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A statue of the legendary country music singer and songwriter Loretta Lynn stands on Ryman’s Icon Walk alongside the country music icons Bill Monroe and Little Jimmy Dickens at the entrance to the Ryman Auditorium. It was dedicated in her honor on October 20th, 2020, celebrating the 60th anniversary of her first performance at the Grand Ole Opry. The artist Ben Watts designed and sculpted it, depicting Lynn wearing a big smile, fringe Western garb, and boots, her guitar leans by her side. Lynn wasn’t able to attend the ceremony but sent a statement “I will never forget the morning Dolittle, and I pulled in and parked in front of the Ryman Auditorium…For many years I’ve stood on the stage of the Ryman and there’s no place like it.” Loretta Lynn (1932-2022) was born and raised in a small log cabin with seven siblings in a coal mining town in rural Kentucky. Singing and music have been part of her life since she was little. At 15, Loretta married Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn (“Doo”), and they moved to Custer, Washington. While she was occupied with the housework and raising their six children, she found comfort in music. Doo encouraged her to pursue her musical talent and bought her a guitar in 1953. She taught herself to play, wrote songs, and started performing in nightclubs in the area. In the late 1950s, she got discovered by Zero Records Executives, recorded her first album, and released it in 1960. While touring the country, she came to Nashville to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, and it became her second home. 1960 was the beginning of a 6-decades professional music career. Lynn wrote 160 songs, released 60 albums, toured and performed all over the world, and won many awards, including ten No. 1 albums and sixteen No. 1 singles on the country charts, three Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, eight Broadcast Music Incorporated awards, thirteen Academy of Country Music, eight Country Music Association, twenty-six fan-voted Music City News awards, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2013). Read more...

A magnificent bronze statue created by the Nashville artist Alan LeQuire in 2003. It is the largest bronze figure group in the US featuring 40-feet-tall nine figures who are celebrating in a circle the joy and happiness of music. The statue is located in a wide roundabout at the entrance to Music Row and is considered as one of the symbols of Nashville. On May 31st, 2019, it was renamed to Boudleaux and Felice Bryant Fountains of Musica, honoring Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, the first professional songwriters of Nashville, representing all the songwriters who made Nashville a musical Mecca. Felice Bryant was born as Matilda Scaduto to an Italian family in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She had a passion for writing poetry from a young age. When she was 19 years old, she met her soul mate, Boudleaux, a violin player, who arrived to perform in the hotel Felice worked as an elevator operator. They became a couple in their personal and professional life, writing songs together. The beginning was hard, but they managed to build themselves with several hits till they moved to Nashville and became the city’s first professional songwriters. Over the years, the Bryants wrote more than 6,000 songs, 1,500 of which were recorded, earned 59 BMI country, pop, and R&B music awards, and raised 2 sons. The statue will be upgraded in 2020 to have water fountains around it. Read more...

Located in Centennial Park, not far from Nashville’s iconic building, the Parthenon. The monument was unveiled on August 26th, 2016, which is Women’s Equality Day, and commissioned by Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument Inc. It features the five important suffragists in Nashville, who contributed to the battle of the ratification of the 19th amendment: Anne Dallas Dudley, who founded the Nashville Equal Suffrage League; Abby Crawford Milton, who was the last president of the Tennessee Equal Suffrage Association; Frankie Pierce, the founder of the City Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs in Nashville (there is also a park next to Tennessee State Capitol honoring her); Sue Shelton White, a feminist leader and one of the national suffrage movement leaders (there is also a monument commemorating her at Jackson City Hall); And Carrie Chapman Catt, a national suffrage leader who traveled to Nashville to guide the suffragists during the last crucial battle. The monument was created by Nashville-based sculptor Alan LeQuire who also designed the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Memorial located in Knoxville, as well as the Suffrage Bas Relief sculpture hanging in the State Capitol between the House and Senate chambers. Every year on Women’s Equality Day, an event commemorating this day is held at the Tennessee Woman Suffrage Monument. Read more...