NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s Vice President of Creative, Warren Denney, will retire at the end of the year after more than 18 years of service to the organization.
Denney oversees the museum’s creative department, which fulfills the comprehensive creative needs for the institution. His responsibilities include artistic direction and design support for all exhibitions, education and marketing initiatives, as well as books published by the museum’s CMF Press and records produced by CMF Records. He also supervises the museum’s video production, photography and digital content creation, including for the museum’s public programs and other events.
“Throughout his tenure, Warren grew the museum’s video, design and digital content efforts into an award-winning creative arm, forging an artistic vision for the museum that will resonate well into the future,” said Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “Beyond his talents as a visual artist and writer, he has a deep understanding and passion for this music and our museum’s educational mission that is felt in nearly everything we do.”
Denney joined the museum in 2007 as a creative manager and senior production manager. He took the reins of the creative department in 2009 and became a key partner in the creation of exhibitions in partnership with the museum services team. Serving as a “jack of all trades,” he produced primary exhibit looks; contributed writing and original content; and aided in directing and producing exhibit-related programs.
He forged innovative collaborations to create signature images for the museum’s major exhibitions, including engaging acclaimed artists Jon Langford (Dylan, Cash, and the Nashville Cats: A New Music City) and Jim Franklin and a cadre of Texas-based psychedelic poster artists (Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ’70s). He also provided artistic oversight and played a key role in a host of other major exhibitions, including Family Tradition: The Williams Family Legacy, Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock and the upcoming Muscle Shoals: Low Rhythm Rising.
Denney co-directed Big Night (At the Museum) a 90-minute feature film in 2020, which earned a Silver Muse Award from the American Association of Museums for best video production and multiple Telly Awards. He also led art direction for From Where I Stand: The Black Experience in Country Music, an expanded box set by the museum and Warner Music Nashville released in 2024. The set featured the traditional quilt designs by the women of the Gee’s Bend community of Alabama.
In addition to writing for the museum, he is a journalist and feature writer, primarily contributing to the Nashville Musician and the Nashvillian. He’s also written for the Tennessean, Guitar Player, Metro Music Monthly and Bone Music Magazine. Before joining the museum, Denney worked as a managing editor for Athlon sports publications. He has a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from Fairleigh Dickinson University and an undergraduate degree in journalism. He is also a fiction writer, poet and songwriter. A Nashville native, he is married to singer Tomi Lunsford.
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 countrymusichalloffame.org or by calling (615) 416-2001.
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