PHILADELPHIA, Miss.–Sometime in the future Philadelphia will be able to attract people from all over the United States and even other countries with some of country music’s most well-known artifacts. To get them here, people who live in Philly will have to make a sacrifice.
Byrd Ave. has been closed from Main St. to Walnut, and may be closed for a year or more.
That’s because the Ellis Theater is the future site for Marty Stuart’s Congress of country Music.
“Well there’s 20,000 in the collection. Some of the highlights maybe are Hank Williams’ hand-written lyrics to ‘Cold Cold Heart’, Johnny Cash’s first black performance suit, the boots Patsy cline was wearing when she lost her life,” said Stuart, a Philadelphia native, three years ago when the project was announced.
To get that done, a renovation of the Ellis will be necessary. To get that done, the street closure has become necessary.
