My Favorite Music Museums Across the United States

As you know, I love museums. Music museums are some of my favorites. There are two reasons and neither is because I'm a huge music fan. The first is that music museums are often highly interactive. It's fun to try out instruments or experiment with sound mixing or give karaoke a go in a recording booth. The second reason is that music museums play music. A lot of museums are visually appealing, but a smaller subset are audibly appealing as well. There may be videos playing, but most of the sound you hear in a non-music museum is the noise made by fellow visitors. A good music museum is designed around allowing you to enjoy the experience with your ears as much as with your eyes. 

Below are my favorites among the many music museums we've visited. I've linked each to the post where I originally described our visit. In those posts, you'll find links to the museums themselves.  

National Museum of African American Music 

The National Museum of African American Music is my all-time favorite music museum. Located in Nashville, Tennessee, it is immersive, interactive, and beautifully done. You don't have to know anything about African American music to fully appreciate this museum; it does an outstanding job meeting visitors where they are and allowing them to dig as deep as they want into five different eras of African American music. 

Country Music Hall of Fame

Also in Nashville, the Country Music Hall of Fame is a must-visit, even for those who aren't fans of country music. Or, rather, for those who *think* they're not fans of country music. The genre stretches much further than many people realize. (Any Elvis fans reading this?) The museum has one of the world's largest and most extensive musical collections and the facility is gorgeous. Go. 

Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum

Nashville is home to three major music museums. In addition to the two above, The Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum is absolutely worth a visit. It covers all genres of music and it does it very well. The exhibits are fascinating and rich with information. No matter what kind of music you like, it's represented here. The Grammy Museum Gallery is located within the Musicians Hall of Fame and makes the museum even more of a don't-miss. 

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland, Ohio. It has seven floors of records, instruments, posters, costumes, ticket stubs, sound equipment, photos, props, letters, and much more memorabilia from the world's great rock artists. The museum has a great energy and is positively packed with things to check out. One large area is devoted entirely to the most recent group of Hall of Fame inductees, so you can visit each year and see something completely different. 

American Banjo Museum

I highly recommend a visit to the American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This museum chronicles the fascinating history of the banjo, from its roots with enslaved Africans in the 1600's through modern times. You'll find no more entertaining way to learn more about what it widely considered the quintessential instrument of the United States. Bonus points because the museum features Kermit the Frog. 

Rhythm Discovery Center 

The Rhythm Discovery Center in Indianapolis, Indiana is all about percussion instruments from around the world. If you can bang on it to make a rhythm, it's probably at the Rhythm Discovery Center. This museum is almost entirely hands-on and it's so much fun. 

Museum of Pop Culture

When MoPOP first opened in Seattle, Washington, it was called the Experience Music Project and was entirely devoted to pop music. Now it has other areas of focus as well. While it is not 100% about music, I still consider it an excellent music museum that is worth a visit. 

Musical Instrument Museum

The Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona is spectacular. Or so I'm told. I actually haven't been there. Steve, Trevor, and my uncle Don visited the museum while I was at a conference with my aunt Vickie. The three of them couldn't stop talking about how amazing the museum was and what a treasure we'd missed. Having been to hundreds of museums with Steve and Trevor, they know what my standards are for a great museum and they assured me that's what this was. So I'm including it on my list. I hope to visit someday.