Nashville, Tenn. – The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will feature items from Grammy Award-winning Ray Stevens in its permanent exhibition Sing Me Back Home: A Journey Through Country Music beginning September 22. The display entitled Ray Stevens: Everything Is Beautiful will celebrate Stevens’ 60 years in country music.
“I am very flattered that the Country Music Hall of Fame has chosen to display some items from my career,” says Stevens. “I can hardly wait to see the items on exhibition myself!”
- Spinet keyboard used by Stevens to compose “Everything Is Beautiful”
- Handwritten studio chart for “Everything Is Beautiful,” with musical notation for rubato, piano, and voice
- Grammy®, Best Contemporary Vocal Performance, Male (1970) for “Everything is Beautiful”
- Grammy®, Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists (1975) for “Misty”
- Nashville Songwriters Association International Hall of Fame induction award (1980)
- Rhinestone-embellished “Coy” fez used in Stevens’ video for “Shriner’s Convention”
Stevens has been burning the candle at both ends as of late. His hit national television show, Ray Stevens CabaRay Nashville, now in its 3rd season, has moved to Public Television and this fall, the country music legend will open the doors to his new Nashville entertainment venue, CabaRay. The 35,000 square foot live music venue will include a 700-seat showroom, a full service kitchen, a piano bar, a gift shop as well as television production and recording studios.
Items on display in the museum’s permanent exhibition, Sing Me Back Home, are updated frequently. These short-term, informal displays provide a closer look at a particular person or special anniversaries. Rotated often, these displays also offer a glimpse into the museum’s unique collection of over 2.5 million artifacts, 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. Recent Sing Me Back Home displays have featured Bob Moore, Keith Whitley and John Anderson.