Songwriter Musician
A visual journey into the heart of storytelling
A Visual Chronicle of Music City
Through the lens of acclaimed photo documentarian Ed Rode, Songwriter Musician presents a 35-year photographic retrospective of the songwriters, musicians, and industry figures who define Nashville’s musical identity. Spanning genres and generations, the collection captures the creative spirit that continues to shape American music and culture.
The Stories Behind the Sound
Since the early 1990s, Rode has documented Nashville’s creative spaces—writing rooms, recording studios, private homes, and, in one unforgettable instance, a cliff where Billy Joe Shaver once considered taking his own life. His lens brings visitors into rare moments with legends like Kris Kristofferson and Cowboy Jack Clement, candid glimpses of Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift, and spontaneous scenes—like Steven Tyler crashing Keith Urban’s impromptu show at Tootsie’s.
Spanning Nashville’s evolution from its 19th-century roots to the digital era, Songwriter Musician features both iconic figures and the unsung heroes whose behind-the-scenes contributions continue to shape the city’s sound.
Bridging Music, Identity, and Place
Visually driven and deeply human, Songwriter Musician offers audiences a rare glimpse into the creative process behind the music. It brings history, culture, and sound together—revealing the people and places that continue to define Music City.
Calendar
Next appearing at the Bluebird Cafe Nashville, TN
3/15/25—7/30/25
Country Music Hall of Fame Museum Nashville, TN
8/15/25—8/1/26
Booth Western Art Museum
Cartersville, GA
9/26/26—4/18/27
Past
Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Bristol, VA
8/30/24—12/31/24
Booking & Availability
For Booking + Public Relations
Chris Sommerdyke
For Content Questions
Ed Rode
615-541-9433
Title of Video
About the Exhibit
Songwriter Musician is a traveling exhibition featuring 41 framed archival prints that capture the creative spirit of Nashville's songwriting community. Blending black-and-white and color imagery, the exhibition offers an intimate look at the art of musical storytelling.
Each image is supported by digital wall labels and interpretive text panels, providing cultural and historical context to create an immersive, narrative-driven experience.
Details
Total Works: 41 framed archival photographs
10 prints at 24" x 28"
31 prints at 24" x 20"
Introductory Materials:
Title Panel (digital)
Artist Statement (digital)
Space Guidelines
The exhibition is flexible in layout and can be adapted to a variety of gallery sizes.
Ideal gallery space: approximately 2,000 square feet
Recommended wall space: 175–200 linear feet
Venues with different footprints can scale the number of works on display to suit their available space without compromising the overall narrative.
Flexible Format, Local Connection
Songwriter Musician is designed to adapt seamlessly to a variety of gallery environments. Venues can customize the number of works on display while preserving the exhibition’s visual impact and narrative integrity.
To strengthen community engagement, venues are encouraged to incorporate locally relevant materials—including archival photographs, vintage instruments, handwritten lyrics, concert posters, or ephemera tied to their region’s music history. Curated displays featuring regional artists, songwriters, or influential music spaces offer visitors a deeper, more personal connection to the exhibit. These local integrations not only enrich the viewing experience but also celebrate the unique musical heritage of each community.
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Hear the Stories
A companion audio experience enriches the exhibition, allowing visitors to hear directly from photographer Ed Rode as he reflects on the making of Songwriter Musician. Through QR-code access, guests can explore the stories behind the images—including Dolly Parton’s time-traveling moment, a dramatic cliffside encounter with Billy Joe Shaver, and the night Steven Tyler jumped on the bar with Keith Urban at Tootsie’s. These first-hand accounts bring depth to the imagery and highlight the cultural significance of this long-form visual documentary—now presented as both a book and museum exhibition.
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Listen to the Music
Enjoy the Museum’s custom playlist featuring the songwriters and artists featured in the exhibit, adding a rich audio layer to the visual experience. From legendary hits to hidden gems, the music behind the portraits comes alive, enhancing the storytelling and deepening the connection between the artists and their timeless work.
An Immersive
Storytelling Experience
Discover the Art
This collection of black-and-white and color photographs captures songwriters in their most authentic moments—writing, reflecting, and performing in the spaces that fueled their creativity. From Dolly Parton’s childhood home to Billy Joe Shaver on a rugged cliffside, the exhibit brings visitors into the personal worlds of music’s greatest storytellers.
Hear the Stories
Visitors can scan a QR code to hear the behind-the-scenes stories that bring the images to life:
Dolly Parton’s time-traveling memory
Billy Joe Shaver’s unexpected moment on a cliff
The night Steven Tyler jumped on a bar with Keith Urban at Tootsie's
These exclusive insights connect audiences directly to the creative journey of each artist.
Listen to the Music
A museum-curated playlist accompanies the exhibition, allowing visitors to hear the music created by the songwriters featured in the photographs. This multi-sensory experience deepens engagement, making the visuals even more powerful.
Ed Rode
About the Artist
A nationally recognized photographer based in Nashville, Ed Rode has spent most of his career, camera in hand, chasing meaningful moments in music history and making them permanent.
He isn’t only — or even primarily — a music photographer. Over the course of nearly four decades, Rode has captured sports legends, movie and TV stars, travel destinations, whiskey brands, and restaurant chains. But he moved to Nashville in 1990, just as country music's neo-traditionalist era was shifting into the shadow of arena fireworks, as legends were entering their golden years, and as Nashville itself was prepping for unparalleled change.
Growing up in the Midwest, Rode thought he might become a history teacher, relaying the narratives that emerged and lessons learned. But a high school photojournalism mentoring program showed him another way to hold onto history. A Master of Arts degree in Photo Communications from Ohio University helped fine-tune his skills.
And a fresh-from-grad-school job as a staff photographer for The Nashville Banner, the city’s afternoon daily, brought Rode to Music City to find and tell stories. In Nashville, Rode saw that history was unfolding all around him, and that meaningful moments were going undocumented. So for decades, he made sure to put himself — and his camera — where the moments were.
From that first newspaper post, Rode built a career and a reputation as a photographer with a storyteller’s eye and a historian’s instincts. His work has appeared in numerous national publications; in exhibits from the Nashville International Airport to the legendary Bluebird Cafe; and on album covers for artists including Willie Nelson, The Chicks and Peter Frampton.
Ultimately, Rode did become a teacher, too. Along with instructing, lecturing, and advising students at Vanderbilt University, O’More College of Design, Western Kentucky University, and Northwestern University, Rode works as a full-time instructor in the Journalism and Mass Communications Department at Murray State University, teaching young artists how to find their stories, focus their storyteller’s eye, and click.