The Opry years
The Grand Ole Opry radio show was first broadcast from the Ryman on 5 June 1943. It stayed for more than thirty years, until its last show there on 15 March 1974, and the building became known as the Mother Church of Country Music.
Music on the Ryman stage
Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys played the Ryman in 1945, and The Johnny Cash Show was recorded in the hall and broadcast from 1969 to 1971.
A second life
After the Opry moved away, the building was restored and reopened on 4 June 1994, with refurbished wooden pews. An expansion in 2015 added more lobby space, restrooms and a shop.


