Louisiana State Museum seeks donations to expand LA Music Collection

Buddy Guy, Earl Palmer, Webb Pierce and Clifton Chenier headline Baton Rouge Exhibit

From international and eclectic roots, Louisiana’s diverse languages and voices found a common language in music, creating sounds and performance styles that echo around the world.  Cajun and Zydeco emerged from the state’s southwestern bayous and prairies.  Blues were rooted in cotton fields and turbulent times on the Mississippi River.  Jazz combined from ragtime and tribal influences in New Orleans.  Gospel voices rose from rural cotton fields to church rafters. Neighborhood bars garnished rhythm and blues with funky soul.  Country music, rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll thrived on Shreveport radio waves.  And today young performers create brands of hip-hop and rap in a distinctly southern style.

Renowned for its extensive Jazz Collection, the Louisiana State Museum is expanding its musical holdings to encompass the full breadth of Louisiana heritage.  The Museum seeks donations and loans of signature instruments, performance costumes, musical scores, recordings, photographs and any other artifacts related to the careers of all seminal Louisiana music artists. 

Highlights of the collection are featured in “Louisiana Dancehall,” a cornerstone of the new Louisiana State Museum in Baton Rouge and in an upcoming exhibit planned for the New Orleans Mint building.   The Baton Rouge exhibit includes an exciting foundation of pieces from headlining artists including a Stratocaster, guitar strap, overalls and tennis shoes from Buddy Guy and one of Clifton Chenier’s accordions.  Visitors also view white pearl drum sets from Earl Palmer and Baby Dodds, one of Raful Neal’s harmonicas and performance costumes from Allen Toussaint, Cyril Neville, Frankie Ford and Webb Pierce.  Photographs from Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studios, Harold Batiste’s AFO Executives and the Louisiana Hayride are displayed, and aficionados can examine musical scores by James Black, a Savoy Music Center accordion, and African drums made by Luther Gray.

Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu, who oversees the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, including the Office of State Museums, calls the Louisiana Music Collection “a fitting tribute to all of the great men and women of our state who have not just transformed our culture but also the musical landscape of the entire world. It is time we recognize their contributions as we improve the cultural economy of Louisiana for future generations of musicians.”

The Louisiana State Museum has long had the distinction of housing one of the most extensive collections of jazz memorabilia, photos, film, music and instruments played by significant artists like Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory, Jellyroll Morton and others. However, the decision was made to extend the focus of the collection to include all Louisiana music and musicians in an expanded Louisiana Music Collection. The work done in this field has not only expanded and increased Museum holdings but has also created important partnerships and contacts with major musicians and their families.