We begin with a visit to nashvilles Ryman Auditorium as author david ewing talks about how the venue became a place for political rallies, civil rights events and home to Country Musics grand ole opry. Today were at the historic Ryman Auditorium in downtown nashville, tennessee. It definitely tells the history of both things it is famous for. It was built by a river boat captain who was famously converted under a tent in downtown nashville in may of 1865. After his conversion, he believed that traveling ministers should have a permanent home inside that was large enough to take the large crowds of the traveling ministers who came to town. So captain ryman built the Ryman Auditorium and it opened at first in 1892 as a tabernacle. So thats the church part of the history. The music part of the history, the Country Music part, deals with the grand ole opry which came here in 1943 after being in many different homes in nashville, and stayed here until 1974 when the new opry house was built. But during the run of the 40s, 50s and early 70s, some of the famous people in all of Country Music history debuted here in the grand ole opry including hank williams, george jones, dolly parton. All these brand names in Country Music got their start in this building. The Ryman Auditorium almost didnt happen because of the 1880 president ial race, Grover Cleveland versus blaine. The democrats had lost six president ial races and had not won since 1856. Tom ryman, who was a riverboat captain in this town, was a very bad gambler. Tefs wa it was a big election and everyone thought blaman was going to w blaine was going to win, and ryman would take bets for blaman to win. Ill take 500 from you, 100 from you, 20 from you, and before he knew it, he had bet his house in the 1880 election. Thank goodness Grover Cleveland won, because if not, ryman would be penniless and broke and probably would not have built this a few years later. He envisioned this building as a hall for all types of religious dom nations and it could be rendered for anybody, so it did not have one particular slant for religion, it was available for everyone, which it was the Largest Convention hall when it was built south of the ohio river. So nashville got a lot of groups and people that came and had their events here because this was an incredible indoor space. Around 1925, the grand ole opry started in another building in downtown nashville near our state capital, but during that era, we had fiddling contests here at the Ryman Auditorium. One of the fiddlers, dr. Dave macon, who was later a member of the grand ole opry in that era, competed in the fiddling contest here in ryman. It was probably one of the earlier versions of Country Music. It was interesting that the ryman had been around for about 50 years when the grand ole opry came calling in 1943. And the building had seen better days from a physical standpoint. It didnt have any airconditioning, of course, and it didnt have proper heating at the time. So a lot of then some newer buildings were being built in nashville. The War Memorial Auditorium across from the capital and other venues can now have concerts. So when the grand ole opry moved from the War Memorial Auditorium to the ryman, it was a perfect marriage. We needed weekly events for this building, and the grand ole opry saved this building, in my opinion. Because if it werent for the weekly concerts that happened every saturday night in this building, this building would not have had the revenue to support it and would have been torn down long ago. But the opry coming in provided new energy to this building and provided a place where literally three or four thousand people a week got to hear the most popular and oldest Country Music show in the world. Interestingly enough, there was a Teddy Roosevelt story related to the assassination attempt in 1912 related to the Ryman Auditorium. Teddy roosevelt was in milwaukee, wisconsin and he was campaigning for president after he had left office, campaigning again. And an assassin shoots him and the bullet enters his chest. Hes got this long speech of about 50 pages. The bullet has slowed down but it still enters the chest. And Teddy Roosevelt, in tough guy fashion, he goes out and gives a speech, anyway. One of the first things he says is, ive just been shot and kind of shows the audience, but then gives this long speech and then goes to the hospital. The person who assassinated him tracked him down and was coming stayed in a hotel a few blocks away from the ryman. In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt had been to memphis, chattanooga and knoxville and was supposed to come to nashville. But an antiTeddy Roosevelt group had booked the ryman and only 200 people showed up. So this assassin was down the street thinking that the president would be here, and probably the reason Teddy Roosevelt didnt come to nashville is because this other group had booked the ryman. Only 200 people showed up, including a congressman, but that kept Teddy Roosevelt from nashville. And when at the caught the assassin in milwaukee after they shot him, the plans that he had to shoot Teddy Roosevelt and follow him around