Stars Sling Guitars at a Benefit for Country Music Hall of Fame

Rick Diamond/Getty Images From left, Jason Aldean, Gregg Allman, Warren Haynes, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill, Ashley Monroe and Pat Monahan.

A guitar pull is a Nashville tradition in which songwriters and singers sit in a row on a stage with their acoustic instruments and take turns playing whatever song they feel like, usually preceded by a story about where it came from. It makes for a low-key, informal and often surprising show.

On Tuesday night, some of the best performers in Nashville came to the Best Buy Theater in Times Square for a guitar pull to raise money for the Countr Music Hall of Fame and Museum, which is undergoing a major expansion.

Rick Diamond/Getty Images Ms. Harris and Joan Osborne.

Vince Gill, Jason Aldean, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell anchored the event. But the lineup also included the blues-rockers Gregg Allman and Warren Haynes from the Allman Brothers Band, the singer Pat Monahan from the pop-rock band Train and Ashley Monroe, a young country singer who is a member of Pistol Annies. “Or the best you could get for free on short notice,” Mr. Gill joked as they took the stage.

Kyle Young, the museum’s director, said the annual “All of the Hall” gala dinner and benefit concert was expected to raise between $100,000 and $150,000, though final figure! s were not available on Tuesday. The museum in downtown Nashville is undergoing a $100-million expansion, and so far about $71.6 million has been donated to cover the cost, including a major gift from Taylor Swift.

The show offered a peak at some new songs. Ms. Harris and Mr. Crowell, both Nashville veterans with multiple hits in their credits, performed some duets from their new album “Old Yellow Moon” (Nonesuch). And Ms. Monroe sang two songs from her recently released solo album “Like a Rose,” which Mr. Gill produced.

Michael Loccisano/Getty Images Mr. Allman.

Mr. Gil also tried out a new tune, a song with a classic country structure called “I Don’t Want to Ride the Rails No More,” and elicited good-natured laughter when he forgot the third verse. “I told you I shouldn’t do a new song,” he said, still playing the guitar. “I forgot the damn payoff for the whole song. But since this is free I’ll sing the third verse again.” And he did.

Mr. Aldean stuck to his big hits, like “Big Green Tractor” and “My Kinda Party.” He joked several times about having the misfortune to follow Mr. Allman and Mr. Haynes in the rotation, who thrilled the crowd with acoustic versions of Allman Brothers songs like “Melissa” and “Midnight Rider.”

The evening ended with Mr. Allman and Mr. Haynes singing a stark and wrenching version of “Long Black Veil,” the 1959 ballad covered famously by Johnny Cash about a man who allows himself to be executed rather than reveal his lover’s name. (The benefit happened to fall on Mr. Cash’s birthda! y.)