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"I just found out that my favorite ten drummers are the same guy," says one musician taking the tour. That drummer, of course, would be Hal Blaine, whose pulse America knows from the Ronettes to the Beach Boys to the Byrds and so many in between. Blaine's blue sparkle Ludwig drum kit and worn red stool are on display at the museum, a testament to decades of music making. "What most folks don't understand is just how much these studio musicians contributed," says Chambers. "Usually, the person doing the recording would come in with the lyrics and some simple guitar or piano accompaniment, and the sessions guys would create the arrangements, the introductions, the bridges, all of it." And for small flat fee, whether it took all day or two hours. Among the rare instruments in the museum is Lightnin' Chance's bass, heard on all the early Everly Brothers albums, Conway Twitty's "It's Only Make Believe" and Hank Williams' last recording session, which included "Your Cheatin' Heart." "'Your Cheatin' Heart' was cut on the first take, sung once, and Williams died before he ever played it again," says Chambers. He snakes around and points to the back of bass and shows how Chance added a makeshift snare drum to add percussion in the days when drums were banned from the Grand Ole Opry.  The Musicians Hall of Fame is a tribute to the musicians who recorded all the great music behind closed doors, says founder Joe Chambers. Set in a display case, Pete Drake's steel guitars glow, the same ones heard on Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" and George Harrison's album All Things Must Pass, as well as most of George Jones & Tammy Wynette country classics. Chambers also built a set of teaching studios so the Nashville session musicians have a place to make some added income by teaching local students. And as part of the living museum, he's built a bank of recording studios with one-way mirrors so the museum visitors can actually see and hear first-hand what an actual recording session really is. Sitting down at a mixing board, one salvaged from Studio B, Chambers almost channels the sessions when Patsy Cline cut "I Fall To Pieces" and "Crazy." "We might have some friendly ghosts in here," he says. The Musicians Hall Of Fame and Museum is located at 301 6th Ave South, in the heart of downtown Nashville, two blocks off Broadway behind Nashville Arena and one block west across from the Country Music Hall of Fame. www.musicanshalloffame.com Hall of Fame Magazine editor John Budris reported for the nation's most prestigious publications. You can contact him at
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