The Ryman Auditorium crackles with the energy of tales told, songs sung, and souls saved.

Home of WSM's Grand Ole Opry radio show from 1943 to 1974, the former Union Gospel Tabernacle is still considered the Mother Church of Country Music. For much of the year, the tradition continues at Gaylord Entertainment's Grand Ole Opry House east of downtown. Each November through February, however, the world-famous show returns to the Ryman.

Ricky's Ryman Memories
Bluegrass virtuoso Ricky Skaggs relishes his annual pilgrimage to the place where music morphed into magic the first time he played there. "When I was 7, my dad brought me backstage," he recalls. "I was playing the mandolin and my dad was showing me off. All of a sudden, Earl Scruggs walked by." The legendary banjo player zeroed in on the tiny dandy, whose talent was leaving even crusty old pros slack-jawed with amazement. "That your boy?" Scruggs inquired. "Why don't you bring him down to audition or our television show?" The wunderkind landed the TV spot. "It was just that quick," Ricky says with a laugh.

The Ryman's roster of past performers from country, bluegrass, pop, rock, and rockabilly simply stuns. A sampling includes Hank Williams, Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, Patsy Cline, Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, and Minnie Pearl. Now, as then, the venerable auditorium serves as a unifying force, bringing together all types of performers and audiences. Recently, the Ryman has hosted acts as diverse as Nickel Creek, Bob Dylan, the Indigo Girls, Etta James, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

"I've played Carnegie Hall and other great halls," says Ricky. "But there's no place that makes me feel more at home and brings out the creativity in me like the Ryman. There's not another building like it in the world."