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| Introducing the next new Country singers at the Grand Ole Opry |
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When you think of Nashville, you think of Country Music. We spent a day immersing ourselves in locations important to Country Music.
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| The Grand Ole Opry House |
To start, we visited the Grand Ole Opry House, the current
auditorium where the venerable Saturday night radio show is broadcast. There are also shows on Tuesday, and Friday
each week. The Opry has been housed at
this location since 1974. The backstage
tour takes you past the “cast” entrance and through a variety of dressing rooms
and the “green room” where everyone waits for their turn on stage. Country Music stars are invited to become
members of the Opry, it is considered a great honor. Interestingly, there is a mail center, where
members of the Opry pick up fan mail in post boxes. The tour takes you through the wings where
the house musicians warm up and the techs hang out. Then, you get to walk on stage and stand at
the microphone center stage. Inset into
the stage is a circular piece of the stage from the Ryman Auditorium, the home
of the Opry for 30 years before moving to this location. The tour is full of the history and lore of
Country Music
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| One of the dressing rooms |
The Grand Ole Opry House is outside of town and part of a
huge complex of hotel/conference center and outlet mall. Just down Music Valley Drive from there are
three campgrounds, one of which was ours.
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| Seats 4,400, note the pew seating, a carry over from the Ryman days. |
The Opry was actually housed in a variety of venues before
the building of the Grand Ole Opry House, but the best known is the Ryman
Auditorium, home to the Opry from 1943 – 1974.
It is located downtown. They do a
really great job at the Ryman telling you their history. In 1885, steamboat magnate Thomas Ryman was “saved”
by the Rev. Samuel Jones. In order to
give Rev. Jones a place to spread his gospel, Ryman put up his own money and
raised $100,000 more to build the Union Gospel Tabernacle which opened in
1890. The name was changed to Ryman Auditorium upon the death of Thomas Ryman. They soon realized that hosting
revivals did not bring in sufficient income to keep the lights on, so they
branched out to hosting political and cultural events. In stepped Lula Naff as the Manager of the
facility. She became prominent in
booking all kinds of plays, music and other events, at a time when women were
not active in business, especially in Nashville. With the Opry as a tenant for 30 years, the
Ryman became synonymous with County Music, gaining the moniker the Mother Church
of Country Music. Eventually, the Ryman
started needing repairs, and the Opry needed a larger venue, so the Opry moved
out. The Ryman fell into disrepair, and
was being considered for demolition. A
coalition of Country Music icons and fans pulled together funds for its
renovation. Now it is an active venue
for all kinds of music concerts and other attractions. At the time we were there, they were prepping
for a Garth Brooks concert.
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| The Ryman Auditorium |
From the Ryman we headed a block over to the District, an
area of restaurants, honky tonks and western wear stores along Broadway. As you walk along, you hear music wannabes
playing inside the honky tonks and some out on the street (in 90+ degree
weather). We selected a barbeque joint,
with shaded outside seating, a view of the Ryman and music heard from a
distance.
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| Seats 2,362 |
Last stop, the Country Music Hall of Fame, just a few blocks
further on from the District. There are
the requisite display cases with costumes, instruments and other paraphernalia and
brief descriptions of different artists through history. The open, modern building doesn’t really lend
itself to linear, historical displays so you kind of wander through, stopping
at something that looks interesting to you.
We enjoyed the video monitors, particularly the footage of early
performers in what is now considered the roots of County Music. There were special exhibits about Alabama, the
Zac Brown Band, and Blake Shelton. There
was an interesting exhibit about Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan’s collaboration, and
how it stimulated an influx of musicians outside of Country Music into
Nashville and the resulting cross pollination of musical ideas.
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| They discovered this stencil work on the Ryman balcony during renovation. |
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| Pew seating at the Ryman is replicated at the newer Opry House |
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| Roy Acuff and Minne Pearl, considered to be the parents of the Grand Ole Opry. |
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