The Grand Ole Opry Family of Properties Chooses Yamaha

Nashville wouldn’t be “Music City, U.S.A.” without the Grand Ole Opry, which has grown from a landmark 1920s radio show to a multi-venue entertainment empire. And neither the historic Ryman Auditorium nor the Grand Ole Opry itself would have quite the same sound without Yamaha pianos.

The 2,200-seat Ryman, considered the “Carnegie Hall of the South,” was home to the Grand Ole Opry broadcast until the show moved into the 4,400-seat Grand Ole Opry in 1974. The show returns to the Ryman for two months each year. The Opry has been the home of country music for generations, and artists from Roy Acuff and Hank Williams to modern superstars like Garth Brooks and Reba McEntire have performed there. Today, both legendary venues are equipped with Yamaha C7 conservatory grand pianos.

Gaylord Entertainment, operates the entire Grand Ole Opry family of properties, including shopping malls, hotels, resorts, and excursion boats, and has reaffirmed its commitment to Yamaha instruments in all its performance spaces. That also includes the Wildhorse Saloon, the Gaylord Opry Hotel, the Springhouse Golf Club, and the new Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee, Fla. “We are a totally exclusive Yamaha company,” says Gaylord Entertainment Account Manager Elizabeth Price.

“In our efforts to provide the best possible performance environment for our musicians and entertainers at the Grand Ole Opry, there was no doubt in our minds the piano on stage needed to be a Yamaha,” says Grand Ole Opry General Manager Pete Fisher.

Nashville’s Wildhorse Saloon boasts a Disklavier® GranTouch™ DGT2IIXG digital piano; the Gaylord Opry Hotel has three C3 conservatory grand pianos, one DGT2IIXG, one Disklavier Mark III DC1A grand piano and two Disklavier MX1 upright pianos to delight its guests; and the new Florida resort features eight Yamaha pianos in all, including two C3 conservatory grand pianos in a “dueling piano bar” and a C1 conservatory grand piano in each of the two presidential suites. The Opry’s General Jackson and Music City Queen excursion boats are equipped with Yamaha pianos as well.

“Our musicians that play at the Opry really demanded that we have Yamaha pianos,” Price says. “And we were very happy to comply.”