Ryman Auditorium
Encyclopedia
The Ryman Auditorium is a 2,362-seat live performance venue, located at 115 5th Avenue North, in Nashville, Tennessee
and is best known as the historic home of the Grand Ole Opry
.
captain and Nashville businessman who owned several saloons. Ryman conceived of the auditorium as a tabernacle
for the influential revivalist Samuel Porter Jones
. After Ryman's death, the Tabernacle was renamed Ryman Auditorium in his honor. Architect Hugh Cathcart Thompson designed the structure.
It was used for Grand Ole Opry broadcasts from 1943
until 1974
, when the Opry built a larger venue just outside Nashville at the Opryland USA theme park
. (In an effort to maintain continuity with the Opry's storied past, a large circle was cut from the floor of the Ryman stage and inlaid into the center of the new Opry stage.) The Ryman then sat mostly vacant and fell into disrepair until 1992 when Emmylou Harris
and her band, the Nash Ramblers, performed a series of concerts there (the results of which appeared on her album At the Ryman
). The Harris concerts renewed interest in restoring the Ryman, and it was reopened as an intimate performance venue and museum in 1994. Audiences at the Ryman find themselves sitting in pews, the 1994 renovation notwithstanding. The seating is a reminder of the auditorium's origins as a house of worship, hence giving it the nickname "The Mother Church of Country Music".
The Ryman Auditorium was included in the National Register of Historic Places
in 1971, and was further designated a National Historic Landmark
in 2001.
, bluegrass
, blues
, country
, classical, folk
, gospel
, jazz
, pop
and rock
concerts, as well as musical theater and stand-up comedy
shows.
Also in 1999, Bill Gaither recorded The Cathedrals' Farewell Celebration video and album there, with various other artists, such as The Statler Brothers, The Oak Ridge Boys
, Guy Penrod
and Sandi Patti.
On January 30, 2003, Patty Griffin
recorded her live album, A Kiss in Time
, at the Ryman.
In 2005, Neil Young
recorded the movie "Heart of Gold", with Jonathan Demme
, at the Ryman.
In April 2006, Josh Turner
recorded a live album at the Ryman http://www.cmt.com/news/articles/1557717/20070420/turner_josh.jhtml.
In May 2006, English band Erasure
recorded their live album (both on CD and DVD), titled On The Road To Nashville.
Nickel Creek
planned to record a live DVD
at the Ryman, in late 2007 http://www.nickelcreek.info/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6920; however, the plans were scrapped.http://www.thebluegrassblog.com/nickel-creek-no-dvd-after-all/
Coldplay
released a limited edition autographed poster from a performance at the Ryman.
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
and is best known as the historic home of the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
.
History
The auditorium first opened as the Union Gospel Tabernacle in 1892. It was built by Thomas Ryman (1843–1904), a riverboatRiverboat
A riverboat is a ship built boat designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury units constructed for entertainment enterprises, such...
captain and Nashville businessman who owned several saloons. Ryman conceived of the auditorium as a tabernacle
Tabernacle (disambiguation)
The Tabernacle most commonly refers to the Jewish Tabernacle , which was a movable tent and worship facility used by the Israelites for the worship of Yahweh as recorded in the Book of Exodus...
for the influential revivalist Samuel Porter Jones
Samuel Porter Jones
Samuel Porter Jones was one of the most celebrated revivalists of his day, at the close of the 19th century. Famous for his wry wit and masterful story-telling, he is credited as a principal influence on Will Rogers....
. After Ryman's death, the Tabernacle was renamed Ryman Auditorium in his honor. Architect Hugh Cathcart Thompson designed the structure.
It was used for Grand Ole Opry broadcasts from 1943
1943 in music
-Events:*January 1 - Frank Sinatra appears at The Paramount causing a mob of hysterical bobby-soxers to flood Times Square and blocking midtown New York City traffic for hours...
until 1974
1974 in music
-January–April:*January 3 – Bob Dylan and The Band kick off their 40-date concert tour at Chicago Stadium. It's Dylan's first time on the road since 1966.*January 17...
