Ryman & Grand Ole Opry to Reopen for Tours This Week

Ryman Auditorium
photo from Ryman Hospitality

Both the legendary Grand Ole Opry House and historic Ryman Auditorium will reopen their doors to the public for daytime tours beginning Friday, June 26.

Backstage tours of the Grand Ole Opry House will reopen for a weekend run Friday, June 26 – Sunday, June 28 at 10 a.m. before beginning daily tours on July 2, for an intimate look at the people, places, and stories behind the show that made country music famous. Self-guided tours of the Mother Church will be available Tuesday-Sunday from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., offering guests another way to experience one of the most active and celebrated venues in modern music.

Together with parent company Ryman Hospitality Properties, best-in-class safety procedures and training are being implemented at both venues to help promote guest safety. Both Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry House will strictly adhere to operating plans developed with the Company’s wellness partner Vanderbilt Health that meet or exceed CDC and local health department safety guidelines.

Guests can expect the following at both locations:

  • To ensure safe social distancing, both venues are operating with limited capacity in the building.
  • Staff will be required to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and receive temperature checks before each shift. That means guests will see staff in face masks during their visit.
  •  Health screening questions will be asked of each guest before their tour.
  • Guests are required to wear masks. If they do not have a mask one will be provided for them.
  • Backstage tours of the Ryman will not be offered at this time.
  • Guests will be positioned at least 6 feet apart while entering and exiting.
  • There will be hand sanitizer stations throughout the building for guests to use as needed.
  • Cleaning protocols and precautions have been elevated above the recommended requirements with proactive sanitary and disinfectant measures. These protocols include dedicated staff members for frequent cleaning of high touchpoint areas.

Focusing on the history of rock ‘n’ roll music at the Ryman, the Turn It Up! Ryman’s Rock Legacy exhibit will make its debut when the Ryman reopens for daily tours. The new exhibition, which will run for three years, showcases Ryman Auditorium’s rich and rockin’ cross-genre past that extends far beyond country music, the exhibit features artifacts from Elvis Presley, Peter Frampton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, John Mellencamp, Wilco, Neil Young, Steve Miller Band, Grace Potter, Drive-by Truckers, Bruce Springsteen and more. Tours of the Ryman begin with a stop in the state-of-the-art Soul of Nashville experience. Through this custom-built theater, guests experience a magical journey complete with holograms, special effects, multidimensional film images and archival footage to bring the history of the Ryman to life.

The Grand Ole Opry daytime backstage tours include an immersive film in the custom-built theater, The Circle Room, which opened last summer. Hosted by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, the film experience takes fans on an emotional, heartfelt journey through the eyes of the artists who play the world-famous stage and features priceless archival footage of over 100 artists, country’s most iconic songs, and concert-like special effects. Opry members Brooks and Yearwood share some of the Opry’s most powerful moments and lead a chorus of dozens of  past and present Opry artists—Roy Acuff, Trace Adkins, Patsy Cline, Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, Minnie Pearl, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban among them—in the Opry’s anthemic “Will The Circle Be Unbroken.”

Night-time activities available to the public at both venues remain paused and will resume in accordance with Nashville’s Roadmap to Reopening. For more information on daytime tours or to plan your visit, please visit ryman.com and opry.com.