1st Look at Marty Stuart’s Congress of Country Music’s Ellis Theater
Since first announcing his plans publicly in 2014 to create a country music destination in his hometown of Philadelphia, Mississippi, Marty Stuart’s Congress of Country Music has been a dream of the Country Music Hall of Famer. The original impetus for the project was to make a permanent home for the some 20,000 country music artifacts Marty Stuart has amassed over the years.
In the 90s, thousands of pieces of country music history were being cast aside as worthless when modern country music was hitting its commercial peak. Whole wardrobes of Nudie suits were ending up in dumpsters. Mementos from some of country music’s most prominent stars were up for grabs in thrift stores and junk shops. Marty Stuart scoured Nashville and beyond to retrieve as many of these pieces as he could, and has since become a resource for the Country Music Hall of Fame and other institutions for displays and memorabilia.
But that’s just the beginning. The Congress of Country Music will house and display all of Marty’s artifacts, but it will also comprise an education center and other facilities, as well as a performance space. Completely renovating the historic Ellis Theater in downtown Philadelphia as part of the project, it will be the very first part of the Congress of Country Music to come alive when Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives officially take the stage on December 8th with Connie Smith. Jontavius Willis will open the show.
The performance will be part of a succession of opening performances to help christen the Ellis, and help raise funds for the eventual completion of Marty Stuart’s shrine to country music. Other performers on the calendar include Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Old Crow Medicine Show, Gaither Vocal Band, North Mississippi Allstars, Hardy, and others (see calendar).
For years, all we’ve had to see of what Marty Stuart had in store with the Congress of Country Music were architectural renderings. But as the Ellis Theater gets ready to open, we’re finally getting to witness just how much love and effort Marty Stuart and many others have put into bringing the Congress of Country Music to life.
Earlier this month, Marty Stuart christened the new Ellis Theater by giving a Hard Hat performance to a lot of the construction crew responsible for the project. This allowed us a first sneak peak of the Ellis Theater, thanks to Congress of Country Music Board of Directors member Douglas Hudson, who took the photos below.
The Ellis Theater was first opened in 1926 as a silent movie venue by Henry Bell Hutchison. The newly-renovated space boasts 500 seats with the balcony and VIP boxes, a starlight ceiling, and a circle in the stage right where the headliners stand, similar to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
The Ellis Theater is just Phase 1 of the Congress of Country Music. Phase 2 will be a new community center and meeting space that will look very similar to a church, with a huge arching stained glass window and similar treatments inspired by the Mother Church of Country Music, aka the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Phase 3 will be the education building and the archive for all of Marty Stuart’s memorabilia to be displayed, and where lessons, lectures, presentations, and other events will be held.
The Congress of Country Music has been endorsed by the Grammy Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and the Library of Congress, and is expected to draw 28,000 and 49,000 visitors annually to Philadelphia. Private donations are also playing a big part in the financing of the project. In May, Marty Stuart announced the appointment of Dr. Dan Barnard as the Congress of Country Music’s Executive Director. When completed, the project will include some 50,000 square feet in total space.
For more information, visit congressofcountrymusic.org .
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Pictures of the Ellis Theater below by Douglas Hudson
Di Harris
November 20, 2022 @ 11:27 am
“Earlier this month, Marty Stuart christened the new Ellis Theater by giving a Hard Hat performance to a lot of the construction crew responsible for the project.”
This illustrates how it is done.
TOTAL CLASS.
Hats off to Marty.
Used to tell people at the hospital – Without maintenance, dietary, & housekeeping, “you ain’t got a hospital.” Check your ego at the door – we’re here for the patients.
Definitely putting this on list of businesses to support in the New Year.
Head to Mississippi.
Thanks Trigger, for keeping all of us posted on this
Stellar
November 20, 2022 @ 11:59 am
Group road trip/pilgrimage for people heading in that direction after Ameripolitan?
Di Harris
November 20, 2022 @ 12:45 pm
You know, i was just thinking the same thing.
When is Ameripolitan? (will look it up in a bit)
.Stellar
November 20, 2022 @ 8:23 pm
Late February and it’s an amazing event
wayne
November 20, 2022 @ 11:31 am
Marty is a true visionary. I wish much success on this venture.
Trigger,
Do you plan on visiting this at some point?
Trigger
November 20, 2022 @ 11:44 am
Yes, I’m not going to be able to be there in December for the opening unfortunately, but I am planning to be in Mississippi in January, and hope to catch a show and get a greater glimpse of everything in person.
wayne
November 20, 2022 @ 12:56 pm
Excellent. Look forward to a report.
Southern Man, Country Fan, and Stuck Somewhere Else
November 20, 2022 @ 1:36 pm
God bless Marty Stuart! This looks beautiful, and I certainly hope to see it in person day!
