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Country Music Treasures

Discover country music—an American art form with roots in folk and blues—through the Smithsonian's extensive collections. Memorabilia from legendary artists such as Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and Charley Pride showcase the genre’s rich heritage. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings preserves the foundational sounds that shaped country music, as well as its subgenres: bluegrass, cowboy songs, old-time music, and more.


29c Carter Family single

13c Jimmie Rodgers single

Tour Jacket, worn by Willie Nelson

Patsy Cline's Costume

Mother Maybelle and the Carter Family

29c Patsy Cline single

Carson J. Robison's World's Greatest Collection of Mountain Ballads and Old Time Songs

DeFord Bailey

Denim and suede suit jacket and bellbottoms worn by Charley Pride

An Animated Interview with Bluegrass Pioneer Alice Gerrard

Dress worn by Loretta Lynn

EmmyLou Harris

WLS National Barn Dance Cast, October, 1944

Bill Monroe

29c Hank Williams single

Dolly Parton

Loretta Lynn

29c Bob Wills single

George Jones

Willie Nelson

Dom Flemons - "Going Down the Road Feelin' Bad" [Official Music Video]

Country Song Roundup, September 1974

RCA Victor Studio A, Nashville, TN: Places of (Musical) Invention

Merle Haggard

Hank Snow

George Strait

Kitty Wells

Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys - "Little Birdie" [Live at Folklife Festival 2003]

Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings

Roy Acuff

Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner

Nashville Katz (Flatt & Scruggs, Lewis & Clarke Expedition...Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, California, 11/30/67-12/2/67)

Fiddlin' Sid Harkreader

Grandpa Jones and Ramona Jones

Willie Nelson


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