CMT Blog: Archive

His apparent suicide this week probably means we’ll never know all of the exact causes behind his recent financial and legal woes, but Bob McLean sure seemed like country music’s guardian angel. In 2004 and 2005, he made two extraordinary donations to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum that can only be described as genuinely iconic musical instruments -- the 1923 Gibson F-5 mandolin that Bill Monroe used during most of his career and 1928 Gibson L-5 guitar that Maybelle Carter played throughout her life, including early recordings with the Carter Family. The mandolin and guitar had been on the market with a collective price tag of more than $1.5 million, although it’s hard to attach a dollar figure to instruments that launched bluegrass and country music as we know it today.

With private collectors acquiring and hoarding vintage American-built instruments to keep locked up in their mansions overseas, McLean made sure the Monroe mandolin and Carter guitar would be on public display in Nashville. The elite of the country music community responded accordingly by inviting him to various parties and industry gatherings. (While it may be true that money can’t necessarily buy love or friendship, there’s no denying that it gets people’s attention.)

McLean, a philanthropist and former stockbroker who lived in Murfreesboro, Tenn., had donated millions to various institutions, including Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro and the new Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, but rumors circulated earlier this year after he was hit by a series of lawsuits from investors who alleged he had fraudulently taken their money. By early September, they claimed he owed them a total of $20 million. The day before he was to attend a bankruptcy hearing, McLean’s body was found Tuesday (Sept. 25) near a church in Shelbyville, Tenn. Police say the cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

One of the lingering questions about McLean’s legal troubles is whether the Hall of Fame is in any danger of having to relinquish the Monroe mandolin and Carter guitar to the bankruptcy court or the IRS. I spoke to a museum spokesperson who emphasized that both instruments are owned by the Hall of Fame, adding that confidentiality agreements prohibited additional explanation.

I once sat at a table with McLean during BMI’s country awards banquet and he seemed like an extremely nice guy. It was easy to tell that he was wealthy but I also sensed that he donated the Monroe mandolin and Carter guitar to the Hall of Fame simply because he felt like that’s where they belong. If he was a con artist, I certainly didn’t detect it, although it could be argued that being a great actor is an essential part of a con artist’s job description. In any event, I still prefer to think he was just another person who somehow lost his way and got in over his head financially.