Now revered in country music circles, the Ryman Auditorium first began life as the Union Gospel Tabernacle in 1888. The Union Gospel Tabernacle was renamed the Ryman Auditorium in honor of Thomas Green Ryman, a riverboat captain, follower and philanthropist to the Union Gospel Tabernacle. In the early 1900s, the Auditorium became a conference center for organizations such as the Confederate Veterans Association.

The Grand Ole Opry began in the early 1920s as part of the WSM radio station of Nashville, Tennessee. The station played live music from local artists during the evening broadcast of Barn Dance WSM. During one broadcast in 1925, the Barn Dance followed an NBC presentation of New York symphonic music. The announcer of the radio station, George D. Hayes, stated that WSM listeners had heard a good mix of “grand opera.” However, for the remainder of the evening, the station would only play “grand ole opry.” The name became part of the WSM radio station.

The Grand Ole Opry represents the “mother church” of country music to many artists throughout country music history. As George Hayes described in a 1926 press release, the Grand Ole Opry had “tapped the vein of American folk music which lay smoldering and in small flames for about three hundred years.” The Grand Ole Opry program offered early folk artists such as Uncle Dave Macon, Fiddlin’ Sid Harkreader, the Fruit Jar Drinkers, and the Binkley Brothers' Dixie Clodhopperss to perform to live audiences.

The WSM station opened its studio doors to the public and promoted the traditional music of Appalachia. When crowds grew too large for the current studio, WSM moved into the Hillsboro Theater, then the Dixie Tabernacle, the War Memorial Auditorium, and finally, the Ryman Auditorium in 1943. Comedian Minnie Pearl described the move of the Grand Ole Opry to the Ryman Auditorium as the “beginning of the explosion of country music.” Talent at the Ryman cost WSM $1,500 per week. By the 1960s, the Opry had hosted performances by Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Hank Williams, and served as the stage for ABC’s The Johnny Cash Show in 1969.

Today, the Ryman Auditorium continues to hold performances. Although the Grand Ole Opry has moved to a larger facility, the auditorium welcomes regular winter performances. Additionally, the Ryman offers visitors exhibits on the history of the auditorium and the legend of country music in the Grand Ole Opry.

Script written by Michelle Richoll.

Credits and Sources:

“The Grand Ole Opry and the Urban South,” last modified Spring 2004, http://www.academia.edu/326868/The_Grand_Ole_Opry_and_the_Urban_South.

“Grand Ole Opry: A Local Legacy,” accessed April 8, 2015, http://www.americaslibrary.gov/es/tn/es_tn_opry_1.html.

“National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Grand Ole Opry House,” last modified May 15, 2014, http://tn.gov/environment/history/docs/national-register_grand-ole-opry.pdf.

“National Historic Landmark Nomination: Ryman Auditorium,” last modified August 11, 2000, http://www.nps.gov/nhl/find/statelists/tn/Ryman.pdf.