Potter College News

The Kentucky Museum is thrilled to announce the opening of Sonic Landscape: The Musical Legacy of Southcentral Kentucky, a highly immersive, multiyear exhibition of Southcentral Kentucky’s musical traditions. 

“Though many may first think about the music of Eastern Kentucky and Appalachia first when thinking about our Commonwealth, Southcentral Kentucky has an equally rich musical legacy that needs to be celebrated,” said Brent Bjorkman, director of the Kentucky Museum and Kentucky Folklife Program. “Our exhibit, Sonic Landscape, aims at validating and honoring our region as a place of both historical and contemporary musical exchange and collaboration that has fostered, and continues to foster, a multitude of American musical styles still evolving today.”

The shared story takes center stage in the exhibition, which is the result of over 90 oral history interviews with musicians, producers, and insiders that keep the Southcentral Kentucky soundscape alive. Since 2016, this work has been led by the Kentucky Folklife Program in partnership with WKU Folk Studies professors and students, and the Kentucky Museum team, who continue the interviews and collecting efforts that form the Southcentral Kentucky Music Project.

The physical exhibition - on view from September 2025 through December 2030 - features a wide variety of artifacts, photographs, and memorabilia from those interviewed, alongside immersive audiovisual stories. From Bill Monroe and Cousin Emmy to Nappy Roots, Cage the Elephant, Mary Rachel Nalley-Norris, and Sam Bush, the exhibition is an intimate look at the process of becoming a musician: the roots of musical traditions in home and church; the formal and informal spaces of musical education, including the many talents to emerge from WKU; the role of DIY and regional recording studios in recording musicians; the venues, record stores, and radios that promoted talent and the region; and the stories of how Southcentral Kentucky continues to be “home” for many musicians – no matter how far their musical journeys may take them. Interwoven with the spoken and sung voices of those who lived it, Sonic Landscape also provides a journey through the region – and the decades of songs that have transformed American music.

The exhibition will remain on view through 2030, with efforts to continue musical programs in addition to collecting oral histories, artifacts, ephemera, and recordings for the Southcentral Kentucky Music Archive. The exhibition team is also seeking funding to create an expanded online exhibition and archival portal to make all their research – and the materials collected – accessible and interpreted for the public. Learn more about their efforts and how you can contribute here: https://www.wku.edu/kentuckymuseum/exhibits/sonic_landscape.php 

The Kentucky Museum is open Wednesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. For more information and parking, visit: https://www.wku.edu/kentuckymuseum/visit.php