SPOTLIGHT: CRYSTAL GAYLE WHEN I DREAM

CRYSTAL GAYLE: WHEN I DREAM

 SPOTLIGHT EXHIBIT OPENS MAY 2 AT THE 


COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME® AND MUSEUM 

May 3 Program with Gayle Celebrates Exhibit Opening
 

Nashville, Tenn. (April 29, 2014) – The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum will debut a spotlight exhibit devoted to iconic crossover star Crystal Gayle on May 2, 2014. Crystal Gayle: When I Dream
will feature fashion, awards, letters, family photos and more from her
groundbreaking career. The exhibition will run through November 3,
2014.

On Saturday, May 3, Gayle will participate in a special program, Concert and Conversation: Crystal Gayle.
The 2:30 p.m. presentation, held in the museum’s Ford Theater, is
included with museum admission and free to museum members. Hosted by
Curatorial Director Mick Buck, the interview and performance will allow
Gayle to discuss her life and career and perform songs from her
extensive repertoire. Seating for the program is limited, and program
passes are required for admittance.  The program will be streamed live
on the museum’s website. For complete admission and streaming
information, visit http://countrymusichalloffame.org/calendar/.

Crystal Gayle: When I Dream recounts Gayle’s unique rise to
stardom. She began as a young dreamer emboldened, but nearly
pigeon-holed, by the pioneering success of her older sister Loretta
Lynn. Determined to make her own mark, Gayle grew into a superb vocalist
whose signature glamour and pop-infused hits charmed the entire
country.

The youngest of eight children, Gayle was born Brenda Gail Webb on
January 9, 1951, in Paintsville, Kentucky. Not long thereafter, as the
coal mines closed, her family left Appalachia to find work and moved to
Wabash, Indiana, northeast of Indianapolis. As a child watching her
older sister’s success, Gayle harbored her own musical aspirations.
While still in high school, Gayle performed regionally and sampled life
on the road with Lynn, joining her onstage for a couple of songs. Before
graduating, Gayle signed her first contract with Decca Records, Lynn’s
recording home, and was asked to change her name because one of her
musical heroes, Brenda Lee, was a mainstay on the label. Her adopted
stage name, “Crystal,” was suggested by Lynn as the two drove by a
Krystal hamburger franchise.

In 1974, Gayle, now signed to United Artists Records, began to work
with producer Allen Reynolds, a great song man whose musical instincts
and mentoring perfectly complemented Gayle’s developing vision and
smooth alto. Later that year she scored her first Top Ten hit with
“Wrong Road Again.” Her first #1, “I’ll Get Over You,” followed two
years later, along with another chart-topper, “You Never Miss A Real
Good Thing (Till He Says Goodbye).” In 1977, she became a household name
when “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” perched atop the country charts
for four weeks and climbed the pop charts in America and around the
world.

Gayle enjoyed fifteen additional Billboard #1 hits between 1978 and 1987, including “Talking in Your Sleep” and “It’s Like We Never Said Goodbye.” In 1978, her album We Must Believe in Magic
was certified platinum, making her country music’s first female artist
to sell one million units. She also had success singing duets, including
chart-topping hits with Eddie Rabbitt (“You and I”) and Gary Morris
(“Makin’ Up for Lost Time”). Gayle won back-to-back female vocalist
honors from the Academy of Country Music in 1976 and 1977 and from the
Country Music Association in 1977 and 1978. Later, she moved to
different record labels, scoring hits at Columbia, Elektra and Warner
Bros.

For the last twenty years, Gayle has gained acclaim for compelling
specialty recordings, including albums of gospel and children’s music, a
tribute to Hoagy Carmichael, a collection of pop standards, and concert
recordings—all featuring her effortlessly smooth vocals.

Among the artifacts on display in Crystal Gayle: When I Dream are:

  • Hand-stitched valentine Gayle made in the third grade for her mother, Clara
  • Gayle’s custom white microphone, with her name engraved in gold 
  • Red parlor guitar, custom built for Gayle by luthier Danny Ferrington in 1980
  • Photos of teenaged Gayle and her sisters Loretta Lynn and Peggy Sue that hung on their mother’s living room wall
  • LP cover for the soundtrack album to the 1982 film One from the Heart, directed
    by Francis Ford Coppola, featuring Gayle and Tom Waits. The album
    featured Gayle performing solo or as a duet partner with Waits, who
    wrote the songs.
  • Flight suit and boots worn by Gayle on her F-16 flight in 1984
  • 1977 Grammy for Best Female Country Performance, for “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”
  • 1976 ACM Female Vocalist of the Year trophy
  • Marble and crystal Indiana Living Legend award, presented to Gayle in 2005
  • Mattel’s
    Crystal “Eagle” Gayle Air Force Barbie doll, which commemorated both
    her 1984 flight aboard an F-16 fighter and the fiftieth anniversary of
    the U.S. Air Force

Spotlight exhibits supplement themes or aspects of the museum’s core exhibition, Sing Me Back Home: A Journey Through Country Music.
These short-term, informal displays either provide a closer look at a
particular person, group or aspect of country music, or spotlight
recently donated items or special anniversaries. Rotated often,
spotlight exhibits also offer a glimpse into the museum’s unique
collection, which includes recorded discs; historical photographs; films
and videotapes; thousands of posters, books, songbooks, periodicals and
sheet music; personal artifacts such as performers’ instruments,
costumes and accessories; and more.

Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the Country Music Hall of Fame®
and Museum is operated by the Country Music Foundation, a
not-for-profit 501(c)(3) educational organization chartered by the state
of Tennessee in 1964. The museum’s mission is the preservation of the
history of country and related vernacular music rooted in southern
culture. With the same educational mission, the foundation also operates
CMF Records, the museum’s Frist Library and Archive, CMF Press,
Historic RCA Studio B and Hatch Show Print
®.

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