The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame (LMHOF) is a non-profit[1][2][3]hall of fame based in Baton Rouge, the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana, that seeks to honor and preserve the state's music culture and heritage and to promote education about the state's unique role in contributing to American indigenous and popular music in the 20th century.
The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame has launched an LMHOF "Multimedia Virtual Museum" online concept.[5]
In July 2015 the LMHOF launched the "LMHOF Wall Of Fame at BTR," a double-sided display consisting of 43 Gold records accompanied by artwork honoring 43 LMHOF Inductee members and accompanying dual 50" ultra-flat LED screens giving points of the history of the 43 artists in the Baton Rouge Metro Airport public area.
In the future, the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame has plans to open larger displays featuring more complex Gold record presentations as well as displays featuring artifacts in display of Inductee members in as many as three more locations across the state and a full blown museum display in Baton Rouge or New Orleans, the home of America's music.[6]
The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame's institutional history began in 1979 when, with help from Mike Shepherd, Del Moon, a Baton Rouge print and television entertainment journalist first put forward his intent to create the LMHOF. In 1980, a corporation was formed, nonprofit status obtained and the initial project drive began. After several years, Moon back shelved the full-time pursuit of the project, having fought a severe economic recession and having received only cursory cooperation from State and local government and funding entities. Moon allowed the corporation to be dissolved and public work diminished around 1997.[7]
Over the years, Moon and Shepherd continued to conceive a better approach from another State while an early adviser in Louisiana continued on with the project's development and archival activities.
In 2005, after several years of pre-development and archival effort, that early adviser, a music industry veteran, Mike Shepherd of Baton Rouge La., established a new corporation with IRS 501c3 certification, re-acquired use of The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame name from Louisiana's Secretary Of State, and contacted Moon for continued support and active participation.Shepherd subsequently reacquired clear registration of the trade name "The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame" from the newly elected and sitting Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler in early 2011.
In 2009 LMHOF facilitated pro bono an advertising endorsement agreement between Al "Carnival Time" Johnson and the Louisiana Lottery Corporation which resulted in media exposure and royalties to Johnson for use of his image, voice and signature song in a scratch ticket promotion during Mardi Gras season.[8]
Over 100 fundraising induction concerts have been staged to date,[when?] including "Louisiana's Greatest Hits-Live" held in Baton Rouge on October 27, 2007[9][10] and the Louisiana Music Homecoming on May 16, 2010.
In the 2010 Session of the Louisiana Legislature, by unanimous vote of both the State Senate and State House of Representatives on SCR 112, The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame, was commended for its work and further declared as "the official honors and recognition organization and information resource for and about Louisiana's music, musicians and musical heritage," thus becoming the first ever Official Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame after thirty years.
On January 27, 2014, The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame web site reached the 1,000,000 visit plateau and in October 2015 reached 2.35 Million visits, and it currently stands at over 2.85 Million visits, to date.
As the pandemic passed, The Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame temporarily lost its IRS 501c3 certification, only to regain it in 2023.
