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2006 Museum Events
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Cuero State Bank Exhibit
"Grand Ole Opry"
In 1925, the Grand Ole Opry, an American institution and the longest
radio show in the country, began broadcasting on WSM, radio station
of the National Life and Accident Insurance Company. The idea was to
broadcast a radio show of old-time music performed by amateur musicians
as a way of promoting the insurance company in and around Nashville.
The show, still broadcast today on WSM, grew to become the radio home
of some of the most prominent and influential artists in the country
music genre and an important and enduring chapter of radio history.
Grand Ole Opry, which opened January 6, 2006 in the lobby of
Cuero State Bank, was an exhibition featuring thirty photographs taken
by Gordon Gillingham, a commercial photographer hired to photograph
the Opry between 1952 and 1960.
These images documented the radio show and the country music business
during the zenith of country music's postwar boom, and wonderfully
captured the spirit, energy, camaraderie, and sheer joy of performing
that permeated both musicians and fans of the Opry in its heyday.
The exhibit was on display during regular banking days and hours,
and was open to the public and free of charge from January 6 to February
23, 2006.
Photographer Gordon Gillingham showed us Grand Ole Opry legends such as
Minnie Pearl, Chet Atkins, and Little Jimmy Dickens. He also captured
many Texas artists as well, such as Tex Ritter, Buck Owens, Ernest Tubb,
George Jones, Ray Price, Moon Mullican, and Jim Reeves. But Gillingham
didn't stop taking pictures at the stage door. He turned his lens backstage,
on rehearsals, and on the audience and fans of the Opry. Although the
Grand Ole Opry's broadcast range has grown over the years and the show
became more professional, it never lost the spontaneous, down-home
flavor portrayed in these photographs.
Grand Ole Opry was curated by Brenda Colladay, curator of the
Grand Ole Opry Museum in Nashville. The exhibition was organized by
the Grand Ole Opry and toured by
ExhibitsUSA.
The purpose of
ExhibitsUSA
is to create access to an array of arts and humanities exhibitions,
nurture the development and understanding of diverse art forms and
cultures, and encourage the expanding depth and breadth of cultural
life in local communities.
ExhibitsUSA
is a national division of
Mid-America Arts Alliance,
a private, non-profit organization founded in 1972.
The Hands-on Experiential Learning Project (HELP),
is a four-year project specifically designed to assist small and mid-size museums
in Texas with professional development.
HELP,
a program of
Mid-America Arts Alliance
in partnership with the
Texas Association of Museums,
is made possible through the combined vision and generosity of
The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston; The Don and Sybil Harrington Foundation;
Houston Endowment, Inc.; The Meadows Foundation; the
Texas Commission on the Arts;
and the
Institute of Museum and Library Services,
a federal agency that fosters innovation, leadership, and a lifetime of learning.
This exhibit as made possible by
Texas HELP,
a program of
Mid-America Art Alliance
in partnership with the
Texas Association of Museums.
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