By the late ’70s, tourism as an automatic source of revenue was over.We had to worry about funding like any other cultural nonprofit. —Bill Ivey The atmosphere of music and academic research that Ivey fostered hooked Kyle Young when he began working at the Hall of Fame in the spring of 1976. “There were academic discussions about music constantly going on,” Young says. “Everybody was consumed by music. Doug Green, who was in charge of the oral history project, was also auditioning people for the band that would become Riders in the Sky. On Friday afternoons, Ivey, who was a great guitar player, and other guitar players would gather in the reading room in the library and play and talk about music.” Folklorist and music journalist Jay Orr discovered the same intoxicating atmosphere of music and knowledge when he joined the museum in 1983. “The library was like a crossroads,” says Orr, who left the museum in 1989 to work for the Nashville Banner, and later CMT.com, before returning in 2002. “If you went from one part of the office to another, you crossed the library and you would run into researchers who were doing interesting things. Alan Stoker had his audio restoration studio at the back of the library. So you would hear Hank Williams with just his guitar over and over again as Alan worked to get the clicks and pops out of the recordings. I worked the reference desk, and we would get calls from all over the world asking what was the No. 1 country hit in 1954 or whatever. You could not help but learn a lot from being there.”
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s the museum’s stature as a research and academic organization continued to grow, the staff began to experience fundraising challenges as well as space issues. The financially flush early years faded as economic downturns, rising gas prices, and competing tourist attractions nibbled away at the museum’s attendance. Fortunately, Ivey’s business savvy kept the museum afloat. “By the late ’70s, tourism as an automatic source of revenue was over,” Ivey explains. “We had to worry about funding like any other
cultural nonprofit. It stayed that way for a long time. At one point in the ’80s, we desperately needed a small cash flow loan of $55,000 to make payrolls. We already owed First American National Bank some money, and we were working with a loan officer who was trying to be a tough guy. I got the word that he was going to turn down our loan. I went down the street to Brian Williams, who had just opened a new Commerce Union office on Music Row, and told him I wanted to move our banking, but we needed this loan. He agreed, so when I met with the First American loan officer, I said, ‘Before you start, we’re moving everything to Commerce Union. Thank you for all the help you’ve given us through the years,’ and walked out on him. I sounded tough, but it was actually a move of desperation.”
Along with cash flow problems, space — or lack thereof — continued to be an issue. Building expansions in 1977 and 1984 increased exhibit and meeting space, allowing in-depth rotating exhibits and an education program focused on local schools, but “if we only had more room” became a constant refrain for the museum’s staff. When the Hall received accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums in 1987, the wish became more urgent. Young worked his way up through various positions and recalls the intense desire to give back to the city responsible for creating the Hall. “We desperately needed more space to really become a part of the community, rather than just this odd attraction on Music Row that you wanted to avoid during Fan Fair week →
HAPPY TOMATO FEST FROM LOCKELAND TABLE
thanks for five wonderful years! →
July | August 2017 THEEASTNASHVILLIAN.COM
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