GRAND OLE OPRY WEEK- The Unbroken Circle

The Grand Ole Opry is the show that made country music famous. Early Opry performers such as Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Ernest Tubb, and Bill Monroe became musical foundations for the Opry during its years in residence at the historic Ryman Auditorium, later welcoming to the stage artists who would become entertainment icons in their own right including Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, and Bill Anderson. All this week, That Nashville Sound is highlighting some interesting tidbits on the Opry. Today we’ll highlight its most important physical feature, the Unbroken Circle…

The Opry said goodbye to the Ryman Auditorium on Friday night, March 15, 1974. The Opry members gathered there one last time for an Opry performance, with Johnny Cash leading them in the appropriate finale, ''Will the Circle Be Unbroken?'' The next night, the circle remained unbroken, as the cast unveiled the new Opry, a $15 million palace outside of town. With its air-conditioning, high-tech equipment, and padded seats, it bore little resemblance to the rickety Ryman. One singer said, ''We're going from the barn to the house.''

The first night in the new Opry House, President Richard Nixon joined Roy Acuff on stage at the Grand Ole Opry House. Still, they could keep in touch with the traditions of the Ryman because a six-foot circle of hardwood was taken from the Ryman and placed center stage at the Opry House.

The six-foot circle of dark, oak wood in the Opry House stage is shiny but clearly well worn. Cut from the stage of the Opry's famous former home, the Ryman Auditorium, this circle gives newcomers and veterans alike the opportunity to sing on the same spot that once supported Uncle Dave Macon, Ernest Tubb, Patsy Cline, and others.

"That circle is the most magical thing when you're a performer," says Brad Paisley, "to stand there and get to sing on those same boards that probably still contain dust from Hank Williams' boots."

There is a reverence for this place. Built in 1974, there are 4,424 seats in the Grand Ole Opry House. The seating is laid out in rows of pews, each covered in felt-like fabric and padding, filling 37 sections. The pews of the first level stretch back below a second deck of pews, which rise almost vertically so that the second level almost appears to hang over the stage.

But it is that wooden circle that is the heart of the stage, the Opry's heart, its music and its members…