Music museum in downtown Jackson receives $50K state grant

JACKSON, Tenn. — “Music comes out of West Tennessee and the Delta like crops,” said Kevin Triplett, commissioner of tourism development for Tennessee.

Music history will continue to grow here in Jackson thanks to a grant from the Department of Tourism and the Department of Economic and Community Development.

The Legends of Tennessee Music Museum at the Carnegie received a $50,000 grant Thursday.

“With this grant we’re going to be able to upgrade our sound capabilities here,” Jimmy Duke, a museum board member, said. “The old building was not made for sound, so there’ll be some baffling put it to help with the sound.”

Duke says they’ve been putting off these upgrades for several years. They’ve already brought in new cabinets to spread out some of the displays.

“They’re doing a deeper storytelling of each of the exhibits,” Triplett said. “They’re doing audio tours where visitors can do a self-guided tour and learn more about instead of just looking at the exhibits and the displays.”

The museum has several displays of clothes and instruments used by everyone from Carl Perkins to Elvis Presley.

They hope these upgrades will bring even more people to the Hub City.

“The goal is if they enjoy themselves they’ll tell other people about it, and then more people will come to Jackson,” Triplett said.

Part of the $50,000 grant will go into the Carl Perkins Auditorium where they will install a screen for the intro video and update the sound system.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and admission is $7 for adults and $2 for kids. That money goes to help preserve the exhibits in the museum.