Vince Gill photo courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Dwight Yoakam sang about “guitars, Cadillacs and hillbilly music,” and the guitar is central to current stories involving three different Halls of Fame — one of which contains a Cadillac owned by the late Elvis Presley.

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, previously known as the Cowboy Hall of Fame, has a new guitar exhibit at its home in Oklahoma City, where instruments used by the likes of Vince Gill, Garth Brooks, Toby Keith and Marty Robbins are on display.

A guitar Taylor Swift used during a fundraiser to raise money for the Country Music Hall of Fame in the fall is now being sold at auction to raise even more money for the facility. And the Musicians Hall of Fame, located just blocks from the Country Hall in downtown Nashville, has to put guitars owned by some classic figures — including Charlie Daniels and Elvis musician Scotty Moore — into storage by the end of the week.

Vince, who’s one of the top guitarists in country music today, opted to put the guitar owned by his late father on display in the Cowboy Museum because the instrument is the one that started his entire journey as a musician.

“I got my own guitar when I was 10,” he told The Oklahoman, “but until then, that was the guitar that I tried to learn on. [Dad] had two guitars. That’s the one I was always drawn to, to try to learn to play. I think it’s got to be the first instrument I ever remember seeing.”

Here’s the rundown, good and bad, on guitars and Halls of Fame:

• The Cowboy Museum exhibit, “The Guitar: Art, Artists and Artisans,” opened Friday with some 50 instruments on display. It aspires to draw the connection between cowboys and the music they made, and the guitar was just one of several instruments used in the Old West. Rooted in Mexico, according to a story in The Oklahoman, it became associated with the cowboy in the 20th century through western movies, thanks in great part to Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.

• Taylor used a Taylor 12-string guitar during her performance at the All for the Hall benefit organized by Keith Urban in October. Her lucky number is 13, so it’s rather appropriate that the fundraiser took place Oct. 13. To keep the good vibes going, the auction began Saturday, Feb. 13, and runs 13 days through Feb. 26, with receipts tabbed for the Country Music Hall of Fame. As of Monday morning, the top bid was more than $7,000.

• As expected, a Nashville judge gave the city the right on Friday to seize the land occupied by the Musicians Hall of Fame to make way for a new convention center, The Tennessean reported. Facility owner Joe Chambers has thus far been unable to reach agreement with the city on appropriate compensation for the property and is considering moving the attraction to another market. In the meantime, he has to move a bundle of exhibits by Friday, including guitars owned by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Peter Frampton and session player Ray Edenton. Who is Ray Edenton? And why should you care about his guitar? A member of Nashville’s legendary A-Team, Ray contributed to such important recordings as David Allan Coe’s “You Never Even Called Me By My Name,” Roger Miller’s “King Of The Road,” Kenny Rogers’ “Love The World Away” and Loretta Lynn’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”

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