Nashville and country music’s histories are nearly inextricable. Since 1925, when the National Life and Accident Insurance Co. built radio station WSM and began broadcasting the WSM Barn Dance (it was renamed The Grand Ole Opry two years later), thousands of aspiring country, bluegrass and folk musicians have ventured to Nashville to stake their claim and added to the fabric of the city’s rich musical tapestry.
Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash and countless others who built Nashville’s musical pipeline are now enshrined in the Country Music Hall of Fame, a treasure trove of exhibits, recorded music, oral histories and artifacts that presents the story of the “pickers,” singers and personalities who have so poetically enmeshed storytelling and musicianship for the enjoyment of millions.
Numerous corporations, organizations and individuals lent their support to the Hall of Fame’s mission, and their gratitude is commemorated on a concave, 17.5 x 65-ft. donor wall. Tuck Hinton, who served as the architect for the facility’s most recent expansion, and Tolleson McCoy (Nashville), an environment-graphic-design firm, devised the program; Hatch Show Print, also of Nashville, developed the typography and graphics using old-style, wood-block fluorishes and metal type. The art was scanned and sized. Allegheny Millwork constructed the wall and sign-blank panels.
Tolleson McCoy enlisted ARTfx (Bloomfield, CT) to decorate the panels. Tolleson McCoy sized and color-corrected the photos using Corel Photo Paint software before submitting them to ARTfx. The ¾-in.-thick, particle-board panels were laminated with maple veneer, treated with alcohol, and sanded and stained with Zar Modern Walnut 115 oil-based stain.
After having applied a catalyzed-urethane clearcoat to the surface and allowing it to cure, the shop printed the panel decals with Orafol Orajet 3951 clear, cast vinyl on an Epson Stylus Pro GS 6000 eight-color printer with a single-pass, bidirectional profile. The shop then coated the panels with three layers of Akzo Nobel low-luster Grip-Gard Plus clearcoat, with the surface sanded smooth between coats. Allegheny Millwork painted the panels’ edges onsite with solid-body, latex-stain, and hung them with a magnetic-cleat system.