Grand Ole Opry

The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly Saturday night country music radio program broadcast live on WSM Radio in Nashville, Tennessee. It is the oldest continuous radio program in the United States, having been broadcast on WSM since November 28, 1925. It is also televised and promotes live performances both in Nashville and on the road.

History

The Grand Ole Opry started out as the WSM Barn Dance in the new fifth floor radio station studio of the National Life & Accident Insurance Company. The featured performer on the first show was Uncle Jimmy Thompson, a fiddler who was then 80 years old. The announcer was producer George D. Hay, known on the air as "The Solemn Old Judge." He was only 30 at the time and was not a judge, but was an enterprising pioneer who launched the Barn Dance as a spin-off of his National Barn Dance program at WLS Radio in Chicago, Illinois. Some of the bands regularly featured on the show during its early days included the Possum Hunters, the Fruit Jar Drinkers, the Gully Jumpers, and the Crook Brothers.

Related Topics:
George D. Hay - Judge - National Barn Dance - WLS - Chicago, Illinois

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1928, Uncle Dave Macon, a Tennessee banjo player, became its first real star. The name Grand Ole Opry came about on November 28, 1928. The Barn Dance followed NBC Radio Network's Music Appreciation Hour, which consisted of classical music and selections from grand opera. Their final piece that night featured a musical interpretation of an onrushing railroad locomotive. In response to this Judge Hay quipped, "Friends, the program which just came to a close was devoted to the classics. Doctor Damrosch told us that there is no place in the classics for realism. However, from here on out for the next three hours, we will present nothing but realism. It will be down to earth for the 'earthy'." He then introduced the man he dubbed the Harmonica Wizard — DeFord Bailey who played his classic train song "The Pan American Blues". After Bailey's performance Hay commented, "For the past hour, we have been listening to music taken largely from Grand Opera. From now on we will present the 'Grand Ole Opry.'" The name stuck and has been used for the program since then.

Related Topics:
1928 - Uncle Dave Macon - Banjo - November 28 - Classical music - Opera - DeFord Bailey

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As audiences to the live show increased, National Life & Accident Insurance's radio venue became too small to accommodate the hordes of fans. They built a larger studio, but it was still not large enough. The Opry then moved into then-suburban Hillsboro Theatre (now the Belcourt), then to the Dixie Tabernacle in East Nashville and then to the War Memorial Auditorium, a downtown venue adjacent to the State Capitol. A twenty-five cent admission began to be charged, in part an effort to curb the large crowds, but to no avail. In 1943, the Opry moved to the Ryman Auditorium.

Related Topics:
Suburb - 1943 - Ryman Auditorium

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On October 2, 1954, a teenage Elvis Presley made his first (and only) performance there. Although the public reacted politely to his revolutionary brand of rockabilly music, after the show he was told by one of the organizers that he ought to return to Memphis to resume his truck-driving career, prompting him to swear never to return. Ironically, years later Garth Brooks commented in a television interview that one of the greatest thrills of playing the Opry was that he got to play on the same stage Elvis had.

Related Topics:
Elvis Presley - Garth Brooks

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Ryman was home to the Opry until 1974, when the show moved to the 4,400-seat Grand Ole Opry House, located several miles to the east of downtown Nashville on a former farm in the Pennington Bend of the Cumberland River. An adjacent theme park, called Opryland USA, was developed, but shut down in the late 1990s by the current owner of the Opry, the Gaylord Company. The theme park was replaced by the Opry Mills Mall. An adjacent hotel, the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, is one of the largest non-gambling hotels in North America and the site of dozens of conventions annually.

Related Topics:
1974 - Cumberland River - Theme park - Opryland USA - 1990s - Gaylord Company - Opry Mills - Hotel - Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center - Gambling - North America

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Still, the Opry continues, with hundreds of thousands of fans traveling from around the world to Nashville to see the music and comedy on the Opry in person.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~