were on the back of the hotel stationery from nashville, tennessee two blocks from the ryman. The Ryman Auditorium played a very key point in the Womens Suffrage Movement in passing the 19th amendment that gave 27 million women the right to vote. Tennessee was the last state to ratify that on august 18th of 1920. Before that, susan b. Anthony spoke in this building in 1897 when tennessee was celebrating their 100th anniversary as a state with the tennessee centennial exposition. That was the first time that women were able to kind of hear from this National Leader and get involved in the movement. In 1914, tennessee had the first womens suffrage parade in the south, and based on that and what the local women did, the National WomensSuffrage Convention that susan b. Anthony started had their convention right here at the ryman. Many people had been to conventions that had more free time than work time. The women that came here in the fall of 1914, they wanted the right to vote, they were going to work hard. The sessions lasted until 3 00 a. M. In this building when the women got the right to vote. And, interestingly enough, the ryman has always been a place, because its so large, for political conventions of the state parties, the Democratic Party and the republican party. So in 1920, when it was time to select delegates to go to the Democratic NationalConvention Held in san francisco, they met here at the Ryman Auditorium. And for the first time, tennessee sent two women delegates to that convention, which was historic. That was really months before they passed the 19th amendment so women could get the right to vote. So history was made here even at the ryman before the right to vote was granted. The Civil Rights Movement was very important in nashville, tennessee. A few blocks from here, Young Students from fisk university, tennessee a and i, now tennessee university, including john lewis. They got arrested here. They challenged the system of what was going on in nashville, tennessee in the conscience of the country. So in 1962, Martin Luther king was here at the ryman to present an award or scholarship money to some of the freedom writer students. One of the students who got a check to go to school from Martin Luther king in the southern Leadership Conference was john lewis. So part of the history of the ryman is also Martin Luther king was here and spoke as well. Jackie robinson spoke a few years later here on the Civil Rights Movement as well. And even before that, booker t. Washington came to the ryman and spoke about three different times, sometimes for graduations, and so he had a crowd of about 5,000 people, which was the capacity back then. So if you wanted to hear one of the leading voices in america during any time of the rymans history, they came to the Ryman Auditorium. The Ryman Auditorium is the most interesting place to hear a speech or music in america. It is part home of the grand ole opry, it is a museum, but today its a thriving concert venue which has over 200 bookings. In the last five or ten years, people like diana ross, paul simon, aretha franklin, the foo fighters, munfort sons. The list goes on and on and on. Some people who normally play arenas of 15,000 to 20,000 play the ryman because it is such an interesting building that people want to perform in. The acoustics in the ryman is so amazing. The reason people like the Ryman Auditorium is because its unique, its a small venue. There is not a bad seat in this whole place. And the great thing about seeing a concert is you get to see one of your most favorite performers, but you get to see them in a much smaller space. When you go to a concert now, most performers thank their band, they thank their fans. When you walk across the stage of the ryman, you pay homage to the building. Most people, one of the first things out of their mouth, they Say Something about the building and how wonderful it is to be here. I hosted bob shefer during the president ial debates at belmont university. Gaylord entertainment, now the ryman group, has special concerts in this building, and they invited bob shefer, who has a country band, to perform and brad paisley was hosting that night. Interestingly enough, i talked to bob shefer after that, because he was moderating another president ial debate, the cycle of president obama and john mccain. I asked him, were you more nervous moderating a president ial debate or playing at the ryman . That was an easy answer. He said, i was so nervous at the ryman. This was my childhood dream to many pl play the Ryman Auditorium and it was as exciting as i thought it would be. The Ryman Auditorium on a National Level is a venue that has had speeches of president s, organized parties here. We had famous politicians even in the 20th century, al gore sr. And al gore jr. , another name that a lot of people may not know is joe burns, who was speaker of the house during president roosevelts time. He had many debates for congress here in the ryman. And when joe burns died, his funeral was in nashville and fdr came to that. Is to the legacy of the ryman is tied with the legacy of the opry. Today the opry is heard worldwide because of