Named Pollstar Magazine’s National Theatre of the Year for both 2003 and 2004, Ryman Auditorium is virtually an icon of downtown Nashville, Tennessee real estate. You can’t miss the wonderful red brick building hugging the curb at 116 Fifth Avenue North that adds a Gothic Revival element to the block.
Thomas Ryman, a riverboat captain and Nashville businessman, commissioned architect H. C. Thompson to design the religious meeting hall after his conversion at an 1885 revival that was preached by Reverend Sam Jones. Rev. Jones preached several revivals which raised money for the Tabernacle, one in 1890 which drew 10,000 people a day. For that revival, the first meeting in the new but incomplete Tabernacle, a canvas was stretched across its six foot high walls to protect those gathered from inclement weather. The site became the home of Trevecca Nazarene University before becoming famous as the venue for the Grand Ole Opry, a famous country and western music show broadcast from 1943 until 1974.
The Ryman closed for many years while undergoing an extensive renovation. During its closure, however, movie makers and solo performers kept the Ryman alive at times. Reopening in June 1994 as a 2,362-seat live performance venue, the audiences still find themselves sitting in pews, a reminder of the origins as a house of worship called, “The Mother Church of Country Music.” In 2001, the facility was designated as a National Historic Landmark and included in the National Register of Historic Places.
You may recognize the Ryman Auditorium during movies such as Robert Altman’s Nashville (1975), W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975), Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980), Sweet Dreams (1985), and Heart Of Gold (2006). Top performers from the country music scene including Johnny Cash, Garth Brooks, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, and Tammy Wynette know the stage well.
A tour guide will tell you that the Ryman Auditorium is rated as having the second best acoustics in the world. The Salt Lake Tabernacle is rated #1. In addition to country musicians, countless others—from Elvis to Caruso to Bob Hope and Coldplay—fill the great acoustical space with bluegrass, blues, classical, gospel, jazz, pop, folk, and rock, musical theatre and stand-up comedy. Many musical performances are deliberately recorded here.
When the Grand Ole Opry moved to its larger building in 1974, a circle approximately five feet in diameter was removed from original stage of the Ryman and inlaid into the new Opry. Other sentimental gestures include dressing rooms behind the stage, each dedicated to a legendary performer such as Minnie Pearl.
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