Experience the best in bluegrass on the very stage
where bluegrass was born over 60 years ago...

The Ryman Auditorium, the Mother Church Of Country Music and the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974, is sacred to the history of country music.

Especially important to the history of the Ryman is its significant role in the history of bluegrass music. Although Bill Monroe had been a member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1939, it wasn't until a Saturday night in December of 1945 when bluegrass music as we know it today was born when a twenty-one year old young man by the name of Earl Scruggs stepped up to the WSM microphone on the Ryman stage playing the five-string banjo with a three-finger roll. This was the final ingredient in what we now know as bluegrass music.

Although it wasn't known as bluegrass at the time, there was something very unique and special about this edition of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys with Earl Scruggs which also included guitarist/lead singer Lester Flatt, fiddler Chubby Wise, and bass player Cedric Rainwater. Their weekly broadcasts on the Opry at the Ryman Auditorium over WSM, their Columbia recordings, and personal appearances through early 1948 provided the architectural ground work for all of bluegrass music.

The well documented careers of Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, Jim & Jesse, and the Osborne Brothers, all legendary bluegrass acts, also became Grand Ole Opry members in their own right on the Ryman Auditorium stage.

Also important are the virtually dozens of well known bluegrass musicians who came through the ranks of the aforementioned bands appearing on the Ryman stage.

Text by Eddie Stubbs, 650 WSM Personality, Grand Ole Opry Announcer
& Host of Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman

---

Mark Your Calendars Now For 2008!

Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman
June 26 through July 31, 2008 - Thursday Nights at 7:30 pm

Back to Top

	The Legendary Earl Scruggs with Family & Friends with The Infamous Stringdusters Thursday, June 26 at 7:30 pm	Website
	Red, White, and Bluegrass Night Vince Gill with The SteelDrivers Thursday, July 3 at 7:30 pm $24.50	Tell A Friend! Website
	Rhonda Vincent & The Rage with IIIrd Tyme Out and Dailey & Vincent Thursday, July 10 at 7:30 pm $24.50	Tell A Friend! Website
	Cherryholmes and Bradley Walker Thursday, July 17 at 7:30 pm $24.50 Jim Lauderdale was originally scheduled to play with Cherryholmes on July 17th. Unfortunately, he has had to cancel his dates for the months of July and August. He is currently undergoing treatment for his vocal cords.	Tell A Friend! Website
	Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder with special guest The Whites Thursday, July 24 at 7:30 pm $24.50	Tell A Friend! Website
	Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys with The Grascals Thursday, July 31 at 7:30 pm $24.50	Tell A Friend! Website

Back to Top

---