Music City Walk of Fame… My Dream Becomes A Reality!

Okay, here’s what I get for slacking…

I wrote an article about our need for a Country Music Walk of Fame 9 months ago, but I never posted it.

I don’t know why. I guess I was afraid I hadn’t thought out all of the details thoroughly enough. (As if I were the one who’d ultimately be responsible for the creation of such a park, and then its ongoing operation!)

That, and I didn’t want to embarrass myself by starting a conversation about something that I truly had no experience with. I was just more or less sharing some random thoughts… something I rarely do here. I generally try to get enough research & facts behind me to support my theories before I start writing about them.

Anyhoo…

I guess my idea was a good one, because I see there is now a Music City Walk of Fame in the works here in Nashville!

Here’s the scoop…

 

The Music City Walk of Fame will feature permanent sidewalk medallions with each honoree’s name. The inductions will be open to all singers, musicians, songwriters, producers and music industry executives/contributors who have played a significant role in preserving the musical heritage that is Nashville and have contributed to the world through song or other industry collaboration.

Inductees will be announced throughout the year and honored at a special ceremony with the permanent platinum and granite star and guitar plaque. The Music City Walk of Fame will begin at the Hall of Fame Park and proceed down the newly named Music Mile (from Schermerhorn Symphony Center to Music Row on Demonbreun Street). — Source

 

You can even sign up to receive email updates and be among the first to know about the next Walk of Fame ceremony so you can see the stars in Music City!

 

Just for the heck of it, here’s what I originally wrote but never posted (until now)…

 

Nashville Needs A Music City Walk Of Fame

People love to be in the same viscinity of, touch, or have their picture taken with… a famous person (or a reasonable fascimile).

This has been proven in a number of ways:

1. By the number of “celebrity sites” on the Internet where people post pictures in which they were photographed with their favorite star, as well as memorabilia sites where you can buy anything and everything that someone famous has touched, worn, chewed, sold, owned, or otherwise possessed.

and…

2. By the overwhelming popularity of autograph sessions before and after sporting events, music concerts, book releases, movie releases, festivals, and such.

Okay, so here’s my idea:

I think that Nashville should create a Music City Walk of Fame downtown, modeled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame in California!

• It would boost tourism in this city and state.
• It would increase revenues at the downtown businesses.
• It would memorialize the music stars of today and tomorrow for years to come.
• It would give citizens in the local community an affinity to our great city. Something of to be proud of.
• It would give recognition to the well-known and maybe even some of the not-so-well-known singers (…and dare I say it, maybe we should even include songwriters?!)

I remember walking along the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles years ago. It’s a memory that I will never forget.

The feeling that so many prestigious individuals from yesterday and today had walked that very path and stood on the very spot where I stood was completely surreal. It turned into a day-long activity — having my picture taken standing next to lots of different stars and trying to locate all of my favorites.

A Walk of Fame such as this is glamorous, in a way. At the same time, it’s practical and memorializing — much like the way that a museum (such as the Country Music Hall of Fame) provides enjoyment for generations to come.

I must admit, I don’t much care about the logistics of it all — such as whether the individuals must buy their own star, or whether they must go through some fancy nomination process to ‘earn’ their star on the Music City Walk of Fame or not. I’ll leave that up to “the powers that be” — those who will have to determine how such a project of this magnitude could be afforded and pulled off with the grace and dignity that it deserves.

The point is this:

To have this type of very public tribute honoring what this city is known for — our music — would benefit Nashville and the music industry in oh so many ways!

 

…That’s what I originally wrote on December 11, 2005.

The Music City Walk of Fame was unveiled in the Fall of 2006.

 

Music City Walk Of Fame Photos

I’ve been there several times since then to watch Country music legends get their stars on the Walk of Fame in Nashville.

Here are a few of my photos:

 

  

  

 

  

  

  

top photo via Philip Nelson