See Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame for Free!

If you’ve never been to the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, now’s the time! There is so much to see and learn about the history of country music and the legends who made it. The best part- it’s free for all us local yokels through January 31st.

Every year during the month of January, the Country Music Hall of Fame invites locals to visit for whatever price they are willing to pay. (The regular price for adults is $29.95.) And you get $10 parking to boot! (In downtown Nashville? Yep.) Sound too good to be true? It isn’t. I did it today! It was my first visit to one of the biggest tourist attractions in my own backyard. Wanna go? Here’s how.

First, let’s define “local”.

To be a “local”, you must live in Davidson County, TN or any of its border counties and be able to prove it.

How do you get free tickets?

Start by visiting the Country Music Hall of Fame “Locals Pay What You Want” promotion page. Book your timed-entry, self-guided tour through January 31st. You will receive a confirmation email. Keep it on your phone or print it. You must provide it when you arrive at the Hall of Fame to pick up your physical tickets. (And your free Hatch Show Print if you’re lucky!)

Yes, the promotion is “Pay What You Want”. I did not want to pay, so it was free. If you want to pay, feel free.

Where do you park?

At the PMC garage across from the Hall of Fame and in front of the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Make sure you take your parking slip with you to the Hall of Fame. Staff at the Will Call desk will validate it for the $10 parking deal.

Then What?

After you pick up your tickets at the Will Call desk, staff will point you toward the elevator where you’ll ride to the 3rd floor to start your tour.

How long does the tour last?

‘Til you get tired, or the cows come home. The place closes at 5:00 PM. I was there for a little over 2 hours and felt like I got a good overview. It would take days to see, hear, and do everything the Hall has to offer.

What will you see?

Three floors and the truth. (A little music humor.)

(Slide left or right to see a few exhibit items.)

There are extensive exhibits on all three floors. Your tour starts on floor 3 with exhibits about the earliest days of country music. This is also where you will find the Hall’s current feature exhibit- Roseanne Cash: Time is a Mirror.

The exhibit timeline progresses as you work your way down to the first floor and ends with the current state of country music. You’ll find out more about Luke Combs than you ever needed to know. (Probably more than his mama needed to know.) There are also exhibits dedicated to other hard-hitting current country artists like Kane Brown, Taylor Swift, and my favorite- Lainey Wilson.

After you’ve completed the exhibit tour, visit the Hall of Fame Rotunda to see all of the bronze plaques honoring country music’s highest achievers. This room was beautifully lit in late afternoon.

The Farewell Tour

Before you leave the Hall of Fame, make sure you check out the Hatch Show Print shop. In my opinion, there’s no better Music City souvenir than a Hatch Show Print poster, and they are cheap! There were a number of larger-sized prints for $10 and a few postcards for just a buck. (There’s an idea. Hatch should have a rack of Buck Owens postcards labeled “A Buck for a buck”. 🤠

There’s a high-falutin’ looking shoppe called Five and Tenn you may want to check out. (They’re “shoppes”, not “shops” when they look this fancy.) I could smell the fancy coming out of this store, so I skipped it. But I’m sure it has some lovely stuff.

Stop by the Hall of Fame’s gift shop, too. There are lots of cool items in there. Overpriced? Yeah, but you did just see the whole museum for free, so…

Encore!

Did you get to see everything, or did you get tired and give up? Come back another day! I was able to book free tickets two days in a row. That was by mistake, but it is allowed.

FAQs

For an hour or two, yes. I can’t see most kids staying content too much longer than that. The Hall does a great job incorporating interactive kid-friendly activities like a coloring/activity table, a Dress Your Star digital paper doll station (very fun), a Seek-and-Find game (at the Guy Clark workshop display), a digital Create Your Own Album Cover station (first floor), and a kiddie recording booth (first floor). There are a few other activities, too.

Yes. For specifics, visit the Hall’s “Accessibility” page.

No. You can take all the photos you want as long as you don’t use a flash, a tripod, or a selfie-stick. (Do people still use selfie-sticks?) You can’t sell your photos, either. (In case you were thinking about making your professional photography debut.)

Yes. You have several options.

• Red Onion – Offers classic cafe fare.

• Bajo Sexto Taco – Sounds like a strip club, but it’s a Mexican cantina.

• Barlines – Upscale honky tonk on the ground floor of the Omni Hotel (across the hall from Hatch Show Print)

*Barlines features fantastic live music. Check the schedule online. Don’t miss Kayla Wass if she’s performing. One of the best female vocalists in Nashville, Kayla can pound out a country song like nobody’s business! (Find Kayla on Instagram- @thekaylawass)

*There is no food or drink allowed in the Country Music Hall of Fame galleries. (Water bottles are okay.)

Side Notes

• After I got home, I found out that residents of Davidson, Robertson, and Sumner Counties can visit the Hall of Fame for free ANYTIME by getting the Community Counts Passport. Check the link for all the deets. The definition of “local” under the “Community Counts” program isn’t as broad as the “Locals Pay What You Want” program, but for those of us who can take advantage of it, we should!
• Be prepared for lots and lots of people to be there on weekends during January. I would suggest booking the earliest tour possible to mitigate the crowds. I still had a great 1:30 PM tour, but I would have liked to linger at each exhibit longer. There’s a lot to absorb!

Special Memory

My husband and I were lucky to meet Ms. Roni Stoneman at a mutual friend’s Christmas party in 2023. Even at 85 years old, she was all entertainer. I remember being a kid and watching her play the part of the nagging housewife on the tv show Hee Haw all through the 1970’s. Ms. Roni was a sweet lady with some kind of a story! And boy, could she ever tell it! She passed away in February 2024, so It was neat to see her recognized in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

From My Library

Do you have any Music City spots you think I should check out? Let me know in the comments. I’m always looking for new ideas!