Cowboy Jack Clement acquired this 1952 Gibson SJ-200 when he was in the Marine Corps, and played it on recordings including Johnny Cash’s “Big River” and “Ring of Fire.” He also used it to write classics, such as Cash’s 1958 song “Guess Things Happen That Way,” and Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton’s 1969 hit “Just Someone I Used to Know.”
Photo: Bob Delevante, courtesy Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum
Utility shirt worn by Army Captain and Airborne Ranger Kris Kristofferson, who resigned his commission in 1965 and moved to Nashville to pursue professional songwriting.
Photo: Bob Delevante, courtesy Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum
Left to right: Shel Silverstein, Bob Beckham, Kris Kristofferson, and Chris Gantry, c. 1970.
Photo: credit tk
Photo: Courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Nashville’s Lower Broadway, circa 1975.
Photo: Leonard Kamsler, courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Kyle Lehning—a producer who worked with Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Randy Travis, and many more artists—helms the control board at a Glaser Studios session in November 1975 in Nashville.
Photo: Leonard Kamsler, courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Willie Nelson gave Bobby Bare this hat—embellished with a mink skull, gemstone, feathers, and snake skin—in the early 1970s.
Photo: Bob Delevante, courtesy Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum
Photo: Leonard Kamsler, courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Nashville radio personality Roger “Captain Midnight” Schutt at Hillbilly Central, 1976.
Photo: Leonard Kamsler, courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Waylon Jennings and Jessi Coulter backstage at the Circle Theater in San Jose, California, in May, 1976.
Photo: Leonard Kamsler, courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Leather-bound folio containing handwritten lyrics and notes by Waylon Jennings.
Photo: Bob Delevante, courtesy Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum
Photo: Leonard Kamsler, courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings at Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic, 1978.
Photo: Leonard Kamsler, courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Jessi Colter at Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic, 1978.
Photo: Leonard Kamsler, courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Audience at Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic, 1978.
Photo: Leonard Kamsler, courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Kris Kristofferson at Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic, 1978.
Photo: Leonard Kamsler, courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Photo: Leonard Kamsler, courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
