After solo work and performing as a bassist and singer with a jazz trio led by Bobby Doyle, Rogers joined folk group the New Christy Minstrels. A year later, he and bandmates Mike Settle, Terry Williams, and Thelma Camacho departed to form the First Edition, soon adding drummer Mickey Jones. Their recording of Mickey Newbury’s psychedelic “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” hit #5 on the Billboard Hot 100, and after a rebranding as Kenny Rogers and the First Edition, the group lit up pop and country charts with the gut-wrenching “Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love to Town),” written by future Country Music Hall of Fame member Mel Tillis.

By the mid-’70s, members of the First Edition decided to embark upon solo careers. After modest success, Rogers struck country gold with another heartbreaking single, “Lucille,” from his self-titled album. The 1977 Grammy-winning song topped the country charts, reached the Top Five on the pop charts, and was named the CMA Single of the Year. “Lucille” was followed in quick succession by the hits “Daytime Friends,” “Sweet Music Man” and “Love or Something Like It.”

Rogers’ next album, named for a song about a card-playing drifter with advice for a weary traveler, hit the shelves in 1978. “The Gambler,” written by then-unknown songwriter Don Schlitz, became Rogers’ career song and inspired five TV movies starring Rogers as Brady Hawkes, “The Gambler.” In 1979, the song helped Rogers clinch the Best Male Country Vocal Performance Grammy and CMA honors for Album of the Year (The Gambler) and Male Vocalist of the Year. Rogers’ run of chart smashes continued with “She Believes in Me” (1979), “Coward of the County” (1979), and the Lionel Richie-penned ballad “Lady” (1980).

Known almost as well for his duets as for his solo recordings, Rogers continued to top the charts in the 1970s and ’80s with his collaborations. He recorded a string of hits with frequent partner Dottie West, including “Every Time Two Fools Collide” (1978), “All I Ever Need Is You” (1979), and “What Are We Doin’ in Love” (1981). The pair won Vocal Duo of the Year at the 1978 and 1979 CMA Awards. In 1983, he partnered with Dolly Parton for one of the most popular duets in music history: “Islands in the Stream” earned them ACM Single and Top Vocal Duo awards that year. In 1985, Rogers sang on the landmark USA for Africa recording, “We Are the World,” and in 1987, following another string of hits, Rogers teamed with Ronnie Milsap for a Grammy-winning performance on “Make No Mistake, She’s Mine,” which topped the country chart.

After forming his own company, Dreamcatcher Entertainment, in the late 1990s, Rogers returned to the country charts on Dreamcatcher Records with “The Greatest,” another Schlitz-penned tune. The follow-up, “Buy Me a Rose,” climbed to #1 in 2000. As decisive proof of his enduring significance in the 21st century, Rogers released the critically acclaimed Water & Bridges in 2006. In 2011, his first gospel album, The Love of God, became his 21st Top Ten country album. His memoir, Luck or Something Like It (2012), made the New York Times Best Seller list.

Rogers was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013 and received the CMA Lifetime Achievement Award the same year, but he shows no signs of slowing down. In 2013, he released his latest album, You Can’t Make Old Friends, and the title cut, a duet with Parton, earned the pair their third Grammy nomination. Rogers is currently performing on his Through the Years World Tour, which has included performances at such popular festivals as Bonnaroo, Stagecoach and Britain’s Glastonbury Festival.

Kenny Rogers: Through the Years will be accompanied by an ongoing series of programs throughout the exhibit’s duration.

APA NASHVILLE HONORS LEE GREENWOOD

Greenwood celebrates Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum spotlight exhibit,
30th Anniversary of "God Bless The USA" and 2013 CMA Music Festival performance

 

Pictured (from L-R):
APA Nashville's Steve Lassiter, Lee Greenwood's manager Jerry Bentley, Lee Greenwood, Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum Director Kyle Young, APA Nashville's Bonnie Sugarman and Ray Shelide

Nashville, Tenn. (May 13, 2013) -- APA Nashville salutes Lee Greenwood upon the opening of the country music legend’s spotlight exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum, the 30th anniversary of his iconic heartfelt anthem, "God Bless The USA," and his return to CMA Music Festival with a performance in June. The Lee Greenwood: American Patriot spotlight exhibit, which opened last Friday at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and will run through April 25, 2014, is housed within the museum's permanent third floor exhibit and will feature Greenwood’s personal costumes and memorabilia spanning the 50 years of his extraordinary career.

Greenwood's work with the armed forces includes more than 30 USO tours, which resulted in his being honored with the prestigious National Patriot’s Award presented by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. In November 2008, President George W. Bush appointed Lee to a six-year term as a council member on the National Endowment for the Arts.

"Lee is an American musical icon," commented APA Nashville’s Steve Lassiter. "His talents, integrity and unwavering commitment to our military, both active and retired, is nothing less than stellar."

Greenwood is also celebrating the 30th anniversary of his signature song, "God Bless The USA," which became a Top 10 Country hit in 1984, earning him the CMA Song of the Year Award in 1985. Produced by Jerry Crutchfield, this American tribute to patriotism remains one of our country's most popular and recognizable anthems.

As he continues to tour on a regular basis, Greenwood will return to the CMA Music Festival next month with a performance on Sunday evening, June 9, at LP Field.