, when the Opry built a larger venue just outside Nashville at the Opryland USA theme park
Opryland USA
Opryland USA was an amusement park located in suburban Nashville, Tennessee. It operated seasonally from 1972 until 1997...
. (In an effort to maintain continuity with the Opry's storied past, a large circle was cut from the floor of the Ryman stage and inlaid into the center of the new Opry stage.) The Ryman then sat mostly vacant and fell into disrepair until 1992 when Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
and her band, the Nash Ramblers, performed a series of concerts there (the results of which appeared on her album At the Ryman
At the Ryman
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 Ryman Auditorium, most famously known as the one-time home of the Grand Ole Opry, in Nashville, Tennessee. Harris had by this point disbanded her legendary Hot...
). The Harris concerts renewed interest in restoring the Ryman, and it was reopened as an intimate performance venue and museum in 1994. Audiences at the Ryman find themselves sitting in pews, the 1994 renovation notwithstanding. The seating is a reminder of the auditorium's origins as a house of worship, hence giving it the nickname "The Mother Church of Country Music".
The Ryman Auditorium was included in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1971, and was further designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 2001.
Notable events
The venue hosts alternative rockAlternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
, bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, classical, folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
concerts, as well as musical theater and stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
shows.
Also in 1999, Bill Gaither recorded The Cathedrals' Farewell Celebration video and album there, with various other artists, such as The Statler Brothers, The Oak Ridge Boys
The Oak Ridge Boys
The Oak Ridge Boys are an American country and gospel vocal quartet.The group was founded in the 1940s as the Oak Ridge Quartet. They became popular in southern gospel during the 1950s...
, Guy Penrod
Guy Penrod
Guy Penrod is a gospel music singer mostly known for his work as the lead singer of the Gaither Vocal Band, a position he held from 1994-2008.-Biography:...
and Sandi Patti.
On January 30, 2003, Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin, born Patricia Jean Griffin, March 16, 1964, is an American Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter and musician. She is especially known for her down-home crafting of songs and her connection to musicians including Emmylou Harris, Ellis Paul, and the Dixie Chicks, who have played with...
recorded her live album, A Kiss in Time
A Kiss in Time
A Kiss in Time is Patty Griffin's fourth commercially released album, and her first live album. It was recorded on 30 January 2003, at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee and released on 7 October of the same year...
, at the Ryman.
In 2005, Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
recorded the movie "Heart of Gold", with Jonathan Demme
Jonathan Demme
Robert Jonathan Demme is an American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. Best known for directing The Silence of the Lambs, which won him the Academy Award for Best Director, he has also directed the acclaimed movies Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married, the Talking Heads concert movie Stop...
, at the Ryman.
In April 2006, Josh Turner
Josh Turner
Joshua Otis "Josh" Turner is a country music singer and actor signed to MCA Nashville Records in 2003, Turner has released four studio albums for the label. The first of these was 2003's Long Black Train, whose title track was his breakthrough single release...
recorded a live album at the Ryman http://www.cmt.com/news/articles/1557717/20070420/turner_josh.jhtml.
In May 2006, English band Erasure
Erasure
Erasure are an English synthpop duo, consisting of songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke and singer Andy Bell. Erasure entered the music scene in 1985 with their debut single "Who Needs Love Like That"...
recorded their live album (both on CD and DVD), titled On The Road To Nashville.
Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek was an American progressive acoustic music trio consisting of Chris Thile , Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins . The band was founded in 1989 and released 6 albums between 1993 and 2006...
planned to record a live DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
at the Ryman, in late 2007 http://www.nickelcreek.info/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6920; however, the plans were scrapped.http://www.thebluegrassblog.com/nickel-creek-no-dvd-after-all/
Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
released a limited edition autographed poster from a performance at the Ryman.
Miscellany
- Ryman Auditorium has been featured in several moviesFilmA film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, including Robert AltmanRobert AltmanRobert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
's Nashville (19751975 in filmThe year 1975 in film involved some significant events, with Steven Spielberg's thriller Jaws topping the box office.-Events:*March 26 - The film version of The Who's Tommy premieres in London....
