The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum opened a new spotlight exhibit dedicated to legendary fashion designer Nudie Cohn on October 28. The “Silver Threads and Golden Needles: Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors” exhibit will run through November 2012. The exhibit traces Nudie’s journey across America from designing burlesque costumes in New York to opening his shop in North Hollywood. Gene Autry, Elton John, Gram Parsons, Elvis Presley, Roy Rogers and Hank Williams are among the  artists who wore Nudie’s designs.

Born Nutya Kotlyrenko in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1902, Nudie immigrated to the United States when he was 11. He became ‘Nudie’ when immigration officials mistranslated his first name. His first job was shining shoes in Brooklyn and in 1918, he headed to California where he worked as a movie extra and film cutter before returning east. On his way back, he met Bobbie Kruger, whom he would later marry. The couple moved to New York, where Nudie found work designing burlesque costumes with his brother.

The Cohns returned to the west coast in the 1940s where they ran a small tailoring shop out of their Los Angeles-area garage for seven years. In 1947, Tex Williams commissioned ten outfits for his band from Nudie. With Tex’s endorsement, business started rolling in and Nudie opened his famous Nudie’s Rodeo Tailors. His slogan was ‘Everything for the Horse and Rider,’ though he began to cater to country artists and stars of western movies.

Nudie found his niche in the industry with the creation of a rhinestone-accented suit for Lefty Frizzell and began creating custom outfits for performers. He designed wagon-wheel suits for Porter Wagoner, Native-American motifs for Ray Price and a railroad-themed suit for Hank Snow inspired by Hank’s hit “The Golden Rocket.”

Working with embroidery specialist Rose Clements and fashion designer and one-time son-in-law Manuel, Nudie also designed instruments, cars, rugs and other items. Nudie was as much a celebrity as any of his clients and was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone in 1969. He passed away of kidney failure in 1984. Continue Reading

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Carl Smith photo courtesy of Marty Martel.

Country Music Hall of Fame member Carl Smith, one of the genre’s dominant stars in the 1950s, died Saturday at his home in Franklin, Tenn., according to The Tennessean.

Carl, 82, operated his career in a much different manner than many of his peers. While most country stars continue to record and tour as long as they’re able to find a market, he rather quietly retired from the music business once his hit-making prowess cooled in the late 1970s and lived off his investments with wife Goldie Hill, who had her own recording career in the ‘50s.

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