Grand Ole Opry House started out just as a tool to sell insurance has transformed into one of the best and long lived country music radio shows in history.Early Opry performers such as Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Ernest Tubb and Bill Monroe became musical foundations for the Opry during its years in residence at the historic Ryman Auditorium, later welcoming to the stage artists who would become entertainment icons in their own right, including Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and Bill Anderson.The Opry said good-bye to the Ryman Auditorium on Friday night, March 15, 1974. The next night, President Richard Nixon joined Roy Acuff on stage at the Grand Ole Opry House. Still, they could keep in touch with the traditions of the Ryman because an eight-foot circle of hardwood was taken from the Ryman and placed center stage at the Opry House.Today the magic continues. Trace Adkins, Dierks Bentley, Vince Gill, Martina McBride, Brad Paisley, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Mel Tillis and Carrie Underwood are among the stars that are part of the Opry family.Grand Ole Opry House is a Awesome Place For Vacations.
Shows of Grand Ole Opry House
Over the decades, the program has featured nearly all the greats of country music. There is an Opry show on Tuesday and Friday (at 7pm), and two performances on Saturday (7 and 9:30pm). Additionally, a new Opry Country Classics performance on Thursday nights shines the spotlight on classic country songs that have defined country music for generations of fans.
Broadcasts
The Grand Ole Opry House is broadcast live on WSM-AM at 7 p.m. Central Time on Saturday nights. A similar program, the Friday Night Opry, airs live on Friday nights. From March through December, the Tuesday Night Opry is also aired live. A Wednesday Night Opry program was scheduled to debut in summer, 2010, but those plans were abandoned after the 2010 flooding.The Opry can also be heard live on Willie’s Roadhouse (XM Satellite Radio channel 56, and Sirius channel 64). A condensed radio program, America’s Opry Weekend, is syndicated to stations around the United States USA travel destinations. The program is also streamed on WSM’s website.PBS televised live performances from 1978 to 1981. In 1985, The Nashville Network began airing an edited half-hour version of the program as Grand Ole Opry Live; the show moved to Country Music Television and CMT Canada in 2001 (expanding to an hour in the process), and then to the Great American Country (GAC) cable network in 2003. The television version on GAC (Opry Live on Saturdays) is currently on hiatus.
Controversies
In the mid-1960s management decided to more strictly enforce the requirement that members must perform on at least 26 shows a year to keep their membership active. This imposed a tremendous financial hardship on members who made much of their income from touring and could not afford to be in or near Nashville every other weekend. This was aggravated by the fact that the Opry’s appearance fee paid to the artist was essentially a token. This requirement has been lessened over the years, but artists offered membership are expected to show a dedication to the Opry with frequent attendance.
Another controversy that raged for years was over allowable instrumentation, especially the use of drums and electrically amplified instruments. Some purists were appalled at the prospect; traditionally a string bass provided the rhythm component in country music and percussion instruments were seldom used. Electric amplification, then new, was regarded as the province of popular music and jazz in 1940s. Grand Ole Opry House is Awesome Place for Holidays. Though the Opry allowed electric guitars and steel guitars by World War II, the no-drums/horns restrictions continued. They caused a conflict when Bob Wills and Pee Wee King defied the show’s ban on drums. The restrictions chafed many artists, such as Waylon Jennings, who were popular with the newer and younger fans. 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.