HOF Hosts Concert and Conversation On Journey of Black Music in Nashville

This weekend, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum hosted a free concert and conversation that looked at the evolution of the city’s Black music scene through the point of view of musicians from different generations. The program, “Night Train to Lovenoise: A Generational Journey of Black Music in Nashville,” included a panel discussion with music journalist and Nashville Public Radio’s “Making Noise” series host Jewly Hight; Lovenoise founder Eric Holt; and musicians Frank Howard, Regina McCrary, Joey Richey and Bryant Taylorr. Following the conversation, Levert Allison, Ca$h K, William Davenport, Howard, the McCrary Sisters and Richey performed with a house band led by Elijah “DD” Holt.

While Nashville’s contributions to country music have been documented extensively, the city’s far-reaching rhythm & blues legacy is not as well known. The museum’s current exhibition Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues Revisited explores how Middle Tennessee’s vibrant, pioneering R&B activity played a significant role in building Nashville’s worldwide reputation as “Music City” in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s.

For the past two decades, Lovenoise — a Black-owned concert promotion company — has been working to make room for R&B, soul and hip-hop in Nashville’s live music landscape. A four-part series, “Making Noise,” a joint production by WPLN and WNXP, the sister stations of Nashville Public Radio, recently chronicled Lovenoise’s story and impact.

The program was presented in support of the exhibition Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues Revisited and in partnership with Lovenoise and the National Museum of African American Music.

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