The Grand Ole Opry is an American weekly live country music radio broadcast from – and a several nights per week performance held at – the Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment, it is the longest-running radio broadcast in U.S. history. Dedicated to honoring country music and its history, the Opry showcases a mix of famous singers and contemporary chart-toppers performing country, bluegrass, Americana, folk, and gospel music as well as comedic performances and skits. It attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world and millions of radio and internet listeners.
The Nashville Municipal Auditorium is an indoor sports and concert venue in Nashville, Tennessee. It opened October 7, 1962 with both an arena and exhibition hall. The former exhibition hall has been permanent home to the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum since 2013.
WSM is a 50,000-watt clear channel AM radio station located in Nashville, Tennessee. It broadcasts a full-time country music format at 650 kHz and is known primarily as the home of the Grand Ole Opry, the world's longest running radio program. The station's clear channel signal can reach much of North America and nearby countries, especially late at night. It is one of two clear-channel stations in North America, along with CFZM in Toronto, that still primarily broadcast music; as recently as 2020, the station was live and locally originated during the overnight hours, but the overnight host position was eliminated in February 2020. Nicknamed "The Air Castle of the South," it spawned two sister stations on newer mediums: WSM-FM, which signed off in 1951 (WSM bought a different FM station in the 1960s which now has the WSM-FM callsign; and television Channel 4, which was later sold separately. The current WSM-FM is no longer affiliated with WSM, while the owners of WSMV and WSM jointly operate the television network Circle, which airs on a subchannel of WSMV and simulcasts portions of the Opry with WSM. WSM is owned by Opry Entertainment Group, a joint venture of Ryman Hospitality Properties, NBCUniversal and Atairos.
Opryland USA was a theme park in suburban Nashville, Tennessee. It operated seasonally from 1972 to 1997, and for a special Christmas-themed engagement every December from 1993 to 1997. During the late 1980s, nearly 2.5 million people visited the park annually. Billed as the "Home of American Music," Opryland USA featured a large number of musical shows along with typical amusement park rides, such as roller coasters.
Ryman Auditorium is a historic 2,362-seat live-performance venue located at 116 Rep. John Lewis Way North, in Downtown Nashville, Tennessee. A Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark, National Historic Landmark, and the former home of the Grand Ole Opry, it is one of the most influential and revered concert halls in the world. It is best known as the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974. It is owned and operated by Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. Ryman Auditorium was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 and was later designated as a National Historic Landmark on June 25, 2001, for its pivotal role in the popularization of country music.A storied stage for Rock & Roll artists for decades, the Ryman was named a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Landmark in 2022.
Centennial Park is a large urban park located approximately two miles west of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States, across West End Avenue from the campus of Vanderbilt University. The 21st-century headquarters campus of the Hospital Corporation of America was developed adjacent to the park.
The Tennessee State Capitol, located in Nashville, Tennessee, is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Tennessee. It serves as the home of both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly–the Tennessee House of Representatives and the Tennessee Senate–and also contains the governor's office. Designed by architect William Strickland (1788–1854) of Philadelphia and Nashville, it was built between 1845 and 1859 and is one of Nashville's most prominent examples of Greek Revival architecture. The building, one of 12 state capitols that does not have a dome, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and named a National Historic Landmark in 1971. The tomb of James K. Polk, the 11th president of the United States, is on the capitol grounds.
The Parthenon in Centennial Park, Nashville, Tennessee, is a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens. It was designed by architect William Crawford Smith and built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition.
At the Ryman is a 1992 live album by Emmylou Harris and her then-newly formed acoustic backing band, The Nash Ramblers, recorded at the one-time home of the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee.
Alan LeQuire is an American sculptor from Nashville, Tennessee. Many of his sculptures are installed in the city.
Amanda Carol Barnett is an American country music singer and stage actress.
The National Life and Accident Insurance Company is a former life insurance company that was based in Nashville, Tennessee.
Sidney Johnson "Fiddlin' Sid" Harkreader was an American Old-time fiddle player and string band leader. He was an early member of the Grand Ole Opry, at first accompanying banjoist Uncle Dave Macon and later performing on the program with his own band. In the 1940s, Harkreader formed and briefly toured with the Western band "The Round-Up Gang" before returning again to the Opry.
Belle Marshall KinneyScholz (1890–1959) was an American sculptor, born in Tennessee who worked and died in New York state.
The 2010 Tennessee floods were floods in Middle Tennessee, West Tennessee, south-central and western Kentucky and northern Mississippi areas of the United States of America as the result of torrential rains on May 1 and 2, 2010. Floods from these rains affected the area for several days afterwards, resulting in a number of deaths and widespread property damage.
Tootsie's Orchid Lounge is a honky-tonk bar located in Nashville, Tennessee behind the Ryman Auditorium, home in past years and occasionally in the present to the stage and radio show The Grand Ole Opry. Tootsie's has three stages that host live local talent each night, covering modern-day country music artists such as Jason Aldean, Taylor Swift, and other performers, as well as original work. Some of its early famous first customers were Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, Mel Tillis, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, Roger Miller and numerous other country musicians. According to the bar's website, Nelson received his first songwriting gig after singing at Tootsie's. Terri Clark, a Canadian-born country artist, started singing at Tootsie's in 1987, and has since become an internationally-known country star with hits such as "Better Things to Do," and the Warren Zevon cover, "Poor Poor Pitiful Me."
Peter J. Williamson was a Dutch-American architect.
Leopold Scholz (1877–1946) Austrian born American sculptor best known for his works in the National Statuary Hall Collection housed in the US Capitol in Washington D.C.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Nashville, Tennessee, United States.
Circle, also known on-air as Circle Network, is an American digital multicast television network owned by Circle Media, LLC, a joint venture of Gray Television and Ryman Hospitality Properties subsidiary Opry Entertainment Group. The network's programming consists of country music oriented shows, and rural/blue collar themed material, featuring a mix of original and off-network shows.
