Bill Anderson Opens New Country Music Hall of Fame Exhibit [Pics]

Bill Anderson is the subject of a new exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and a number of his celebrity friends and fans were on hand to help launch the exhibit at a special event in downtown Nashville on Thursday night (Dec. 2).

Titled Bill Anderson: As Far as I Can See, the new exhibit traces Anderson’s life and career from his early years in Georgia, where he got his start as a baseball pitcher and sportswriter in high school, through his college stint as a disc jockey and into his career in Nashville, which has landed him decades’ worth of hits both as an artist and as a songwriter for other artists.

Among Anderson’s best-known songs are classics including “Once a Day,” “The Lord Knows I’m Drinking,” “City Lights” and many more classics from the ’60s and ’70s. He later reinvented himself as one of the elder statesmen of country music, collaborating with and writing songs for younger generations of country artists who include Vince Gill, Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Steve Wariner and many more.

As Far as I Can See includes a number of items that trace Anderson’s personal life and career, including an early baseball glove and typewriter, as well as a guitar he frequently used onstage in and his songwriting, stage clothing, awards, handwritten song lyrics and more.

Trisha Yearwood, Gill, Jon Randall and Carly Pearce were all on hand at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Thursday evening for a press reception to launch the exhibit, and each of them took the opportunity to perform one of Anderson’s best-known songs. Yearwood sang “Once a Day,” one of Anderson’s early hits, which gave Connie Smith a No. 1 single in 1964, launching her career.

Gill chose to perform “Which Bridge to Cross (Which Bridge to Burn),” which he co-wrote with Anderson and released in 1995. It became a No. 4 hit, helping to reignite Anderson’s songwriting career and make him relevant to a new generation. Randall and Pearce gave a joint rendition of “Whiskey Lullaby,” which Randall co-wrote with Anderson. That song became one of the most successful of Anderson’s entire career, taking home Song of the Year honors at the CMA Awards after Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss released it to radio in 2004.

Bill Anderson: As Far as I Can See runs through March 19, 2023, at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Scroll through the photos below to see some of the highlights of the exhibit, as well as its opening night.