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On Thursday, September 18, 2025, the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum celebrated the opening of its newest exhibition, Country's Grandest Stage: The Opry at 100. It examines notable performers and key moments in the history of the show that has entertained and enthralled millions. The exhibit, which is included with museum admission, runs until March 2027.
To mark the opening of the exhibit, the museum hosted a panel discussion with Country Music Hall of Fame member Vince Gill, Grammy-winning country artist Carly Pearce and Dan Rogers, senior vice president and executive producer of the Grand Ole Opry. Paul Kingsbury, the museum’s senior director of editorial and interpretation, moderated the discussion.
Over its long history, the Opry has become synonymous with country music and has featured country’s biggest stars among its cast, including Luke Combs, Ashley McBryde, Scotty McCreery, Brad Paisley, Carly Pearce, Carrie Underwood, Lainey Wilson and Country Music Hall of Fame members DeFord Bailey, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Vince Gill, Bill Monroe, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, Hank Williams and many others.
The Opry began on Nov. 28, 1925, when Nashville radio station WSM aired a performance by 78-year-old fiddler Uncle Jimmy Thompson. Inspired by the public’s enthusiastic response, the station’s program director, George D. Hay, created a weekly barn dance featuring local folk performers, which tapped into America’s deep vein of folk music and set the stage for what would become country music’s most beloved and enduring institution.
“The Prince Albert Show,” a half-hour segment of the Opry that debuted over the NBC radio network in October 1939, expanded the Opry’s reach and created a national audience of millions. By the 1940s, the Opry became famous for its singing stars and comedians, helping launch the careers of Country Music Hall of Fame members Roy Acuff, Eddy Arnold, Minnie Pearl, Bill Monroe, Ernest Tubb and others. Many artists relocated to Nashville for regular Opry appearances, which led to the city becoming a permanent home for the business of country music.
In the world of country music, membership in the Grand Ole Opry is a coveted honor. When the Opry began weekly TV broadcasts on The Nashville Network in 1985, an official induction into the show’s cast became an established practice. Notable inductees in recent years include Country Music Hall of Fame member Don Schlitz, the first songwriter to join the Opry, and Henry Cho, both the first Asian American and the first comedian in fifty years to become a member.
The Opry has endured despite many challenges, including from new media and sources of entertainment; damage from a catastrophic flood in 2010, which required months of repair and renovation to the Opry House; and the COVID-19 pandemic. It became the most-watched live music program during the pandemic, continuing its broadcasts from an empty auditorium for seven months.
The panel discussion was filmed and will be available to stream on the museum’s website later this year.