For fans of country music, history has a home in Brady.
BRADY, Texas — The Heart of Texas Country Music Museum, found in Brady, Texas, has been a hub of honky-tonk history for over 30 years, but according to museum staff, the place has a history of it’s own.
It all began with a 19-year-old Tracy Pitcox, working at Brady’s KNEL radio station, interviewing country singer Rose Maddox, who’d just had all her stage wear bought out by Hall of Famer Marty Stuart. All except for one lone dress, which Pitcox jumped at the chance to buy.
“She said, “I’ve got a bill at the pharmacy for $100 that I need to pay. If you send me a check for 100 dollars, I’ll mail you that dress,'” Pitcox, now the museum’s director, recounted. “And that actually started the bug of us collecting some of this great memorabilia of some from the country music singers.”
In the years following, Pitcox started asking artists performing in and around Brady if they’d donate suits, boots, instruments, anything they’d used in performances to the museum, even purchasing some with the museum’s publicly-supported acquisition fund.
“In the back of my mind, I always felt like we were gonna have a little museum to house this stuff, Pitcox said. “And so, after a while, we had all this great stuff, but nowhere to actually display it.”
With a little help from investors and Country Music Hall of Famer Kitty Wells, that dream became real. Ground was broken and the original 1,200-foot hall of history officially opened in 2000. But the musical artifacts and their history extend beyond the museum walls as well. Cars owned by Johnny Bush and Tammy Wynette are parked right outside. Also parked parked outside is a tour bus, originally owned by the legendary Jim Reeves, obtained at bankruptcy auction in Tennessee and now the museum’s largest exhibit.
But why do it? Why collect all these exhibits? One country recording artist, with a custom-made suit of his own on display, Darrell McCall, explained.
“It means everything to me,” McCall said. “Because it shows me that people are still knowing who I am and I’m proud of this, because it’s country music.”
The museum is also enjoyed by visitors like John and Frankie Gregg, who even brought their granddaughter Amanda for a day out.
“I just like it,” Frankie said. “I wanted to see all the outfits, because it’s really impressive. It’s awesome, it really is.”
“I think our mission is just to preserve and protect a very special genre of the music industry,” Pitcox told FOX West Texas. “It’s neat to see country music fans come from all over and the see artifacts … like a Bob Wills fiddle. They’re just amazed, because that’s what the music is that they loved and they grew up on and they still appreciate today.”
But according to Pitcox, that mission isn’t quite finished. With so many new, up and coming acts in country music, more room is needed in the museum. And while it’s has expanded twice before, the under-construction 6000 square-foot add-on is the biggest yet, making room for what Pitcox said is countless more exhibits in storage, a new stage for performances and the new age.
“We seem to be getting a more younger clientele of people that come into the museum that want to see some of those artists being represented,” the director said. “It’ll be a more expanded museum than what we have, even right now.”
He also said, years ago, the first place men and women of Texas would go at the end of a long work week was the dance halls to hear, what else, but country music. This, according to the director, makes the mission “uniquely West Texas.”
“It’s kind of neat to be able to see that kind of music being preserved in one place here in Brady, Texas and we’re very proud to be able to do that.”