A SHORT HISTORY OF THE GRAND OLE OPRY

Get to know the Mother Church of country music BY WILLIAM HARWOOD

It’s Saturday, November 28, 1925, and commercial radio is just five years old. In downtown Nashville, an elderly musician, Uncle Jimmy Thompson, born in 1848, stands before a small crowd squeezed into the National Life Insurance Company’s Studio C. He picks up his fiddle and plays old-timey tunes into the newfangled microphone. And, like magic, Uncle Jimmy’s circle of listeners extends its circumference at the speed of light far beyond the confines of the tightly packed space, tapping the toes of folks sitting in their homes as far afield as Kentucky and Alabama, strangers suddenly connected as one through the medium of radio and the power of music.

No one realized it at the time, but something very special had just been born. Then called the Barn Dance, though soon to be renamed the Grand Ole Opry, the program would not only become the longest-running live radio show in history but also blossom into a multigenerational institution. It cre-

The Gatlins with mom on piano; one of the 18 unique dressing rooms at the Opry. Previous page: The Gatlin Brothers backstage at the Grand Ole Opry.

ated an extended family that would prove instrumental in molding Southern folk music into a new art form, country music, while transforming Nashville into Music City.

The program was an instant success, and the Grand Ole Opry in those early years outgrew venues like a child outgrowing shoes. When space at National Life Insurance proved insufficient, Hillsboro Theatre, known to Nashvillians as the Belcourt, became the venue. When the Belcourt proved too small, first the Dixie Tabernacle and then the War Memorial Auditorium became the Opry’s homes. When even those venues proved too small and the sellout crowds too rowdy, constantly ripping the seating to shreds, the Ryman Auditorium became the Opry’s new address in 1943. Originally built as a tabernacle, a place for spiritual revivals, the Ryman came to be known as the Mother Church, its wooden pews providing seating for more than 2,000 and solid enough to withstand the raucous crowd’s twists and turns. These were the years of radio’s peak power before TVs had fully taken over American homes, and the Grand Ole Opry was one of the nation’s most beloved programs, heard by millions on 650 AM WSM, its powerful signal amplified by the 808-foot-high, diamond-shaped WSM tower just south of Nashville.

By the 1970s, the Grand Ole Opry had become more popular than ever and even the esteemed Ryman Auditorium was no longer adequate. Never designed as a music venue in the first place, the Ryman had only one dressing room and an inadequate restroom for women. With no backstage area, artists would wait in the halls or the bars of nearby Printer’s Alley until it was time for their sets. Larry Gatlin, the lead singer for The Gatlin Brothers, recalled while sitting in the comfort of one of the Opry’s artist’s dressing rooms before going on stage last March, “The first time we played at the Grand Ole Opry was back in August 1971. There was no air conditioning at the Ryman and that two o’clock afternoon matinee was hotter than you can imagine.”

The Grand Ole Opry moved in March 1974, into what may prove to be its forever home, the Grand Ole Opry House. It was a state-of-the-art structure with nearly 16 million feet of audio, video and lighting cables that allowed the Grand Ole Opry to cater to its now worldwide audience. For those wishing to view the show in person, the new venue doubled the Ryman’s seating capacity, providing space for some 4,400 fans to fill the hall. Instead of a single dressing room

Carrie Underwood on stage at the Opry; The Circle, a piece of wood from the Ryman's former stage on which legends such as Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash once performed.

for the artists, the new venue boasts 18 dressing rooms, each with its unique theme. As Gatlin said, “There is a saying in Nashville: You can overdub the steel guitar and the fiddle, but you can’t overdub the feel.”

To help transmit the feel of the Mother Church to the Grand Ole Opry House, The Gatlin Brothers once brought in their mother, playing piano live onstage while the brothers sang, just as the four of them had first done some 60 years earlier in Texas. Of course, the most famous symbol transmitting the feel of the Mother Church to the Grand Ole Opry was laid in place by the King of Country Music himself, Roy Acuff. He oversaw the removal of a section of the Ryman stage, a six-foot circle of wood, and placed it center stage in its new home. This is the iconic Circle, the actual wood upon which artists like Hank Williams, Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash once stood and sang. With the Circle centering the stage at the Grand Ole Opry, the feel of the Mother Church has entered the building.

Now well over 5,000 episodes old, the Grand Ole Opry is a hit that just keeps on hitting, its artists performing an average of more than 6,000 songs per year. The live shows, with established stars and newcomers, are never rehearsed and are never the same show twice. Over the decades, the Opry has inducted more than 200 members and, as of spring of 2022, had 68 active members. Induction is considered a high honor and the names on the list of former and current members are a who’s who of the artists who have defined the genre. From Uncle Jimmy Thompson, the original member, to names like Bill Monroe, Ernest Tubb, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Garth Brooks and Carrie Underwood, the Grand Ole Opry features the all-time greats. “You don’t have to see it or hear it, you automatically just know what it is,” said Underwood. “That is how legendary [the Opry] is.”

Each year, tens of thousands of folks join the audience to participate in the show, their applause heard over the airwaves in 38 states, in addition to Canada and Mexico. Backstage tours are available and should be on any Nashville visitor’s “must do” list. During the guided backstage tour, guests go behind the curtain and learn about the legendary venue’s history, get a glimpse of the artist’s dressing rooms and even walk across the stage into the famed wooden circle for a photo opportunity. The Gatlin Brothers have been members of the Grand Ole Opry for almost 46 years and Larry, who also hosts Opry Country Classics, said, “I feel an honor every time I come on the Opry stage, but I don’t walk across it if I’m not performing. I’m not telling anybody else how to do it, but it’s not a thoroughfare for me. That’s a sacred place.”