The Grand Ole Opry is a country music concert and radio show, held between twice and five times per week, in Nashville, Tennessee.
The show began as a radio barn dance on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay and has since become one of the genre's most enduring and revered stages.
[1] Over its history, the Opry has featured a large, rotating ensemble of members ranging from all-time greats and neotraditionalists to contemporary stars.
As the Opry is a running series, membership requires that the performer appear regularly on the program to remain a member of the show.
Two of the members are stand-up comedians (Henry Cho and Gary Mule Deer), and one is a non-country musician (Steven Curtis Chapman, who sings contemporary Christian music).
Likewise, there have been three instances of parents and their children being inducted separately: Ernest Tubb and his son Justin, George Morgan and his daughter Lorrie, as well as Pam Tillis and her father Mel.
Founding member
DeFord Bailey
was the Opry's only black member until his 1941 departure; no others were inducted until 1993.
1938 inductee
Roy Acuff
, singer and publisher, was the public face of the Opry from the 1970s until his death.
The Everly Brothers
were briefly members in 1957. They left the same year to tour with
Buddy Holly
, remarking in 1960 that their style no longer fit the program.
Jeannie Seely
was the first woman to host a segment of the Opry and has appeared more times than any other performer—over 5,000 times in 55 years.
Jan Howard
performing at the Opry in 2007. After the death of
Little Jimmy Dickens
in 2015, Howard was the oldest member of the Opry cast until her death in 2020.
Riders in the Sky
have been Opry members and frequent performers since 1982.