) starring David ArkinDavid ArkinDavid G. Arkin was an American actor best known for his numerous supporting appearances in the films of Robert Altman...
, Barbara BaxleyBarbara BaxleyBarbara Baxley was an American actress of stage, film and television.-Early life:Baxley was born in Porterville, California, the daughter of Emma and Bert Baxley.-Career:...
, Ned BeattyNed BeattyNed Thomas Beatty is an American actor who has appeared in more than 100 films and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain and a Golden Globe Award; won a Drama Desk Award....
, and Karen BlackKaren BlackKaren Black is an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She is noted for appearing in such films as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Great Gatsby, Rhinoceros, The Day of the Locust, Nashville, Airport 1975, and Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot...
; W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (19751975 in filmThe year 1975 in film involved some significant events, with Steven Spielberg's thriller Jaws topping the box office.-Events:*March 26 - The film version of The Who's Tommy premieres in London....
) starring Burt ReynoldsBurt ReynoldsBurton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...
, Jerry ReedJerry ReedJerry Reed Hubbard , known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country music singer, innovative guitarist, songwriter, and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films...
, Ned BeattyNed BeattyNed Thomas Beatty is an American actor who has appeared in more than 100 films and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain and a Golden Globe Award; won a Drama Desk Award....
, Don WilliamsDon WilliamsDon Williams , is an American country singer, songwriter and a 2010 inductee to the Country Music Hall of Fame. He grew up in Portland, Texas, and graduated in 1958 from Gregory-Portland High School. After seven years with the folk-pop group Pozo-Seco Singers, he began his solo career in 1971,...
, Mel TillisMel TillisLonnie Melvin Tillis , known professionally as Mel Tillis, is an American country music singer. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s, with a long list of Top 10 hits....
, and Art CarneyArt CarneyArthur William Matthew “Art” Carney was an American actor in film, stage, television and radio. He is best known for playing Ed Norton, opposite Jackie Gleason's Ralph Kramden in the situation comedy The Honeymooners....
; Coal Miner's DaughterCoal Miner's DaughterCoal Miner's Daughter is a 1980 American biographical film which tells the story of country music icon Loretta Lynn. It stars Sissy Spacek in her Academy Award for Best Actress winning role, Tommy Lee Jones, Beverly D'Angelo and Levon Helm, and was directed by Michael Apted.-Background:The film was...
(19801980 in film- Events :* May 21 - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is released and is the biggest grosser of the year ....
) starring Sissy SpacekSissy SpacekSissy Spacek is an American actress and singer. She came to international prominence for her for role as Carrie White in Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film Carrie for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination...
and Tommy Lee JonesTommy Lee JonesTommy Lee Jones is an American actor and film director. He has received three Academy Award nominations, winning one as Best Supporting Actor for the 1993 thriller film The Fugitive....
; Clint EastwoodClint EastwoodClinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
's Honkytonk Man (19821982 in film-Events:* March 26 = I Ought to Be in Pictures, starring Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret and Dinah Manoff is released. Manoff would not appear in another movie until 1987's Backfire.* June = PG-rated film E.T...
) ; and Sweet Dreams (19851985 in film-Events:* 3 December - Roger Moore steps down from the role of James Bond after twelve years and seven films. He is replaced by Timothy Dalton.* The Academy Award for Best Picture was won by Out Of Africa, while the highest grossing film was Back to the Future.* Bliss wins AFI Award for best Movie...
) starring Jessica LangeJessica LangeJessica Phyllis Lange is an American actress who has worked in film, theatre and television. The recipient of several awards, including two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes and one Emmy, Lange is regarded as one of the première female actors of her generation.Lange was discovered by producer...
and Ed HarrisEd HarrisEdward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...
. Neil YoungNeil YoungNeil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
used the venue in his 2006 film Neil Young: Heart of GoldNeil Young: Heart of GoldNeil Young: Heart of Gold is a 2006 documentary and concert film by Jonathan Demme, featuring Neil Young. The film was made in the summer of 2005 in Nashville, Tennessee, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and was released to theaters on February 10, 2006...
