At 100 years old, the Grand Ole Opry is the keeper of country music's legacy

At 100 years old, the Grand Ole Opry is the keeper of country music's legacy

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The ultimate symbol of the Grand Ole Opry's longevity is carefully preserved and ever present. But the hundreds of thousands of visitors who take in the country variety show each year can't spot it from the Grand Ole Opry House pews. They can only get a glimpse by taking the guided tour that includes an on-stage photo op at the microphone — the same one that broadcasts Opry stars' singing and stage banter to AM radio listeners. It's when visitors stand in the spot where the performers do that they can see it: a 6-foot sphere of battered, blond wooden flooring.

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A half century ago, that circle was cut from the stage of the Opry's previous home, the Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville, then transported to the suburban theater that's been its primary venue ever since. Between those two locations, artists of so many different styles, sensibilities and generations have performed on those floorboards that collectively comprise country music's most lasting and defining lineage.

"There's maybe some Hank Williams or Patsy Cline DNA somewhere," Gina Keltner, the Opry's associate producer of talent, says of the significance of that antique circle of stage. She wasn't around when either of those foundational country figures were on the show, but as caretaker of present-day Opry lineups, she's accustomed to hearing the performers she books speak of that stage as sacred ground.

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The Opry has aired every Saturday night for the last 100 years, which makes it the longest running live radio show in the world. When it was first broadcast from Nashville on November 28, 1925, country music wasn't yet a recognized genre. But radio barn dances were beginning to take off elsewhere, so local radio station WSM launched its own as part of what was initially a grab bag of musical programming intended to bolster the reputation of its parent company, National Life and Accident Insurance. (The station's call letters stood for the motto We Shield Millions.)

The talent the Opry drew from the surrounding area had backgrounds in older forms of entertainment, like vaudeville in the case of yarn-spinning old-time banjo picker Uncle Dave Macon and the hoedown circuit in the case of harmonica vi