In our warp-speed culture, one can’t help but smile at the idea of major recording artists and megacorporations like Pixar and Nike turning to an aging, southern letterpress print shop for posters and packaging to drive sales. But as Jim Sherraden, manager, curator and chief designer at 128-yearold Hatch Show Print notes, “The computer is the best thing that’s happened to Hatch.”

With the continual assault of advertising and media, we have all become desensitized to hyperrealistic animation, altered imagery and digital printing. These once eye-turning technologies are now everyday … and as a result boring. The work from Hatch, however, is anything but slick and far from bland. Its arresting, bold, tactile and unapologetic rawness puts the viewer a half-step away from the process. In fact, the printing process is the first thing that comes to mind after one’s initial thought of “How can I steal this poster?” Rich ink pressed into weighty paper is nothing new, yet it feels as unique as a three-dollar bill in our current culture. Every day, automation further removes us from each other, causing us to crave authenticity and human interaction. Whether it’s a handmade sweater or a hand-printed poster, the personal touch and investment of time immediately instill a spiritual worth, elevating a piece to art.

Sherraden shares a memorable moment: “One day Bill Monroe saunters into the shop. We’d only been on Broadway for a few months, and he was checking us out. He had a DJ from radio station WSM driving him around. Well, shortly after he arrived, I get this call from Norway, friends of mine on a boat having a party in the Oslo fjord. They were calling with a cell phone to say hello but the connection was bad, and i told them to call back because Bill Monroe was visiting. Since the party on the boat consisted of musicians, they all knew who Bill Monroe was, they just couldn’t hear me, so I kept shouting ‘Bill Monroe! Bill Monroe!’ and next thing I knew Monroe’s taking the phone out of my hand and singing ‘blue moon of Kentucky, keep on shining …’ hell, he was singing over the telephone to a damn boat in Norway!” Photo by Robin Hood

MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS
In 1879, CR & HH Hatch opened its doors and before long began producing show posters for carnivals, minstrel shows, vaudeville, magicians, wrestlers, silent films and, later, an endless array of music legends from Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash to Coldplay and Bruce Springsteen. But the shop’s tenure has been fraught with dark times—when it lay dormant waiting for its next guardian angel—to spells so fruitful that there was at one time a guy in the shop whose sole purpose was to package posters and get them out the door.

The sweat equity that countless individuals invested in this remarkable archive is astounding, and the end is far from near. Now owned and operated by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Hatch’s future feels secure, and Sherraden, its current guardian angel, has many plans to further nurture and protect this national treasure.

SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME
Sherraden does nothing halfway. In 1984 he was offered the chance to run the place and said yes because he “needed a job.” Now 22 years later, he is Hatch, not that he would ever agree to that. He’s a humble soul, one keenly aware of all those who have helped bring the shop to where it is today. But he is the one who is on the road, sometimes 12 times a year, lecturing and running workshops at conferences, universities and even design firms. His “Hatch yack,” as he calls it, wavers between historical documentation and pure theater. But there is no question, even during lighter moments, that this shop is much more than a job. It is his muse, and deep inside he feels that moving it further down the timeline is his personal responsibility.

Left: As a present to the shop for its 120th Anniversary, Hatch had a new typeface carved called Steamer #14. This was as close as they could get to the original type (for the word tonight) used on the very first Hatch poster created april 12, 1879. Right: To illustrate the enormity of this intricate work, Sherraden stands before a 1952 three-sheet poster (40 x 86 in.), one of the last carved by owner Will T. Hatch.

When he speaks, he works hard to make it real for his audiences through images, stories and impersonations of some of the characters that have graced its colorful past. Ultimately, his lectures are to Hatch what Hatch show posters are to the events they promote. His strategy of getting the word out and sharing the magic is the best way to ensure its continuance, because preservation through production has saved this archive more than once.

AIN’T LIVING LONG LIKE THIS
When Sherraden, a successful lyric writer with over 50 recorded songs under his belt, arrived, the shop was owned by a man named Bill Denny, who had originally purchased it from Will T. Hatch’s widow. In the early ’80s Nashville’s once- and now-thriving downtown area was barely hanging on. In 1974 The Grand Ole Opry, which had been a major source of revenue for not only Nashville but Hatch, left its original home in the Ryman Auditorium for a new location at Opryland theme park. The loss hit everyone hard, and during this time every single job at Hatch counted; the Hatch crew worked obsessively just to break even.

Two years later Denny sold the shop to Gaylord Entertainment, America’s fastest-growing specialty lodging and entertainment organization (it owns the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium and WSM Radio), because he felt they would be able support the shop and thus preserve its legacy. Gaylord had the financial wherewithal and the very best of intentions, but a production-oriented print shop is a strange bedfellow for an entertainment organization. Because the archive contains tour posters that were created for Grand Ole Opry entertainers up to 60 years ago, Gaylord loaned the shop to the Country Music Hall of Fame so the latter could research the archive and document the holdings.

Top: Tools of the trade today are as they were when the shop opened in 1879. One of the reasons the Hatch archive has successfully spoken to so many diverse audiences over time is the power and quality of its carved imagery. Will T. Hatch, like current manager Jim Sherraden, loved what he did; creating a new poster was a hobby, as well as his principle work. Photo by John Guider