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Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville,
Tennessee has become one of the most enjoyed weekly country music
shows in the nation, bringing the best country music singers in the
country onto their stage since 1925. It is considered to be one of
the longest-running broadcasts in the history of radio and other
media since starting its one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM;
dedicated to honoring country music and its colorful history,
featuring some of the greatest country music artists in the world,
as well as those singing or performing gospel, bluegrass, comedy and
folk. It has undoubtedly become one of the nation's most memorable
icons, welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors from across the
globe, along with millions of internet and radio listeners. This is
the place that has made country music what it is today, and is often
referred to as the "country's most famous stage" and the "home of
American country music". By the 1930s, the opry had to hire
professionals and enlarged their radio program to four hours;
bringing it into our homes on Saturday nights in almost 30 states.
The opry would gain national fame and attention in 1939 when it
debuted on NBC Radio, and moved into a permanent home at the Ryman
Auditorium in 1943. As it grew, the city grew and attracted more
singers and bands that wanted, dreamed of standing on that stage,
doing what they love to do, sing and play for a huge audience. It is
considered an honor to be a member of this illustrious group, and
one of country music's crowning glory, with such performing legends
as Minnie Pearl, Bill Monroe, Patsy Cline, the Carter family, Ernest
Tubbs, Roy Acuff and Kitty Wells. While these performers would
become regulars on the show, there were many others that just
stopped by to perform for the crowds, whether it was on the radio,
television and now internet. Some of them included; Reba McEntire,
Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood, Dolly Parton and Brad Paisley.
Beginning in 1974, the show would be broadcast from the opry house
that sits east of the downtown area, with performances shown on the
television often as well as on the radio. The Ryman had been the
home of the Grand Ole Opry until 1974, when it would move into its
own place, nine miles from downtown, with 4400 seats, becoming part
of the new Opryland USA theme park. President Nixon came to the
opening night on March 16, 1974, and he even played a few songs for
the audience and viewers on the piano. The opry stage is a huge
circle of wood that had been cut from the stage at Ryman's to bring
a taste of the original to the new venue. The theme park would close
it doors in 1997, but not the Opry, so they decided to replace the
park with the new venue of the Opry Mills mall, incorporating the
opry into that. It plays a few times each week, with a yearly
performance still given at the Ryman.
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Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
 The
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee was
created to identify and preserve the marvelous traditions and
history of country music as well as educating its visitors about the
fabulous industry that has grown so much a part of American's lives
over the last half century. The facility is a wonderful venue to
showcase country music's history, and is also an international arts
organization, serving visitors and non-visiting audiences that
includes; scholars, students, fans, the general public and members
of the music industry. The CMA announced they would open a Country
Music Hall of Fame in 1961, inducting Fred Rose, Hank Williams and
Jimmie Rodgers that first year at a banquet held in November. Bronze
plaques were created with the singer's facial image engraved on it,
and a thumbnail biography of every new member would be cast in bas
relief. The plaques were then unveiled at the Grand Ole Opry by
Ernest Tubb, and the plaques, as well as subsequent members would be
shown at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville until 1967. The CMA
would announce in 1963, the creation of the hall of fame and its
related museum that was to be constructed on Music Row in the city,
and it opened on April 1, 1967. This location closed in 2000, the
building taken down and replaced with a parking lot. Kathy Mattea
and Trisha Yearwood even worked as guides for the museum before they
became such outstanding stars. Five months later, on May 17, 2001,
the grand opening of the new museum was held, at a cost of $37
million, which is just ten blocks away from downtown; and the museum
showcases its excellent collections to highlight the story of
country music as it went through two turns of a new century. There
are exciting video clips, recorded music and a regular menu for live
performances, a museum store, on-site dining and public programs.
The outside of the facility is interspersed with music images, with
the best being the windows that mirror the configuration of piano
keys. Other significant images include the diamond shaped radio mast
that is also a copy of the WSM tower that is just a few miles south
of the city. There are numerous round discs encompassing the tower
that symbolize different sized CDs and records that had been used to
record the music during its fantastic history. If you should get an
opportunity to see the museum from the air, you'll notice that the
structure is shaped like a bass clef, with the northwest corner
jutting out like a tail fin from a 1950s Cadillac. In 2010, Shout!
Factory, working in partnership with the hall of fame, released two
double DVD sets named after a television special called, "Country's
Greatest Stars Live, Volume 1 and covers the first three hours of
the star filled cast that was hosted by Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell
and Roy Clark; and included performances by legendary artists, Gene
Autry, Loretta Lynn and Carlene Carter, along with many others.
Volume 2 showcases the last four hours; which were hosted by Charley
Pride, Eddy Arnold, Crystal Gayle and Tennessee Ernie Ford and
contains live performances by Asleep at the Wheel, Anne Murray,
Freddy Fender and more.
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Car Rentals
Nashville
The
Tennessee State Museum in Nashville, Tennessee describes the amazing
history of the state, beginning with the pre-colonization and
spanning the years up to the 20th century, including the Civil War,
the age of Jackson and the Frontier. It houses over 60,000 square
feet of permanent displays and a hall with another 10,000 square
feet for the changing exhibits. The whole area of this marvelous
museum is 120,000 square feet spread on three floors, with an
outstanding collection of battle flags for the Civil War that is
perhaps one of the biggest and finest in the country, weapons and
uniforms. The museum occupies the lower floors of the James K. Polk
building in downtown Nashville, that is shared with the Tennessee
Performing Arts Center. It is in the planning for a new structure to
be built in the Bicentennial Mall State Park very soon. The museum
also houses a magnificent military museum that highlights the
nation's military conflicts, beginning with the battles of the
Spanish-American War and going up to and including WWII. Their store
is a great place to pick up some state memorabilia, hand-made crafts
and jewelry. The earliest records about the museum begins in 1817,
when portrait artist, Ralph E. W. Earl would open a museum in the
public square of then early Nashville. The initial large state
museum would open in 1937, after the general assembly concluded that
the state would need a museum to contain all the numerous
collections from around the state and the many mementos that had
been acquired during WWI. Today, it showcases weapons, textiles,
quilts, furniture, paintings, silver and replicas of early grist
mill, print shop and painting gallery. Permanent displays include;
the new south, the first Tennesseans, the Civil War and
Reconstruction, the frontier, antebellum and the age of Jackson.
Some of the magnificent relics found in the first Tennesseans
exhibit includes information about the first prehistoric Indian
cultures that lived in the region some 15,000 year ago, and
containing artifacts from the Paleolithic, Archaic, Woodland and
Mississippian periods, including a mastodon skeleton that roamed the
area about 10,000 years ago. Other well noted and worth mentioning
items includes a steatite shaman's medicine tube, Dover flint mace
that had been a symbol of power to a Mississippian leader that lived
500 to 700 years ago and a Thruston and Hutcherson pictographs, that
are believed to be two of the most significant discoveries of the
late prehistoric politico-religious art discovered in the region.