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When the crowds grew too large for a single performance, a second Saturday night show was added. Long lines of fans braved winter cold and summer heat to see string bands such as the Gully Jumpers, the Fruit Jar Drinkers, and the Crook Brothers. Until 1938, the music was mostly instrumental. Then, however, a young man from East Tennessee named Roy Acuff stepped on stage with his Smoky Mountain Boys with songs such as "The Wabash Cannonball" and "The Great Speckled Bird." Singing found its place with the picking. Soon, singers such as Ernest Tubb, Cowboy Copas, and Hank Williams were regulars. In 1939, the NBC Radio Network began carrying a portion of the Opry as a network show. During the 1940s and 1950s, performers such as Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, Hank Snow, Ray Price, Marty Robbins, Kitty Wells, Johnny Cash, Grandpa Jones, and Porter Wagoner became Saturday night favorites across the country. In the 1960s, stars such as Loretta Lynn, Bill Anderson, Dottie West, Connie Smith, and Dolly Parton joined the elite group who could call themselves members of the Grand Ole Opry.  Country music, the Opry and technology harmonized as well as the vocalists on stage. While the Opry's popularity remained solid, the Ryman deteriorated and along with it, the surrounding portion of downtown Nashville. Once again, the solution was to move. This time, the destination was the Grand Ole Opry House, a 4,400-seat auditorium that was to become the centerpiece of the Gaylord Opryland entertainment resort. The Opry said goodbye to the Ryman Auditorium on Friday night, March 15, 1974. The next night, 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 an eight-foot circle of hardwood was taken from the Ryman and placed center stage at the Opry House. The magic continues. Dierks Bentley, Garth Brooks, Diamond Rio, Little Jimmy Dickens, Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, Loretta Lynn, Martina McBride, Lorrie Morgan, Brad Paisley, Jean Shepard, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Porter Wagoner, and Trisha Yearwood are among the stars that are part of the Opry family. Tens of thousands of people make pilgrimages every year to see and hear them. In the winter months, the Opry comes home to the Ryman, bringing full circle one of Nashville's great cultural and commercial success stories. Back in 1925, when National Life and Accident Insurance Co. started WSM, the company used the slogan, We Shield Millions, as the take-off for the station's call letters. The company may have shielded millions from fire, wind and flood, but it gave millions the sound of country.
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