The Grand Ole Opry: The Making of an American Icon
Escott's overview of the long-running -Saturday-night performance showcase takes the form of oral history. The preponderance of the text consists of statements byGrand Ole Opryproducers, sponsors, and stars, with the older comments drawn from old books and newspaper stories and the newer from Escott's interviews. Chronology, from the 1925 first broadcast--an hour of fiddling by 77-year-old Uncle Jimmy Thompson--to last year's star-smothered eightieth anniversary show, is strictly observed, and the program's development from being open to any musicians who showed up to being a series of discretely sponsored segments to being a flagship surrounded by satellite shows on Friday and the wee hours of Sunday to its present telecast presentation is clearly traced. That it was the brainchild of an insurance executive, and that some of country's biggest names haven't been and aren't members of the permanent ensemble (why they're not is never addressed), may surprise many. With decade-by-decade lists of theOpry's members and scads of performance photos, it's a honey of a book for every American library.Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved