BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The Kern County Museum held the grand opening of the Bakersfield Sound exhibit.
More than a hundred people came out to celebrate the project, the product of decades of hard work.
It’s an event that’s more than 20 years in the making. Living legends all coming down to the Kern County Museum where dozens of people were able to celebrate the history of Kern and country music.
“Bakersfield sound is that wonderful unique brand of music that was incubated here and born in Bakersfield in the 1940’s and 50’s and made Bakersfield famous in the 60’s and now we’re celebrating that today,” Mike McCoy the Executive Director of Kern County Museum said.
The exhibit is the culmination of decades of work bringing artifacts and stories of Bakersfield’s musical past to the present.
“This was a dream of the early musicians and this building was brought here by them and artifacts given and now after a long long time it is finally open to the public,” Di Sharman the vice-president for Citizens Preserving History said.
Original musicians from decades past signed postcards instruments for people throughout the event.
“We’ve got six of the original musicians who showed up to this and what I like about this,” McCoy said. “It’s about community. These people are still here, they are still playing music and the other part I like about this is the actual artifacts. We have pieces of Trout’s Bar, pieces of Tex’s Barrel House. So it really takes people back to a special time.”
17’s own Robert Price played an integral role in the celebration. His book is like the script for the entire exhibit.
“The book is really a history of Bakersfield,” Robert Price the author of The Bakersfield Sound said. “A history of the migration when the Oakies came out in the dust bowl. When people settled in this part of the country after World War II they brought their music with them from different parts of the country and that has really become the culture of Bakersfield as you see right here, a celebration of the culture of Bakersfield.”
