PRESS RELEASE

 

ABBEVILLE PRESS TO PUBLISH BOOK FEATURING ICONIC ARTIFACTS AND IMAGES FROM THE COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME® AND MUSEUM’S COLLECTION

NEW YORK, NY – June 3, 2026 – Abbeville Press and the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum have collaborated to publish a new, lavishly illustrated book showcasing iconic artifacts, rare documents and images from the museum’s collection. Treasures of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (Abbeville Press) tells the story of country music through the objects and artists that define it, spanning its pre-commercial roots to the present day. The book will be available beginning Tuesday, Sept. 29, in bookstores nationwide and other retail outlets. Preorders are available through the museum's store online and retailers such as Amazon and Bookshop.org.

 

Published in an oversize square format the size of an LP jacket, the book includes vibrant photographs that bring readers up close to many of the music’s most important artifacts, as well as lively narrative by the museum’s staff of historians and writers. It is edited by the museum’s Senior Director of Editorial Paul Kingsbury and features a foreword by Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer, producer and songwriter T Bone Burnett.

 

“The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum is an archeological exploration into a unique music that has been developed in this country and its crucial contribution to the soul of this country,” writes Burnett. “Since 1967, the museum has been telling the story of our country principally through the subjects of the photographs you see in this book — treasures of country music — which were once the instruments and implements that working-class people used to turn their sorrows and joys into song.”

 

Some artists and artifacts featured include:

• DeFord Bailey – Hohner Marine Band harmonica and his home-made megaphone to amplify his sound. Bailey was an influential harmonica player and country music’s first Black star.
• Maybelle Carter – the 1928 Gibson L-5 arch-top guitar, which she played throughout most of her career.
• Bill Monroe – the Gibson F-5 Master Model the “Father of Bluegrass” played almost his entire career. It was built in 1923 by Gibson’s legendary acoustic engineer, Lloyd Loar.
• Earl Scruggs – 1930 Gibson RB-Granada Mastertone five-string banjo, acquired in a 1949 trade with fellow bluegrass star Don Reno, and which became Scruggs’ main instrument.
• Rose Maddox – three-piece, heavily embroidered red-and-yellow cowgirl outfit, designed by Nathan Turk.
• Johnny Cash – the first black suit worn onstage by “The Man in Black,” which features silver trim sewn on by his mother, c. 1955.
• Minnie Pearl – the thrift-store straw hat with plastic flowers and a dangling price tag she wore at the Grand Ole Opry.

·         Hank Williams – original two-page, handwritten (with his corrections) song manuscript for “I Saw the Light” from 1947.

·         Dolly Parton – her early, handwritten draft of the lyrics to her 1973 #1 hit “Jolene.”

• Gram Parsons – “Nudie suit” with embroidered marijuana leaves, pills, poppies, and a cross on the back, which he wore on the cover of the Flying Burrito Brothers’ debut album, The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969).
• Emmylou Harris – embroidered and fringed tunic with blue jeans, which she wore on the cover of her 1975 album Elite Hotel.
• Charley Pride – the 1967 Fender Coronado II hollow-body electric guitar with distinctive “Antigua” sunburst finish, which he used extensively in the 1960s and ’70s.
• Garth Brooks – striped Panhandle Slim western shirt, which he wore on the cover of his breakthrough, eighteen-times platinum album, No Fences (1990).
• Shania Twain – Marc Bouwer-designed pink Ultrasuede outfit with matching hat and gloves, which she wore for her performance at the 1999 CMA Awards.
• Jelly Roll – custom-made patchwork denim jacket, which he wore during his 2022 concert at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.
• Lainey Wilson - Lindsey Thornburg-designed silk halter top and pants worn by Wilson when she made her acting debut as Abby in Season Five of the television series “Yellowstone.”

 

The 348-page book also features a selection of rare posters, publicity photos and behind-the-scenes snapshots to bring the personalities of country music to life. Other special features include biographies of all the members of the Country Music Hall of Fame and a curated playlist for every era of country music.

