PIONEER MUSIC MUSEUM, ANITA, IOWA, USA
We finally got the museum cleaned up from the robbery, at
least enough to get it back open, so that’s exactly what we did. We
still need to do some ceiling repair, as well as the roof, but we’ll get
to that as soon as we can. Lots of our guests at the Oak Tree Opry
went across the street to see the ‘new’ display-additions of Hall of
Famers; Lynn Anderson, Michael Martin Murphey, John Rex Reeves (nephew
of Jim Reeves who will be doing a concert at the Oak Tree later this
year), Charley McCoy (What an incredible harmonica player. He likes to
call it the French Harp, he speaks French fluently, and just returned
from a tour that included a number of concerts in Paris); and a host of
other great traditional and classic country music performers. We are
still distressed that the thieves took Patsy Montana’s guitar, Johnny
Cash’s harmonicas, June Carter’s finger picks, and Tom Swatzell’s
Dobro. It’s just so cruel to break into a museum and take these kind of
wonderful memory items to try to sell and make a few dollars. Wow,
those people must be in bad straits to do that. Anyway, we’ve recovered
as best we can, and still have a lot of other items to put in, like Jim
Ed Brown’s really early LP that he autographed especially to the
museum. He’s got a terrific new CD out, and a single from it “In Style
Again,” which I have forwarded to the Rural Roots Music Commission. This
song sounds like it was written especially for him, and it is soooo
good. We have a little more work to do on the museum, our “Pioneer
Music Museum” sign needs to be re-painted, and we have a crack on the
brick façade that fronts the building that needs to be repaired, and of
course the roof and the ceiling tiles. Any donations or contributions
are of course all tax deductible. Arlyn Lund was asking me the other
day about finding funding for the repairs, asking since I knew so many
people in country music weren’t there some really rich ones that could
help fix the museum. I told him I didn’t know cause I didn’t ask.
Well he said, you should, so there, I am. By the way, his wife Marge
Lund, who does such a good job singing at the Oak Tree, also had her
display photo put up in the museum. Like her, it looks good. Help if
you can. Bob Everhart www.ntcma.net
least enough to get it back open, so that’s exactly what we did. We
still need to do some ceiling repair, as well as the roof, but we’ll get
to that as soon as we can. Lots of our guests at the Oak Tree Opry
went across the street to see the ‘new’ display-additions of Hall of
Famers; Lynn Anderson, Michael Martin Murphey, John Rex Reeves (nephew
of Jim Reeves who will be doing a concert at the Oak Tree later this
year), Charley McCoy (What an incredible harmonica player. He likes to
call it the French Harp, he speaks French fluently, and just returned
from a tour that included a number of concerts in Paris); and a host of
other great traditional and classic country music performers. We are
still distressed that the thieves took Patsy Montana’s guitar, Johnny
Cash’s harmonicas, June Carter’s finger picks, and Tom Swatzell’s
Dobro. It’s just so cruel to break into a museum and take these kind of
wonderful memory items to try to sell and make a few dollars. Wow,
those people must be in bad straits to do that. Anyway, we’ve recovered
as best we can, and still have a lot of other items to put in, like Jim
Ed Brown’s really early LP that he autographed especially to the
museum. He’s got a terrific new CD out, and a single from it “In Style
Again,” which I have forwarded to the Rural Roots Music Commission. This
song sounds like it was written especially for him, and it is soooo
good. We have a little more work to do on the museum, our “Pioneer
Music Museum” sign needs to be re-painted, and we have a crack on the
brick façade that fronts the building that needs to be repaired, and of
course the roof and the ceiling tiles. Any donations or contributions
are of course all tax deductible. Arlyn Lund was asking me the other
day about finding funding for the repairs, asking since I knew so many
people in country music weren’t there some really rich ones that could
help fix the museum. I told him I didn’t know cause I didn’t ask.
Well he said, you should, so there, I am. By the way, his wife Marge
Lund, who does such a good job singing at the Oak Tree, also had her
display photo put up in the museum. Like her, it looks good. Help if
you can. Bob Everhart www.ntcma.net