the internet and still because of wsn. The grand ole opry is the oldest radio show in the world, and were fortunate that the although the opry has a new home, it comes back here in the winter for a few months, and you can still see the grand ole opry where it was famous in the Ryman Auditorium. [ applause ] as the Ryman Auditorium reflects 20th century history, in the mid19th century, a Musical Group named the hutchinson family singers became the most famous entertainers in america as they traveled the country singing about freedom for enslaved africanamericans. Their 1844 song get off the track which is a Campaign Song for the Liberty Party, the first antislavery party in the United States history, one of the most popular songs of the hutchinson family singers. Indeed it becomes somewhat the anthem of the Antislavery Movement in the 1840s and anti the 1840s and 1850s. The book is on the hutchinson family singers. This group of answer slavery singers who were born in New Hampshire in the late 10s and early 1820s. They are a family group, thus the name, hutchinson family singers. A group of three brothers and one sister. I they are antislavery singers who are one of the most popular musical acts of the 1840s and 1850s. And i wrote it because the the uniqueness of the hutchinsons and of their story, but also the one really big question, which is how does a group that sings for a social reform, social activists musical social activists, how does this group become so popular . Initially, there are three the three brothers, judson, jesse, and Asa Hutchinson are somewhat captivated by this idea of, of music. They come from a large farming family in millford, New Hampshire, which is on the southern border of New Hampshire, the southern board, right, with massachusetts. And large farming family, mainly male children. Its a family of 11 boys and two two girls. One of the things that happens in the hutchinson family, right, the two oldest brothers are going to kind of split whats the family farm or in line to split the family farm. The next line of brothers move out west into ohio and into illinois. Then you have the youngest series of brothers who are going to form three quarters of the hutchinson family singers. They move to massachusetts, these somewhat early industrialized areas n. Lynn, the hutchensons connect their background in music that was developed through the Baptist Church. They had they come from a family that was very active in the Baptist Community in New Hampshire. And it taught them the church taught them how to sing. The church taught them how to read music. Music is a little bit problematic, particularly in rural mooug at the time, right . It is dangerous. People who are musicians are seen as immoral perhaps in some way. So the Church Provides a moral space for people to be able to sing because they are singing the word of god ask. The hutchinson family as a whole is active in the Musical Community in New Hampshire flew the Baptist Church. One of the brothers is the choreal director for the Baptist Church and provides Music Lessons for the community. The hutchinsons try to run with that while they are in lynn and get this idea that maybe we could become a performing troupe. In 1841 they decide to try their luck as three brothers. They tour new england and upstate new york, and it is a complete flop. They grew up, they claim n the mountains of the old Granite State, the White Mountains, even though the hutchinsons incidentally millford, New Hampshire, i think the highest point is only a couple of hundred feet and they dont visit the White Mountains until 1843. Nonetheless they present themself as coming from the mountains of the old Granite State ask. They try and spirmt, which is they bring their youngest sister, 12yearold abbey hutch. Son on the stage with them. And these two things, connecting to the geographic location of new england generally and the White Mountains in particular, the soil, along with bringing abbey on stage creates a baembased presentation that instantly resonates with audiences. So this quartet creates the foundation for the hutchinson family singers that begins to work. One example. In 1842, the hutchin sons play at dartmouth college. This is one of the early concerts with abbey hutchinson. And the first night they go out, they play to the audience. Its all men. They applaud. Its all great. Next night, they come out, and its a mixed gender audience with children, right . Men, their wives and children have come. The first night, the men are literally checking them out, right . Is this concert going to be acceptable for my wife and for my children to experience . And so this is the kind of gender dynamic that the hutchinsons are kinding playing around with in their stage presentation at this particular moment in time. But in 1842, there is an important event in the fall that starts to pump the hutchinsons in new directions. In october of 1842 a fugitive slave, george latmer and his wife rebecca arrive in boston. Seven years later they are recognized buy a friend of their virginian master who then contacts the master. The master contacts the United States marshal in boston and they a