.
- The Denishawn Dance Company appeared at the Ryman on December 14, 1923, with Martha GrahamMartha GrahamMartha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture.She danced and choreographed for over seventy years...
, Louise BrooksLouise BrooksMary Louise Brooks , generally known by her stage name Louise Brooks, was an American dancer, model, showgirl and silent film actress, noted for popularizing the bobbed haircut. Brooks is best known for her three feature roles including two G. W...
, and Nashville native Doris HumphreyDoris HumphreyDoris Batcheller Humphrey was a dancer and choreographer of the early twentieth century. Humphrey was born in Oak Park, Illinois but grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She was the daughter of Horace Buckingham Humphrey and Julia Ellen Wells and was a descendant of pilgrim William Brewster...
among their performers.
- The Ryman Auditorium was the venue for The Johnny Cash ShowThe Johnny Cash Show (TV series)The Johnny Cash Show was an American television music variety show hosted by Johnny Cash. The Screen Gems 58-episode series ran from June 7, 1969 to March 31, 1971 on ABC; it was taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The show reached No...
, which ran on the ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
network from 1969 to 1971.
- The Ryman Auditorium was named Pollstar Magazine's National Theatre of the Year for both 2003 and 2004, beating out such venues as New York's Radio City Music HallRadio City Music HallRadio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
and Hollywood's Gibson Universal AmphitheaterGibson AmphitheatreThe Gibson Amphitheatre is a theatre located in Universal City, California, USA. It seats up to 6,189 for concerts, including 6,089 chairback seats...
.
- Each dressing room behind the stage is dedicated to a legendary performer such as Johnny CashJohnny CashJohn R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
and Minnie PearlMinnie PearlSarah Ophelia Colley Cannon , known professionally as Minnie Pearl, was an American country comedienne who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.-Early life:Sarah Colley was born in Centerville, in Hickman County, Tennessee,...
.
- The visitor tour claims that the Ryman Auditorium has been rated as having the second best acousticsAcousticsAcoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
in the world (after the Mormon Tabernacle ChoirMormon Tabernacle ChoirThe Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...
's home, the Salt Lake TabernacleSalt Lake TabernacleThe Salt Lake Tabernacle, also known as the Mormon Tabernacle, is located on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah along with the Salt Lake Assembly Hall and Salt Lake Temple.-History:...
).
- When the Grand Ole Opry House opened in 1974, a circle approximately five feet in diameter was removed from the Ryman stage's original floor and inlaid into the stage floor in the new Opry House where it remains today behind the lead singer's microphone.
- The Grand Ole Opry currently returns to the Ryman Auditorium annually for a run from November through February.
- Because of the 2010 flooding of the Cumberland RiverCumberland RiverThe Cumberland River is a waterway in the Southern United States. It is long. It starts in Harlan County in far southeastern Kentucky between Pine and Cumberland mountains, flows through southern Kentucky, crosses into northern Tennessee, and then curves back up into western Kentucky before...
that rendered the current Grand Ole Opry House temporarily unusable, the Ryman Auditorium became the primary venue for the Grand Ole Opry when it was available. This arrangement continued until the restored Opry House reopened on September 28, 2010. Because of its location away from the river, the Ryman Auditorium was unaffected by the flooding.
- A Prairie Home Companion A Prairie Home CompanionA Prairie Home Companion is a live radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor. The show runs on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central Time, and usually originates from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota, although it is frequently taken on the road...
’s website dubbed the Ryman “God’s Own Listening Room” in the week leading up to a March 26, 2011 show at the venue.
See also
- Academy of Country MusicAcademy of Country MusicThe Academy of Country Music was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Whereas the Country Music Association, founded in 1958, was based in Nashville, the Academy sought to promote country music in the western states. Among those involved in the...
- Country Music AssociationCountry Music AssociationThe Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
- Country Music Hall of Fame
- List of country music performers