November 28th: Today in 1925 the Grand Old Opry show debuts on WSM radio, still its home today. I know that many look down on country music, but I have to say I think it is their loss. Much of country music is crap, but so is most rock, rap, opera, etc. If you look past the crap you can find some real gems, the roots of most modern music can be found in old country music and if you can’t hear the soul in Hank Williams Sr, Johnny Cash or Patsy Cline, well it tells me more about you than you may think.

The Grand Old Opry is classic Americana. Its survival is amazing considering the changes in American taste since 1925, reading a history of it shows how it has had to adapt and change. I have only been to one show live, probably about 12 years ago. I went expecting to be mildly entertained but mostly I had low expectations. The show was great and the energy in the hall was as real as any I felt at a Ramones show. You can listen to recent old shows here, they all won’t be gold, but I bet if you are a hater you might be surprised by how good some of the shows are.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 28th, 2006 at 1:20 am and is filed under History, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.