This volume is a study of the Grand Ole Opry from its beginning to 1940. The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of the genre since 1925. This detailed history and a group biography of the Opry's early years provides an account of the personalities, the music, and the social and cultural conditions that were such fertile ground for the growth of a radio show that was to become an essential part of American culture. The author traces the unsure beginnings of the Opry through its many incarnations, through cast tours of the South, the Great Depression, commercial sponsorship by companies like Prince Albert Tobacco, and the first national radio linkups. He gives colorful and engaging portraits of the motley assembly of the first Opry performers. With dozens of photographs and a complete roster of every performer and performance of these early Opry years, this work provides a full and authoritative portrayal of the colorful beginnings of WSM's barn dance program up to 1940, by which time the Grand Ole Opry had found its national audience and was poised to become the legendary institution that remains to this day.
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