The National Music Museum in Vermillion recently received one of Elvis Presley’s guitars. Besides being played by the King of Rock and Roll, the guitar is unique because it’s slightly damaged after Elvis dropped it on stage during a concert. As SDPB’s Cassie Bartlett reports, the music museum is working to broaden its audience.
The National Music Museum has more than 15,000 instruments in its collection and recently started a $15 million expansion to put more instruments on display and give more space for interaction. Cleveland Johnson is the director of the museum. He says while the museum’s location doesn’t draw a lot of national travelers, it’s nice for nearby residents who wouldn’t normally have the chance to see these unique, world-renown instruments. Johnson says the museum is trying to get more people in its doors.
“This is a little bit of an experiment for the National Music Museum to reach out to such a broad demographic as we are with celebrity items such as the Elvis guitar. We have historically been fairly quiet and modest about ourselves, and we’re just beginning to brag a bit with this event and say ‘Hey, if you think the Elvis guitar is something, wait ‘til you come in and see what else we’ve got,’” Johnson says.
Johnson says the museum is hosting an open house Friday and Saturday (May 3-4) featuring Elvis’ guitar, his motorcycle from the South Dakota Auto Museum, and Memphis-style BBQ.