The thought of so much precious country music memorabilia ending up in dumpsters and thrift stores (until Marty, thankfully, began to rescue it) breaks my heart. All of those beautiful Nudie suits in dumpsters– who would even think of throwing them away?! They are works of art and part of such a great musical heritage!
Marty, if you happen to see this (probably not, but just in case), when I wrote “God bless,” above, I meant it, brother– to this country fan, and I’m sure, to many, many others, you are doing the Lord’s work here! Thank you so much!
Southern Man, Country Fan, and Stuck Somewhere Else
November 20, 2022 @ 1:42 pm
*One* day, I meant to type, above, in the second sentence, that is. This will be a bucket list visit for me!
hoptowntiger94
November 20, 2022 @ 2:14 pm
A summer/ fall trip indeed.
Wyatt Ellis
November 20, 2022 @ 5:09 pm
Now that is some real good news!
Sir Adam the Great
November 20, 2022 @ 6:31 pm
Finally, a Congress we can all support.
James Ravert
November 20, 2022 @ 6:45 pm
When I saw your group with James Miller and you fantastic. When I Tell other’s and play some of your music and they are amazed. I have been to many concerts in my 73 years you were the best.
Countryfan68
November 20, 2022 @ 8:01 pm
It looks like a theater stage, very impressive, good luck to you Marty, cannot wait to hear your new album.
robbushblog
November 20, 2022 @ 8:24 pm
The theater looks great! I’m really looking forward to the collection. That is when I will make my way west to Philadelphia.
Scott Stokes
November 21, 2022 @ 6:45 am
From someone who has been living in Philadelphia MS for 50+ years, we are very excited to welcome home Marty and this awesome venue!
This building was the only movie theater in our town until the late 90’s, and had been around long enough that my Father (who happened to help coach Marty in little league baseball one season) would go watch westerns on Saturday afternoon when he was little. He would take a quarter and it paid for his ticket plus a coke, popcorn and a pickle. Times have changed since the 50’s for sure.
My wife and I plan to be at opening night and can’t wait to see how the old movie theater has been transformed into a part of country music!
RenoBaxter
November 21, 2022 @ 3:03 pm
Marty Stuart himself is a link to the origins of country music. The preservation work he has personally done to maintain and celebrate the rich history of country music is nothing short of extraordinary. I challenge anyone to be a bigger fan of country music than Marty Stuart, bet you can’t. Man needs to be sainted.
Dumpster Diving Dave from Dixie
November 21, 2022 @ 7:42 pm
Kyle, can you cite an example of “whole wardrobes of Nudie suits were ending up in dumpsters”? I’m calling bullshit on this.
Hyperbole is a crutch for weak writers.
Trigger
November 21, 2022 @ 8:23 pm
Well, I can’t cite a specific example. That would be a question for Marty Stuart. I believe it was in a video or interview where he talked about finding stuff in dumpsters. I would have to dig a bit to find his specific quote. But if you can’t imagine that in the 90’s when Garth Brooks was dominating country music in his printed Wrangler shirts that polyester suits with butterfly collars and bell bottoms were being thrown out as refuse of the past, you’re a lot less cynical than me.
I can give you one specific example though, even if it doesn’t have to do with Marty Stuart:
When David Allan Coe came to Nashville, he was hanging out with Mel Tillis, who was getting rid of his entire wardrobe of Nudie suits. Mel Tillis just gave Coe all of the suits, which Tillis had paid thousands for originally because at that time, they were already going out of style. Coe took them all, and started wearing them all the time. That’s how Coe crafted the persona of the “Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy.” That was in the mid 70s. By the early 90s, Nudie suits and 50s fashion were even more out of favor. It wasn’t until the late 90s and the revitalization of Lower Broadway that Nudie suits and Western wear started coming slowly back into fashion with young revivalists.
Proofreeder
November 23, 2022 @ 4:31 am
We were lucky enough to see some of Marty’s collection on display in Little Rock several years ago. It’s recently been in Jackson MS (bring your own water). Can’t wait to be able to see it in its proper home and catch some music at that awesome looking theater. I hope they have regular performances from smaller acts so that visitors to the museum will be able to easily see a show.
Hepcat
November 24, 2022 @ 10:16 am
I’ve been seeing Marty Stuart at a 100-year-old opera house in Wisconsin for years, and every time he talks about how much he loves it there. This month he was there and talked about the Ellis and how the Stoughton Opera House was part of his inspiration. Fun to see some of that in these photos—thanks for showing us! I’m glad Marty decided on padding for the seats though!
Doug Love
July 10, 2023 @ 3:59 pm
Here we are in July 2023. Any feedback from visitors to the Congress?