 

"Abbeville Press is honored to have the opportunity to partner with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and celebrate their extraordinary collection, sharing the stories and artifacts that have shaped country music and inspired generations of artists and fans,” said Cynthia Vance-Abrams, President. “We’re delighted to bring these treasures from their home in ‘Music City’ to country music lovers everywhere with this richly illustrated and giftable volume."

 

The nonprofit Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum has been called the “Smithsonian of country music,” recognized for its unrivaled collection of historically important artifacts, changing exhibits and educational programs. Its collection holds more than 500 historic instruments, 2,000 stage costumes, 300,000 records, 500,000 photographs and more. Many items are on display and rotated regularly as part of the museum’s permanent exhibition Sing Me Back Home: A Journey Through Country Music. Read more about the museum’s collection.

 

FOR MEDIA: Download photos of artifacts and the book cover here (Artifact photos by Bob Delevante for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum).

 

Contacts:
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Jeremy Rush – jrush@countrymusichalloffame.org

Abbeville Press
Colette Laroya – claroya@abbeville.com

 

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. More information about the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum is available at www.countrymusichalloffame.org.

About Abbeville Press:
Founded in 1977 by Harry N. Abrams and Robert E. Abrams, Abbeville Press is an independent publisher of fine art and illustrated books. Abbeville’s books are distributed to the trade by W. W. Norton in North America and ACC Art Books elsewhere in the world. The Abbeville publishing program encompasses the oversize art books for which the imprint is best known; art, photography, and lifestyle books in a variety of smaller formats; select gift items and paper goods of the highest quality; and select children’s nonfiction series. See the entire catalog online at www.abbeville.com.

 

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Celebrate Earth Day with Baobab

You can help make a difference this Earth Day by supporting Health in Harmony, an international non-profit dedicated to reversing rainforest deforestation to halt global warming and support local communities. Abbeville Press, in partnership with author Beth Moon and Health in Harmony, will donate a portion of the proceeds from signed copies of Baobab purchased through Earth Day, April 22^nd.

Order a signed copy of Baobab

Baobab is a collection of stunning—and at times devastating—portraits of Africa’s renown “tree of life” from noted photographer Beth Moon (Ancient Trees). And these ancient giants earn that name, as they provide a renewable source of food, fiber, and fuel, as well as a focus of spiritual life. The oldest baobabs have been carbon-dated to be more than 2,000 years old, but now the largest trees are dying off. Their massive, water-storing trunks have been dehydrated by drought and higher temperatures—they literally collapse under their own weight, the splintered wreckage spanning the length of a football field. 

Moon’s photos take us on a journey to document these endangered natural wonders, from Madagascar to Botswana, South Africa, and Senegal. In this oversize volume, she presents breathtaking new duotone tree portraits alongside a moving diaristic text studded with color travel photos. Baobab also includes an essay by Adrian Patrut, leader of a research team that has studied Africa's largest baobabs and alerted the world to the threat these majestic trees are facing.

Health in Harmony (HIH) was founded in 2007 by Dr. Kinari Webb, in response to the devastation she saw in the rainforests of Borneo, Indonesia. The HIH model recognizes the inextricable link between human and environmental health by focusing on the nexus between healthcare and protection of natural resources using our unique “Radical Listening” approach. “Radical Listening” involves local communities in designing and sustaining solutions, which honors and incorporates collective community knowledge, as well as building trust and improving likelihood of future success. HIH is currently on the ground in Madagascar supporting coastal villages that were destroyed by Cyclones Batsirai and Emnati in February 2022, further hardship on a region that has been documented as experiencing the first famine caused solely by climate change. Our forests are essential to our survival, and HIH seeks solutions that address the root causes of tropical forest degradation and support historically marginalized communities on the frontlines of climate change.

Health In Harmony is registered as a 501(c)(3) organization. Contributions are tax deductible in the U.S. to the extent permitted by law. Health in Harmony's tax ID number is 20-3741107. To contact HIH or donate directly, please see their website for more information.

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