Country-music radio show broadcast from the Grand Ole Opry House theatre in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Begun in 1925, it is the nation's longest continuously running radio show and the last survivor of the big country music shows of radio's golden age.
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly Saturday night country music radio program broadcast live on WSM radio in Nashville, Tennessee, and televised on Great American Country network.
History
The Grand Ole Opry started out as the WSM Barn Dance in the new fifth floor radio station studio of the National Life & And, when the Opry began having square dancers on the show, the Fruit Jar Drinkers always played for them.
In 1926, Uncle Dave Macon, a Tennessee banjo player who had recorded several songs and toured the vaudeville circuit, became its first real star.
As audiences to the live show increased, National Life & 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.
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 (Opry manager Jim Denny) that he ought to return to Memphis to resume his truck-driving career, prompting him to swear never to return. 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.
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, preceded the new Opry House by two years.
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.
Impact and economics
In many ways, the artists and repertoire of the Opry defined American country music. Being made a member of the Grand Ole Opry is to be identified as a member of the elite of country music.
The quality of the program has waxed and waned over the years. In the mid-1960s management decided to enforce strictly the requirement that members had to perform on at least twenty-six shows a year in order to keep their membership active.
The Opry management was so certain in its belief that only someone who could truthfully bill themselves as a "Member of the Grand Ole Opry" could be considered to be a major country music star that it felt this rule could be enforced; The quality of the Opry suffered in the years following, and by the late 1970s and early 1980s the Opry was regarded by many country music fans as sort of a musical equivalent of a sports "old-timers' game," where only former stars were to be seen.
Another controversy that raged for years was over allowable instrumentation, especially the use of drums and electrically amplified instruments. These restrictions were largely eliminated over time, alienating many older and traditionalist fans, but probably saving the Opry long-term as a viable ongoing enterprise.
Management has been very conscious of the need to enforce its trademark on the term Grand Ole Opry and limit use to members of the Opry and products associated with or licensed by it. The record company's attorneys successfully argued that WSM's management indeed owned the rights to the words Grand Ole Opry, but only in that order and combination, and no more owned the word Opry in isolation than they owned Grand or Ole.
This has made the management wary about the issue of licensing and trademarks. (Much the same thing happened when the Coca-Cola company failed to trademark the term "cola.")
In September 2004, it was announced that the Grand Ole Opry had contracted for the first time with a "presenting sponsor" and would henceforth be known as "the Grand Ole Opry presented by Cracker Barrel." Cracker Barrel, a long-time Opry sponsor headquartered in nearby Lebanon, Tennessee, is a chain of country-themed restaurants and gift shops whose market overlaps with that of the Opry to a great extent.
Grand Ole Opry Members
Current Members
Trace Adkins Bill Anderson Ernie Ashworth Dierks Bentley Clint Black Garth Brooks Jim Ed Brown Roy Clark Terri Clark John Conlee Wilma Lee Cooper Diamond Rio Little Jimmy Dickens Joe Diffie Holly Dunn Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers Vince Gill Billy Grammer Jack Greene Tom T. Newman Osborne Brothers Brad Paisley Dolly Parton Stu Phillips Ray Pillow Charley Pride Jeanne Pruett Del Reeves Riders In The Sky Jeannie Seely Ricky Van Shelton Jean Shepard Ricky Skaggs Connie Smith Mike Snider Ralph Stanley Marty Stuart Pam Tillis Randy Travis Travis Tritt Porter Wagoner Charlie Walker Steve Wariner The Whites Trisha YearwoodDeceased Members
The following is an incomplete list of individuals who were Opry members at the time of their death.
Roy Acuff Jack Anglin Boxcar Willie Rod Brasfield Archie Campbell Bill Carlisle Lew Childre Patsy Cline Jerry Clower Stoney Cooper Cowboy Copas The Crook Brothers Skeeter Davis Roy Drusky Lester Flatt The Fruit Jar Drinkers Don Gibson Hawkshaw Hawkins David Houston Grandpa Jones Bob Luman Uncle Dave Macon Sam and Kirk McGee Bill Monroe George Morgan Bashful Brother Oswald Johnny Paycheck Minnie Pearl Jim Reeves Tex Ritter Marty Robbins Johnny Russell Hank Snow Stringbean Ernest Tubb Justin Tubb Billy Walker Dottie West The Wilburn Brothers The Willis Brothers Del WoodFormer Members The following is an incomplete list of living and deceased performers who left or resigned from the Opry membership.
Eddy Arnold The Bailes Brothers Deford Bailey Bobby Bare Margie Bowes Carl and Pearl Butler Martha Carson June Carter Johnny Cash Zeke Clements Cousin Jody The Everly Brothers Red Foley The Four Guys Curley Fox Lefty Frizzell The Glaser Brothers Fiddlin' Sid Harkreader Goldie Hill Sonny James The Jordanaires Rusty and Doug Kershaw Pee Wee King Bradley Kincaid Lonzo and Oscar Bobby Lord Ira Louvin Rose Maddox Willie Nelson Norma Jean Webb Pierce The Poe Sisters Ray Price Sarie and Sallie Earl Scruggs Carl Smith The Stoney Mountain Cloggers Texas Ruby B.J.
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