The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country-music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, which has presented the biggest stars of that genre. Founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio “barn dance” on WSM, it is the longest-running radio broadcast in history. Dedicated to honoring country music and its history, the Opry showcases a mix of legends and contemporary chart-toppers performing country, bluegrass, folk, gospel, and comedic performances and skits. Considered an American icon, it attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world and millions of radio and Internet listeners. The Grand Ole Opry holds such significance in Nashville that the signs on the city/county line signs on all major roadways read “Music City | Metropolitan Nashville Davidson County | Home of the Grand Ole Opry”. (More from Wikipedia)
“Somebody’s Knockin’” earned Terri Gibbs a Grammy nomination for Best Country Song, and the accompanying album, Somebody’s Knockin’ won the Academy of Country Music Award for Best New Country Artist and the inaugural Horizon Award (for an artist gaining new recognition) from the Country Music Association Awards. Terri Gibbs toured with George Jones and sang duets with him; she also performed at the Grand Ole Opry.
(July 2014)
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My final experience in Nashville on that trip was to see a musical play called Hank Williams: The Lost Highway that featured Jason Petty in the title role – he both looked and sounded like the man. The play was staged at the legendary Ryman Auditorium, the home of The Grand Ole Opry from 1943 through 1974.
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Wikipedia continues: “The album’s title [Will the Circle be Unbroken]. . . reflects how the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was trying to tie together two generations of musicians. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was a young country-rock band with a hippie look. . . . The other players were much older and more famous from the forties, fifties and sixties, primarily as old-time country and bluegrass players. Many had become known to their generation through The Grand Ole Opry. However, with the rise of rock-and-roll, the emergence of the commercial country’s slick 'Nashville Sound', and changing tastes in music, their popularity had waned somewhat from their glory years.”
(February 2015)
