New Wings exhibit traces Paul McCartney’s reinvention as husband, father and bandleader

CLEVELAND, Ohio (AP) — The largest collection of Paul McCartney's personal artifacts ever publicly displayed is part of a new exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame centering on his life after The Beatles.

“Paul McCartney and Wings,” which opened Friday in Cleveland, explores the musician's reinvention after leaving the iconic British rock band through displays of instruments, handwritten songwriting notes and photographs taken by his wife, Linda McCartney, who was keyboardist and harmony vocalist for Wings during its decade-long run from 1971 to 1981, when the band produced hits including “Band on the Run,” “Silly Love Songs” and “Live and Let Die.”

After the breakup of The Beatles, Paul McCartney was no longer just the musician who had been known around the world since his teenage years, but a husband and father of a young family. What he built with Wings reflected that new stage of life, said Andy Leach, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s senior director of museum and archival collections.

Leach said the band’s embrace of domestic life — bringing children on tour, having a married couple perform together and writing songs inspired by his wife, who was also a member of the group — was “remarkable and unusual” for the era, when rock music remained overwhelmingly male-dominated and family life was rarely incorporated so visibly into a band’s public identity.

“What’s interesting about Wings is that they were formed around the idea of reinvention, renewal, risk-taking, experimentation, but collaboration,” Leach said. “And family was at the center of it, too.”

Leach traveled to London to work with McCartney and his team to prepare and transport guitars along with clothing worn during performances to Cleveland. The vast majority of the artifacts are from McCartney’s personal collection.

Leach said Wings helped pioneer the large-scale production that came to define 1970s arena rock, using increasingly elaborate lighting and stage design on tours such as Wings Over the World and Wings Over America.

Leach said it was amazing to see and handle guitars that “I’ve heard on record my whole life.”

Visitors will also be able to step into a recreation of the farmhouse that McCartney still owns in Scotland, where Paul and Linda retreated after The Beatles' breakup in 1970 and set up a recording studio.

In the home, photos of Paul and Linda McCartney and their children line the walls. Linda’s camera sits inside a case on the makeshift kitchen table.

The photographs taken by Linda, an acclaimed artist in her own right and the first female photographer to have a photo featured on the cover of Rolling Stone, in 1968, showcase her role “at the center of the family, and in some ways, at the center of the band," Leach said.

Linda McCartney was married for three decades to Paul, who taught her to play the keyboard after The Beatles' breakup. She died in 1998 of breast cancer.

Another of Leach's favorite artifacts is the handwritten scores by famed Beatles producer George Martin for the songs “Uncle Albert” and the James Bond theme “Live and Let Die,” which became one of Wings' most enduring songs.

Other items were lent by longtime Wings roadie John Hamill, former band members and the widow of Denny Laine, the co-founder of Wings and The Moody Blues, who played guitar, bass and keyboards and contributed both lead and backing vocals.

The Hall of Fame said the exhibit will be open for at least a year with the hope of keeping it open through the summer of 2027.

Leach said the exhibit is “perfect timing” because of what he described as “a nice kind of renaissance or at least a new appreciation for them among fans and a new understanding about how remarkable and important” Wings’ musicians were.

He pointed to the release of the Amazon Prime documentary Man on the Run, a new box set and the 2025 book Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, co-written by Paul McCartney and historian Ted Widmer.

__ Willingham reported from Boston.

A picture of handwritten lyrics inside the Paul McCartney and WINGS exhibit at the Rock Roll Hall of Fame on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Cleveland, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)

A collection of photos inside the Paul McCartney and WINGS exhibit at the Rock Roll Hall of Fame on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Cleveland, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)

A recreation of the kitchen inside Paul and Linda McCartney's Scotland home at the Paul McCartney and WINGS exhibit at the Rock Roll Hall of Fame on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Cleveland, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)

A costume sits on a mannequin inside the Paul McCartney and WINGS exhibit at the Rock Roll Hall of Fame on Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Cleveland, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)

The entrance of the Paul McCartney and WINGS exhibit at the Rock Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, on Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man who goes by the moniker Chud the Builder and is known for posting racist videos to social media was given a $1.25 million preliminary bond on attempted murder and other charges on Friday.

Dalton Eatherly, 28, is accused of shooting another person in the middle of the day on Wednesday outside the Montgomery County Courthouse during an altercation.

An affidavit filed with the arrest warrant says that Eatherly and the other man “engaged in a verbal altercation” at about 1:19 p.m. “During this verbal altercation, Mr. Eatherly turned his body in a bladed stance ... and reached for his firearm located in his right jacket pocket. Thereafter, a physical altercation ensued.”

Eatherly fired, striking the other man multiple times. The man was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Nashville, where he underwent emergency surgery, according to the affidavit. Police have said the man was in stable condition after surgery. The hospital has declined to give out information about his condition, citing medical privacy laws.

The affidavit notes that there were “several innocent bystanders” outside the courthouse when Eatherly shot his gun. “Surveillance video of the incident shows a ricocheting projectile hitting nearby walls.” Audio recording and witness accounts of the shooting also indicate that Eatherly shot himself in the arm.

At an arraignment on Friday, prosecutors asked that he be held without bond until there can be a full hearing next week. Judge H. Reid Poland III declined that recommendation but set a high bond nonetheless, “based upon the fact of how many people were here in the courtyard or at the courthouse and the seriousness of these felonies.”

In addition to the attempted murder charge, Eatherly faces charges of employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.

Poland also noted that Eatherly had previously been released on bond in two other cases. He faces a harassment charge in Montgomery County from November. He was also charged last week in Nashville's Davidson County with theft of services, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

An attorney who was appointed to represent Eatherly on the felony charges Friday, Jacob Fendley, did not return a phone call requesting comment.

Eatherly, who is white, posts videos to social media where he tries to provoke Black passersby by using racial slurs and racist dog whistles. Although police have not responded to questions about the race of the person he shot, a witness described him as Black.

Eatherly was being held in the Montgomery County jail on Friday, according to jail records. A full bond hearing is scheduled on May 21, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 26.

A Sheriff's deputy enters the Montgomery County Courts Center as they investigate a shooting outside the building, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in Clarksville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

This photo provided by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department shows Dalton Eatherly in Nashville, Tenn., on Sunday, May 10, 2026, after his arrest. (Metropolitan Nashville Police via AP)

Sheriff's deputies investigate a shooting scene outside the Montgomery County Courthouse, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in Clarksville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)