Hardeman County rarely competes for tourists with Memphis or Nashville, but a new traveling exhibit that opens this weekend in Bolivar gives the 28,000 residents of that county a significant music attraction.

The Smithsonian Institution's "New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music" kicks off its six-week residency at Bolivar's Little Courthouse Museum today with a music-filled, daylong celebration on the town square.

"This is a huge honor for us," says Cissye Pierce, president of the Hardeman County chapter of the Association of the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities, which has teamed with Humanities Tennessee to bring the exhibit to Bolivar. 'We've never seen anything quite like this."

Starting at 10 a.m. there will be live music, rides, games and art booths on the square. And of course, the exhibit will be open to visitors. The 800-square-foot "New Harmonies" will take up all of the first floor of the 1824 historic building, with the vacant Presbyterian church next door being used for the exhibit's spiritual music displays as well as classrooms for visiting school groups.

Though modest by city museum standards (for comparison, Memphis' Rock 'N' Soul Museum, which also has its roots in the Smithsonian, takes up about 9,000 square feet at its current location in FedExForum), "New Harmonies" manages packs a lot into a small space.

"This is the first time we've ever undertaken an exhibit of this size," says project chairman Ken Savage, whose crew had to study intensively with the Smithsonian to learn how to set up, care for and present the exhibition.

The traveling show is part of the Smithsonian's Museum of Main Street project aimed at expanding the national institution's reach in rural America. "New Harmonies" will hit 29 small towns in five states this year. The first Tennessee showing was in LaFollette in March. After its Bolivar run, "New Harmonies" will move on to Carthage, then Jackson.

"With the name Smithsonian, you know it's going to be good," Savage says. "I would think, seriously, you'd have to go to Memphis or Nashville to see anything of this type, anything that's even comparable."

Through photographs, videos, artist biographies, vintage instrument displays and music samples, "New Harmonies" touches on the range of musical traditions in the country's history.

"It covers everything from the first tom-tom all the way up to today's rock and roll," says Savage.

Hardeman County is not without its contributors to music history. Blues bassist Bob Anderson, songwriter Ramsey Kearney and early country star Verna Sherrill all hail from the area. Stax founders Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton also originally hailed from Hardeman, and early Sun artist and regional country legend Eddie Bond calls the area home.

As part of their host agreement with the Smithsonian, Bolivar agreed to include an exhibit spotlighting its own regional musical heritage. Organizers chose to focus on the annual Hee Haw event, a country variety show to raise funds for the American Cancer Society that has been a showcase for virtually all the area's music talent for the past 30 years.

"We've gotten all kinds of pictures and mementos," Pierce says of the exhibit, which she likens to a community time machine. "A lot of home people will be in there just to see pictures of themselves 30 years ago, just to see how they've changed."

Organizers also started a weekly music series on the square. The Friday night concerts have become so successful that Savage expects them to become a tradition that persists after the Smithsonian has left town.

Exhibit Notes

The Smithsonian exhibition "New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music" will have its grand opening in Bolivar from 10 a.m. to 4p.m. today in the Bolivar Town Square.

Music lineup: 10 a.m., The Wilderness Band; 11 a.m., The Dixie Hillbillies; noon, Ramsey Kearney; 1 p.m., Dylan and Billy Kennedy; 2 p.m., The Palace Band.

The exhibition will be in the Little Courthouse Museum, 215 E. Market. Admission is $5 for adults, $2 for children.

The exhibit will run through Sept. 20. Hours are 4-7 p.m. Fridays and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays, and by appointment 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursdays for schools and private groups of 10 people.

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