In November 2003, Joe Frank Chambers and his wife Linda Chambers co-founded what would become Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. They purchased a 30,000 square foot building at 301 6th Ave. S.,
Nashville, Tennessee across from the Country Music Hall of Fame and began renovating. After two and half years, they first opened the MHOFM to the public on June 6, 2006. The 30,000-square-foot facility was unique in the world, and its annual awards galas were star-studded affairs. The museum was voted venue of the year 2008 by the Meeting Professionals International. Exhibits consisted of instruments owned and played by well-known artists as well as behind-the-scenes session musicians. The session musicians were often the house studio musicians in cities such as
Memphis, Los Angeles, Detroit, Nashville,
Muscle Shoals and New York City. These musicians were often the unsung heroes behind the hits of many great artists. These relatively small groups of players performed on many of the hit singles of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. In 2009–10, the city of Nashville seized the building (under the rules of
eminent domain) to make way for the construction of The Music City Center. The artifacts were then stored in designated buildings, but many were damaged in the 2010 Nashville flood. In 2013, the museum found a new home in the spacious old exhibit hall of Municipal Auditorium, which more than doubled the size of the original museum. On August 29, 2013, the MHOFM reopened on the first floor of the historic
Nashville Municipal Auditorium just off the James Robertson Parkway exit at 401 Gay Street, Nashville, TN 37219. The 200,000 square foot building houses the historic 10,000-seat Municipal Auditorium. The 68,000 sq. ft. exhibit floor, which was also Nashville's first convention center, houses the museum and its artifacts. ==Inductees==