Country Music Museum: Gaudy Relics

Nashville, Tennessee

What makes the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum special, even for those who aren't fans of country music, are its dazzling displays of visual excess. Stage costumes -- worthy of any Las Vegas nightclub -- assault the senses with sequins and rhinestones and colors not seen in nature. There's Elvis's gold Cadillac and piano, their paint mixed with fish scales and crushed diamonds to give them extra sparkle. And Web Pierce's Pontiac Bonneville, with steer horns on the grill, six-shooters for door handles, and an interior studded with 1,000 silver dollars. Also, a recreation of Tammy Wynette's extravagant closet, and the fake corn field from the TV series Hee Haw, where a surprising range of celebrities and politicians popped up and told dumb jokes.