NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum recently unveiled a new photography exhibition, Writers, Pickers and Stars: The Photography of Ed Rode. The exhibit features photographs from Rode’s 2024 book, “Songwriter Musician: Behind the Curtain with Nashville’s Iconic Storytellers and Players.” The exhibit is free and will be open to the public through July 2026 in the museum’s first-floor gallery.
The book is the culmination of decades of stories captured on film: playing snooker with John Prine, celebrating Mardi Gras in New Orleans with Brad Paisley, traversing Tennessee with Ketch Secor, and more. The idea for the book was inspired by a 1991 photo Rode took of Country Music Hall of Fame member Chet Atkins, whom Rode met shortly after moving to Nashville in 1990.
Select photographs on display include:
- Country Music Hall of Fame member Chet Atkins in his Nashville office (1991)
- John Prine at Nashville’s Melrose Billiard Parlor (1994)
- Country Music Hall of Fame member Willie Nelson on his tour bus outside Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House (1995)
- The Chicks at Nashville’s Westwood Studios (1999)
- Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown onstage at Atlanta’s Variety Playhouse (2005)
- Country Music Hall of Fame members Cowboy Jack Clement and Kris Kristofferson in Nashville’s Green Hills neighborhood (2011)
- Country Music Hall of Fame member Loretta Lynn on Nashville’s Music Row (2018)
- Keb’ Mo’ in his Nashville home studio (2021)
- Rhiannon Giddens at Nashville’s Noelle hotel (2023)
- Country Music Hall of Fame member Vince Gill at his Nashville home studio (2023)
About the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum:
The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum collects, preserves and interprets country music and its history for the education and entertainment of diverse audiences. In exhibitions, publications, digital media and educational programs, the museum explores the cultural importance and enduring beauty of the art form. Among the most-visited history museums in the United States, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum was awarded the country’s highest honor in the arts, the National Medal of Arts, in 2024. Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the museum is operated by the Country Music Foundation, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization chartered by the state of Tennessee in 1964. The Country Music Foundation operates Historic RCA Studio B®, Hatch Show Print® poster shop, Haley Gallery, CMA Theater, CMF Records, the Frist Library and Archive and CMF Press. Museum programs are supported in part by Metro Arts and Tennessee Arts Commission.
More information about the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is available at www.countrymusichalloffame.org or by calling (615) 416-2001.
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