“I just can’t believe that my stuff is in here,” Trisha Yearwood says of her new exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. “It’s really, truly overwhelming. It still hasn’t sunk in yet.”

She’s referring to Trisha Yearwood: The Song Remembers When, which runs through Dec. 31.

The exhibit is something of a homecoming for Yearwood, who worked at the museum before making it big as one of country’s most influential female artists.

“It’s surreal,” she said. “It is really full circle for me to have worked at the Hall of Fame as a tour guide.

“When I worked here, I was so enamored by the things they had. I remember specifically they had a lot of Patsy Cline’s wardrobe that her mother had made for her. And now I have an outfit in here that my mother made for me. So I never thought about that.

“I just love country music, and I love the museum. I’m really more of a tourist. I probably wasn’t a good tour guide because I was busy looking at everything more than giving tours.”

The exhibit includes many of her personal items ranging from awards to her wedding dress.

“There are a lot of things that are special to me that come to mind,” she said. “One is the letter from Johnny Cash. I was happy to find it. My mother saved everything, and I save everything. I’m her daughter. I knew it was somewhere and … and was happy to find out when I reread the letter that it was exactly how I remembered it.”

Also on display are outfits worn by Yearwood in some of her biggest music videos, including “Walkaway Joe,” which also featured collaborator Don Henley and a young Matthew McConaughey -- long before he became a household name.

“Don Henley and I shot our stuff in Nashville, and the b-roll was shot in Texas,” she said. “It was all black-and-white footage, and they just auditioned locals. Matthew McConaughey was living in Austin, Texas, at the time.”

Yearwood could tell the actor would become a major star.

“If you go back and look at it, it’s obviously him,” she said. “He just looks 12. He’s so young. I always think, ‘You know, Matthew, I gave you your start, so I’m responsible for your entire career. You never call. You never write.”

In reality, Yearwood has never actually met McConaughey.

“We missed each other at a couple of shows,” she said. “I have never met Matthew, but it will happen. I’ve heard too that you know he wants to meet you too! So it’s like he remembers that video.”

For more country music news, tune in to CMT Hot 20 Countdown this Saturday and Sunday (July 25-26) at 9 a.m. ET/PT.