Nashville's Live R&B Scene
In Nashville, live rhythm & blues shook the floorboards at venues that included everything from nightclub gambling joints to the otherwise staid War Memorial Auditorium. A major stop on the southern touring circuit, Nashville routinely drew the top R&B acts of the day while nurturing the city's finest homegrown talent.
During the 1950s, R&B package shows often played large Nashville venues such as the Ryman Auditorium and the Sulphur Dell baseball stadium. This program is from a 1955 R&B extravaganza at the Ryman.
These star galas drew R&B's growing white fan base as well as its black, but 'Jim Crow' segregation dictated the two races be kept apart. Here the Five Satins perform at War Memorial Auditorium at a 9:30 performance for whites only. Organized protest at Nashville lunch counters in 1960 would help bring the Jim Crow era to an end.
"That's where I learned to play really...Nashville." - Jimi Hendrix
House Acts
Many of the Nashville R&B clubs featured house acts who might play on a weekly basis for months or years on end when not performing out of town. Indeed, theirs is a street-level story of fame and musical impact rarely reflected in the charts and record sales to which music history is often reduced.
Earl Gaines (far right) played the Ryman Auditorium with the Top Ten Revue of 1955. Here's he's seen at Nashville's Sugar Hill club with a backing band.
At Club Stealaway, vocal trio Frank Howard & the Commanders sang Wednesday nights from nine until one in the morning.
Curry later had a hit with "She Shot a Hole in My Soul," written by his bandmate Mac Gayden. Pictured here is Curry with Gayden (far right), Buzz Cason, and Wade Conklin performing at Nashville's Centennial Park.
Blowing Through Town
Because of its central location in the heart of the mid-South, Nashville saw virtually every major R&B act of the time step across its stages. Whether it was the Club Baron on Jefferson, the old Sulphur Dell baseball park, or the New Era Club, out-of-town acts generally enjoyed good crowds in Music City.
One of many Memphis musicians drawn to Nashville to study at Tennessee State University, saxophonist Hank Crawford led an R&B group called Little Hank & the Rhythm Kings that often played the Subway Lounge in Printer's Alley.
After Ray Charles hired Crawford, the saxophonist's first return trip to Nashville with Charles's band was for the gig pictured here at local venue Maceo's.
Nashville's R&B Television
Following through on the success of its black radio programs, Music City produced two extraordinary syndicated R&B TV shows, Night Train and The !!!! Beat. Both featured some of Nashville's best R&B musicians backing some of the city's finest singers and out-of-town stars such as Otis Redding and Percy Sledge. "Night Train," said host Noble Blackwell, pictured here, "offered a good...entertainment vehicle. We had very good artists, and of course it highlighted the local artists who were very talented, and a lot of hard work went into it...."
Produced at WLAC-TV in Nashville, Night Train debuted in October 1964. The show boasted a house band led by musical director Bob Holmes and showcasing the fiery blues licks of Johnny Jones.
Nashville talents such as Jimmy Church, the Spidells, the Hytones, and the Avons were regulars, and Jimi Hendrix appeared on Night Train while he was still just a backing guitarist.
Pictured here is the poster on display in the exhibit gallery (far right). Also on display in this case are Jimi Hendrix's vest and amplifier, and Billy Cox's bass guitar.
A little over a year after Night Train, the color TV extravaganza The !!!! Beat made its debut on nationally syndicated television. Hosted by WLAC's Hoss Allen, the show featured Nashville-based musicians, with the addition of guitarist-bandleader Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown.
The Country Connection
Beginning in the 1920s, many record companies divided their blues and country recordings into 'race' and 'hillbilly' series. In reality these musicians shared many themes and instruments, and blues and country musicians historically learned much from one another's styles and songs. Such musical exchanges carried through to the stages and studios of post-war Nashville.
As put by Nashville native Bobby Hebb, who graced the stages of both the Bijou Theater and the Grand Ole Opry (seen here), "It was very important that one understood more than one culture of music."
Hebb's career began with his family's "Kitchen Cabinet Orchestra," pictured here in 1942. Bobby joined Roy Acuff's Grand Ole Opry troupe at age twelve.
In the 1960s, country producer Shelby Singleton (left) brought R&B stars Ruth Brown and Clyde McPhatter (right, with Singleton's wife Margie at center) to Nashville to record on Music Row.
Tex and Killen worked together in Nashville studios throughout the 1960s.
Jimmy Sweeney (standing center here) held recording sessions with several of Music City's elite session players: (left to right) guitarist Hank Garland, bassist Floyd 'Lightnin'' Chance, songwriter Boudleaux Bryant, and pianist Floyd Cramer.
R&B's Legacy and Lament
By the late 1960s, R&B had changed America in profound ways. Black artists routinely topped the pop charts, while white musicians raised on R&B dominated the record industry. To many these changes reflected the triumph of the integrationist ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Others viewed the absorption of black-originated styles into white music as one more form of racial injustice.
In Nashville, urban change took its toll on the black entertainment districts, leaving behind interstate highways and musicians with even fewer jobs. A federally funded urban renewal project in the 1950s did away with most of the black commercial district centered on Fourth Avenue North. The arrival of the interstate a decade later had a similar impact on Jefferson Street. In 1957, the Bijou Theater (visible in the background here) gave way to the wrecking ball.
In 1967, Robert Knight scored a crossover hit with the original, Nashville-recorded version of "Everlasting Love." The song has since delighted new and wide-ranging audiences through renditions by Carl Carlton (1974), U2 (1989), and Gloria Estefan (1994), among numerous others. Through such timeless songs, Nashville still really jumps.
The Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues exhibit was on display at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum from March 27, 2004 - December 31, 2005.
The exhibit included photos, posters, and other artifacts from the era.
Video clips from Night Train and The !!!! Beat performances also accompanied the exhibit.
A view of the exhibit panels and video clips telling the story of Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues.
Another view of panels, photos, and artifacts on display in the Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues exhibit.
The exhibit mapped the black entertainment districts that gave rise to Nashville's distinctive R&B sound.
The exhibit also featured interactive stations where visitors could explore recording histories and biographies of Nashville R&B artists.
Through these interactives, along with the recordings, video clips, panels, posters, photos, and artifacts, Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues gave visitors ample opportunity to engage with an important part of music history.