Walking down the corridor that leads from the Omni Nashville Hotel to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, you suddenly come upon an old-school print shop graced with floor-to-ceiling vintage drawers of wood block type and giant posters of musical legends like Roy Acuff and Bill Monroe.
This treasured site is the new location for Hatch Show Print one of the oldest working letterpress print shops in America, founded in 1879 by brothers Charles and Herbert Hatch, who hand-carved the wood blocks used in the letterpress process. For much of the 20th century, the firm’s vibrant posters served as a leading advertising medium for Southern entertainment, including country music performers, vaudeville shows, opera singers, Negro League baseball games and B-movies. Many of Hatch’s most loyal clients were Grand Ole Opry stars who performed at the Ryman Auditorium. Today, Hatch designers still create the posters for every Ryman concert, and watching them roll off the antique presses through the picture windows is a treat.
Best of all, planners can order customized letterpress prints for events, as well as gifts for attendees—one of the coolest ways to remember their time in Music City. Hatch Show also offers tours for small groups that detail the unique letterpress print process, and group workshops where participants can roll up their sleeves and make a letterpress print from some of the shop’s vintage type.
