The story of Cortelia Clark, from Nashville busker to Grammy-winning artist, is an unlikely one. It’s the story of a blind blues singer who made a living performing on the streets of downtown Nashville in the 1960s, supplementing his earnings by selling shopping bags—but it’s also the story of securing a record deal with RCA Records, of winning a Grammy award for a first-and-only album, and of an untimely passing after being caught in a house fire.

“Cortelia’s story is as powerful and emotional as any I’ve ever heard,” said Michael Gray, vice president of Museum Services. “That Grammy, even though broken in half, is a powerful object that tells a powerful story.”

In this video, the staff of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum sought to discover more about the Nashville street singer, venturing out to Lyles, Tennessee, and the residence of Mike Weesner, a friend of Cortelia Clark’s and the person who brought the blues singer to the attention of RCA Records. Weesner had a wealth of stories to share about the making of the album “Blues in the Street,” which was produced by Felton Jarvis and recorded live on the street, including how Jarvis would later ask country music singer-songwriter Norro Wilson and future Country Music Hall of Fame member Jerry Reed to drive around in the parking lot behind RCA Studios, screeching their tires to supplement the sounds of the city that surrounded Clark in his day-to-day street performances.

“Cortelia was a snapshot of an era,” said Weesner. “All that remains is that sound, and with Cortelia we have that sound and we have that little vignette into that period of history.”

The result of the recording session was a vivid document, the casual and engrossing 1966 album, “Blues in the Street,” which included the artist’s usual repertoire of original numbers and amalgamations of songs he’d heard, as well as a cut of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant’s “Bye Bye Love,” taught to Clark by Weesner. The record would win a Grammy in March 1967 for Best Folk Recording, beating out Lead Belly, Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul & Mary, and Ravi Shankar, among others, but after selling fewer than a thousand copies of the album, Clark would be dropped by RCA, and soon he was back on the street, getting by as he had for decades.

Roughly two years later, Clark was seriously burned when his kerosene heater exploded while he was filling it, setting his North Nashville wood-frame house on fire. After weeks in the hospital, on Christmas Eve, 1969, he passed away—but countless listeners would later be inspired by his songs and story, including songwriter Mickey Newbury, whose haunting ballad “Cortelia Clark,” released in 1973, includes the line: “Can you save a street in glory, Lord / For Cortelia Clark?”

“It just all kind of swirls together,” said Jack Clutter, instrument collection curator at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “And just creates something that’s very unique, that I don’t think they could replicate it ever again. It had to be that moment for that album.”

Alongside Weesner’s recollections of the recording of “Blues in the Street,” the Museum’s staff also collected from Clark’s friend one of the guitars that was damaged in the house fire, as well as the Grammy award itself, which was similarly burned and broken into two pieces.

From Nashville busker to Grammy-winning artist, it's an unlikely story. The sun-bleached tools of his trade, the broken award for his music, street-worn instruments now transformed into artifacts that provide a window into that period of history—similarly evoked by John D. Loudermilk in the liner notes for the Grammy-winning record: “Cortelia Clark, vendor of shopping bags, purveyor of Americana—street singer extraordinary.”

Photos of Cortelia Clark recording outside of Pancake Pantry courtesy of Sony Music Archives.