Sonic Landscape Donations
Are you a collector of South-Central Kentucky's music history?
The Kentucky Museum needs your help with our upcoming exhibit! Sonic Landscape explores the diverse genres and styles that made our region - and its hub, Bowling Green - a site of musical exchange and collaboration during the 20th century. Opening in Spring 2025, this exhibit explores the lives and legacies of SOKY's musical talent and the ecosystem - from rivers and railes to record stores and DIY recording studios - that fostered them.
We are seeking artifacts, photographs, posters, documents, and other items related to musicians, venues, radio stations, and the general music scene of Warren, Barren, Allen, Simpson, Butler, Edmondson, Hart, and Metcalfe counties between the 1940s and 2010s.
We are open to contributions from all musicians, venues, radio stations, and the music scene from the 1940s to early 2010s that originated in Warren, Barren, Allen, Simpson, Butler, Edmonson, Hart, and Metcalfe counties.
Photographs of the regional music scene, especially those that show the "active" music scene of performances, jam sessions, record store browsing, recording sessions, radio on-air, etc.
Documents, especially those directly by/from the musicians and venues.
Ephemera, such as posters, flyers, ticket stubs, etc.
3-D objects, such as instruments, costumes, memorabilia, etc. Things that were used/worn by the musicians and/or are from venues, radio stations, and record stores of the region.
Items indirectly associated with the above - such as those used while touring, mementos, scrapbooks / binders, or of personal significance - are welcome for consideration.
We are particularly interested in acquiring items associated with the following musicians:
- Pee Wee King
- Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys
- Merle Travis
- Arnold Schultz
- Kennedy Jones
- Eddie Pennington
- Cousin Emmy (Cynthia May Carver)
- Ernest Hogan
- Everly Brothers
- Sam Bush and New Grass Revival
- Kentucky Headhunters
- Nappy Roots
- Jason and the Scorchers
- Government Cheese
- Howard Carpenter
- Harold Gray (Porter Grainger)
- Ruble Blakely
- Paul "Hucklebuck" Williams
- Henry "Hank" Duncan
- Pete Hampton
We are particularly interested in acquiring items associated with the following venues:
- Quonset Audiotorium of Bowling Green, KY
- Lost River Cave Nite Club
- Iron Skillet / Trotters
- Yellow Hydrant
- Camelot Pickin' Parlor
- The Caribou
- Michael's Pub
- Yankee Doodle's
- Picasso's
- Tidball's
- Rocky's
- Blanton and Chandler's record store
- Record Bar
- Mellow Matt's
- Any radio stations or shows.
- High Street Studios
We are also looking to recreate a DIY recording studio of the 1970s. If you or someone you know has equipment or related objects, please let us know.
How to Donate
Options for contributing to the exhibition include (1) loaning items for us to undertake high-resolution scans with originals returned to the donor and/or (2) long-term loan for the exhibition and/or (3) donation to the Kentucky Museum. How you contribute is up to you.
To offer items, please complete and submit the form below. We will then review and contact you with next steps.
Local music legends, Tommy Starr (at left) and Kenny Lee (blue shirt), work with Kentucky Museum staff to scan ephemera on the South-Central Kentucky music scene.
Some of the links on this page may require additional software to view.