In their ongoing quest to tell the stories of the music that comes out of this great city, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum examined the advent of rhythm & blues here during the first quarter-century after World War II. It’s a story about a musically rich but little known chapter in the evolution of Nashville as the Music City, and in addition to the well-attended 2004 exhibit, called Night Train to Nashville, the Museum earned a Grammy Award for the two-disc cd that accompanied the exhibit.
Looking back ten years later, the best way to celebrate bringing all of those incredible players under one roof was to do it again, so the Museum partnered with Music City Roots to put on a show at The Factory in Franklin, TN. And any show this great, born in Nashville, must have a poster from Hatch Show Print.
Hand set wood type, for the title of every song the Museum collected to best represent this slice of music history, combined with a glorious split fountain of ink in the shades of a summer sunset, makes for a gorgeous background and, in the moment, a gorgeous press bed:
Sometimes we like our split fountains to be bright and bold through and through, so we lay saturated color next to saturated color and savor the results. Other times, to create a mellower background, two strong colors are softened with a neutral buffer zone; here, the golden yellow and sunset pink meld in the middle in a peachy cream. And please know: Setting this much type is something that always gives us pause.
What better way to finish the poster than with a vintage train block (and more type, of course)?
The evening turned out better than could have been planned – a real party, with stories shared, songs sung, fancy footwork on display, food and drink passed around, and a double encore.
If you want to know more about this chapter in Nashville’s music story, visit the exhibit page for Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues. You can also order the Night Train to Nashville 10th Anniversary Poster, we have a few left. Also check out the Grammy winning CD Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues: 1945 – 1970.