As usual we took a Greyline bus tour and got a lay of the land, so to speak. We were taken through the city of Nashville and you really couldn't tell that they had a devastating flood six months ago. There is a huge shopping mall that will probably never be open again because they had $50 million in insurance, but the damages are running around $150 million. The Opryland Resort is still closed, but plans to have a grand re-opening on November 15. We've been told that if you saw it before, it will be 10x better and more glorious. The waters were about 6 feet deep and pretty much devastated the ground floors of the resort so there has been a lot of rebuilding and refurbishing going on. The Grand Ole Opry House reopened in mid-September and we went to a show there on Saturday night. But more on that later.
During the tour we were able to have a short visit to the Country Music Hall of Fame. We were there for an hour, but again we could have spent 3+ hours there. Would we have paid the $30 for admittance? Probably not. That is a little steep. But they have a very extensive collection of show costumes, guitars, gold and platinum records, pictures, artifacts, videos and recordings throughout the museum.
Our next stop was at the "Mother Church of Country Music" or the Ryman Auditorium. This was the original home of the Grand Ole Opry until 1974 when they moved to the new venue. It started out as the Union Gospel Tabernacle and held church services from the 1880's until 1904. It was renamed Ryman after Captain Thomas Ryman who built the church. In 1904 until 1943 the Ryman became a venue for a wide variety of events; revivals, jazz recitals, operas, ballet, debates and boxing matches. In 1943 it became known as "Carnegie Hall of the South" due to the upgrade of the performing arts that started there; Rudolph Valentino, Katharine Hepburn, Mae West and Bob Hope to name a few. The owner of the Ryman also rented out the hall for a live Saturday night radio show that had outgrown it's current hall. So began a long (1943-1974) love affair between the Grand Ole Opry and the Ryman Auditorium. In 2001 it was named a National Historic Landmark. It's still used for performances and has tours for your to go backstage to see where Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, Dolly Parton and Bill Anderson got ready for their turn on the stage. The Ryman is so precious to the Opry that when they built the new Opry House they cut out a circle from the Ryman stage in front of the microphone and installed in it the new stage. This auditorium has character. The floors creak, the pews are scarred and nicked and the paint it a little worse for wear, but that's what makes it the Ryman.
Then, like I said, we went to a show at the Opry House and I SAW MY BOYS!!! If your are into country music you will recognize these two:
Trace Atkins
Blake Shelton
We were seated about 125 feet from them and I was able to use my camera with the digital zoom and got real close without rushing up to the stage. That night Blake was inducted as the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry family. I think that was one of the highlights of this whole trip for me. Karl? Not so much. He's not into new country.
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