When the program now called the Grand Ole Opry debuted on November 28, 1925, the sole performer was a 77-year-old fiddler from the Tennessee hills playing into a primitive microphone with his niece accompanying him on ​the​ piano. “Country music,” the genre, didn’t even exist; the performance would have been considered hillbilly or old-time, or just fiddle tunes. In the century since, this homespun style has constantly evolved and expanded, and the Opry has grown alongside it. In 1974, ​​on the cusp of its 50th anniversary and at the dawn of a new age in country music’s mainstream appeal, the show left its longtime home at Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium downtown, an intimate venue built in the late 19th century, and was replanted on newly built grounds northwest of the city​​.