Music City Facts & Trivia

• These songs and albums were all recorded in Music City:
  • Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel” in 1956
  • The Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love” in 1957
  • Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” in 1958
  • Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman” in 1964
  • Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde in 1966
  • Robert Knight’s “Everlasting Love,” in 1967
  • Joan Baez’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” in 1971
  • Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” in 1978
  • R.E.M.’s Document in 1987
  • Vanessa Williams’ “Save the Best for Last” in 1992
  • Matchbox Twenty’s Mad Season in 2000
  • India.Arie’s Acoustic Soul in 2001
  • Jimmy Buffett’s License to Chill in 2004
  • Neil Young’s Prairie Wind in 2005
  • Bob Seger’s Face the Promise in 2006
    
  • Bon Jovi’s Lost Highway in 2007
  • The White Stripes’ Icky Thump in 2007
  • The Raconteurs’ Consolers of the Lonely in 2006
  • Kid Rock’s Rock N Roll Jesus in 2007
  • Alison Krauss and Robert Plant’s Raising Sand in 2007
  • Kings of Leon’s Only By the Night in 2008.
    
    
• After one Sunday afternoon sermon, Captain Tom Ryman, infamous for breaking up tent revivals, became an instant convert and immediately began raising funds to build a church. Upon his death in 1904, the Union Gospel Tabernacle, the church he built, became known as the Ryman Auditorium. The famous hall would later host such performers as Enrico Caruso, Katharine Hepburn, and Bob Hope, and was home to the Grand Ole Opry for three decades. Not surprisingly, in both 2003 and 2004, the Ryman was named the best concert venue in the nation by Pollstar. The Ryman features the best music of today by artists of all genres.
  
  
• Jefferson Street saw a jazz, blues and R&B music heyday during the 1940s through the 1960s. Greats like Duke Ellington, Ella  Fitzgerald, Jimi Hendrix, Little Richard, Ray Charles, B.B. King, Ike and Tina Turner, Etta James and more played in numerous local clubs, such as The New Era Club, Del Morocco and Club Baron.
  
  
• United Record Pressing, a vinyl pressing plant in downtown Nashville, is one of only four remaining vinyl manufacturers in the nation. Operating since 1949, United has pressed millions of records for artists like Elvis Presley, Lionel Richie, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and N’Sync, as well as for numerous hip-hop and reggae musicians.
  
  
• Located on Music Row, recording studio 615 Music is internationally renowned for its musical talent in radio, television and advertising. Creating custom scores for television shows like the “Today Show,” “Regis and Kelly,” ABC Sports, HGTV, Animal Planet and more. Over 200 local TV stations and networks worldwide use 615 Music.
  
  
• The Jubilee Singers of Fisk University in Nashville introduced the world to the plaintive beauty and tradition of the Negro spiritual, which became the basis for other genres of African-American music. It was because of their successful international tours to raise funds for the university during the 1870s that Nashville first became known for its music.
  
  
• Thomas Hart Benton’s mural The Sources of Country Music hangs as a priceless treasure in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The mural, completed in 1975 when Benton was 85 years old, was a tribute to Tex Ritter, who died before Benton could complete the piece. Tragically, Benton suffered a massive heart attack while looking over the mural, right before signing his name. Hence, his approval never appeared on the art.
  
  
• The Hermitage, Home of President Andrew Jackson, boasts a driveway in the shape of a guitar. Legend says that the driveway was so shaped to please his daughter-in- law Emily. Nashvillians like to think it was a sign of good things to come.
  
  
• In 1925, National Life & Accident Insurance Company founded the radio program “WSM Barn Dance.” The station’s call  an acronym for the company’s slogan, “We Shield Millions!” Two years later, announcer George Hay was preparing for a Saturday night program, which followed a broadcast of classical music from New York. In his opening remarks, Hay quipped, “For the last hour, we have been listening to music taken largely from grand opera and the classics. We now present our own Grand Ole Opry,” and the name stuck.
  
  
• The amount on the price tag on Minnie Pearl’s hat was $1.98. The Centerville native and Grand Ole Opry star would eventually buy a home next door to the Governor’s Mansion on Curtiswood Lane in Nashville.
  
  
• President Richard Nixon was on stage when the Grand Ole Opry broadcast its first show in the new Opry House in 1974. The former President played “God Bless America” on the piano and Roy Acuff showed him how to yo-yo.
  
  
• Nashville is known the world over as “Music City” because WSM radio announcer David Cobb referred to Nashville with that nickname in 1950 on Red Foley’s NBC radio broadcast.
  
  
• Legendary Nashville musician Chet Atkins was nicknamed “Mr. Guitar.” A bronze sculpture of the recording pioneer stands at Fifth Avenue North and Union Street downtown.
  
  
• The well-known songs “Bunny Hop” and “Hokey Pokey” were recorded in Nashville and “Jingle Bell Rock” was written in Music City.
  
  
• Elvis Presley recorded more than 250 of his songs at RCA’s Historic Studio B on Music Row. The red, blue and green lights found in the studio today are remnants from one of Elvis’ Christmas albums. Unable to get into the holiday spirit while recording in July, he was having trouble finishing the album. The crew solved the problem by installing holiday-colored lights, putting up an artificial Christmas tree in the corner and cranking the air conditioner up as high as it would go to create a festive atmosphere.
  
  
• Country music artist Kathy Mattea was once a tour guide at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
  
  
• Country singer Randy Travis was a cook and dishwasher at the Nashville Palace before he made it big.
  
  
• Portions of 16th and 17th Avenue South are known as Music Row.
  
  
• In 1941, Nashville was granted the first FM-broadcasting license in the United States and Music City became the first to enjoy static-free radio.