NASHVILLE, TN (CelebrityAccess) — The Country Music Hall of Fame announced the addition of a historically significant fiddle that was once owned and prized by country music legend Roy Acuff to its collection.
The fiddle, which was given to Acuff by American soldiers stationed in Germany at the end of the war, was donated to the museum by Country Music Hall of Famer and the president of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s Board of Officers and Trustees Vince Gill.
The fiddle, which was built in Germany around 1890, follows the style of instrument created by noted Austrian luthier Jacobus Stainer in the 1600s. The instrument was discovered in a bombed-out music store in Frankfurt, Germany, by soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 348th Engineer Combat Battalion during the occupation of Germany in the final days of the war.
The troops sent the fiddle to Acuff as a token of appreciation, and it became his primary instrument for decades. The fiddle was acquired by Gill earlier this year due to his long friendship with the late Acuff.
“Roy Acuff’s prized fiddle is an important instrument with a remarkable story,” said Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young. “Because of Vince Gill’s generosity, the museum is now the permanent steward of an instrument that illustrates Roy Acuff’s cultural significance and the growth of country music during a period of great expansion for the genre. This instrument will be used to educate generations of fans and scholars about the music and career of Acuff, who served as an ambassador for country music as the face of the Grand Ole Opry and a regular USO performer, among many other accomplishments.”
“It felt important to me that the great Roy Acuff’s fiddle join the ranks of other revered instruments in the museum’s permanent collection—including Maybelle Carter’s 1928 Gibson L-5 guitar and Bill Monroe’s 1923 Gibson F-5 mandolin,” said Gill. “The fiddle was given to Acuff by soldiers during a time of war because of how much he meant to them. He meant a lot to me, too.”
