Product Description

The official inside history of the home of country music--the Grand Ole Opry.

This is the story of the birthplace of country music as told by the people who were there--from the birth of country music 100 years ago to the songs and culture its myriad fans know and love today. Nearly every country music icon has crossed the Grand Ole Opry stage, including Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, and recent inductee Dierks Bentley. Drawing from detailed archives of correspondence, photographs, oral histories, and live recordings (few of which have been made public until now), this history offers fans an exclusive look into the heart and soul of country music.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #396186 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

From Booklist
Escott's overview of the long-running -Saturday-night performance showcase takes the form of oral history. The preponderance of the text consists of statements by Grand Ole Opry producers, sponsors, and stars, with the older comments drawn from old books and newspaper stories and the newer from Escott's interviews. Chronology, from the 1925 first broadcast--an hour of fiddling by 77-year-old Uncle Jimmy Thompson--to last year's star-smothered eightieth anniversary show, is strictly observed, and the program's development from being open to any musicians who showed up to being a series of discretely sponsored segments to being a flagship surrounded by satellite shows on Friday and the wee hours of Sunday to its present telecast presentation is clearly traced. That it was the brainchild of an insurance executive, and that some of country's biggest names haven't been and aren't members of the permanent ensemble (why they're not is never addressed), may surprise many. With decade-by-decade lists of the Opry's members and scads of performance photos, it's a honey of a book for every American library. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author
Colin Escott lives near Nashville, Tennessee.

Customer Reviews

Country Music Fans will love it
Subtitled: The Making of an American Icon

The story of how the Grand Ole Opry started and how it remains a vital part of country music today is told by music legends, both current and past. Interviews, notes and letters from legends of today, as well as those who live on only in the hearts of country music fans, are used to bring us little known facts and details about the Opry.

Minnie Pearl, Pee Wee Reese, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and Elvis
Presley all stood on the same stage and felt the same sense of honor at being there.

Funny stories, stories of tragedy and loss and tales from entertainment history are told about, and by, entertainers.

WSM radio started in 1925 as the brainchild of the son of a top executive of National Life Insurance Company. To get backing, he used the call letters WSM that the insurance company had used for years to mean, "we shield millions." The first few years of the fledgling station were rocky. From the struggle to keep the station alive came the idea to air a show called Radio Barn Dance that evolved into the Grand Ole Opry.

The history is interesting, the stories entertaining and the pictures delightful.

Armchair Interviews says: The perfect coffee table book for country music fans.

I wouldn't do it again
The history is watery and thin. There is no virtually history of artists and performers except for the few boilerplate "superstars" i.e. Uncle Dave Macon, Bill Anderson et.al. whose bios have been done over and over. You can get as much information about the artists and their history on the Opry webpage.

If you have no knowlege of the Opry, it's a fair general history, but if you're an "opryphile" and you're looking for new information that you've never heard or seen before, pass this one up.