The Grand Ole Opry: Inside country music's most famous venue

ByJoe Maxfield OTRC logo
Monday, November 27, 2023
The Grand Ole Opry: Inside country music's most famous venue
For nearly a century, almost every Country Music star you can think of has played the Grand Ole Opry.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- For nearly a century, almost every Country Music star you can think of has played the Grand Ole Opry.

Featuring current superstars, rising stars and legends, the Opry performances are still broadcast on WSM Radio as they have been since 1925. For the artists chosen to perform on its famous stage, being inducted as a member of the Opry is one of the highest honors in country music.

"I think one of the most incredible things about the Grand Ole Opry and AM 650 is that through so many different things that we have endured, the show has never not gone on," singer Hillary Scott of the group, "Lady A" told "On The Red Carpet. "It has just been so steady over almost 100 years."

Lady A was inducted into the Opry in 2021. The group's other lead singer, Charles Kelley, noted another unique aspect of visiting The Grand Ole Opry: a chance to get up close and personal with some of the world's biggest country stars.

"While we're getting ready," Kelley told On The Red Carpet, "you know, they're doing tours backstage, and you know, you're running into fans ... It's kind of a neat access that a lot of other shows you don't get."

"This is that kind of special historical spot that," added Lady A's third member, Dave Haywood. "You know, we're just so proud to be associated with."

For much of its history, The Grand Ole Opry was broadcast from Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, known as "The Mother Church of Country Music," but since 1974, The Grand Ole Opry House has been its home, and nothing, not even the pandemic or the 2010 flood that submerged much of Nashville under water, has stopped the music.

To see more of what we found on our backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry, watch the video above.