Downtown
Ryman Auditorium
Theater · 116 5th Ave N
The best-sounding hall in American music. A riverboat captain built it as a tabernacle in 1892, the pews are the originals, and artists talk about getting to play here the way athletes talk about a title.
Home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943 to 1974, which is where the Mother Church nickname comes from. Bill Monroe put Earl Scruggs on this stage in 1945 and bluegrass has dated itself from that night ever since. Hank Williams and Patsy Cline worked here week after week, not as a tour stop but as a job.
The acoustics were built for unamplified preaching and singing, so a voice with no help from the PA still reaches the back of the balcony. It is one of the most-recorded live stages in the country for exactly that reason.
It sat mostly dark for two decades after the Opry moved out and demolition was genuinely on the table. The 1994 restoration is the only reason you can still sit in it. Whatever you came to see, the building is half of what you get, and the crowd arrives already knowing that.
Upcoming events at Ryman Auditorium (91)
TheaterOur Pick
Fri Oct 9 · 8:00 PM
Deana Carter
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
The lightness of Deana Carter's biggest records can obscure how sharp the writing was. The Ryman should restore the details.
TheaterOur Pick
Thu Oct 15 · 8:00 PM
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 5 other dates, through Sat Oct 24
The first of six Ryman nights, and opening night is when the band is still deciding what the run is going to be.
TheaterFri Oct 16 · 8:00 PM
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 5 other dates, through Sat Oct 24
TheaterOur Pick
Sat Oct 17 · 8:00 PM
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 5 other dates, through Sat Oct 24
The one night of the run with no support act, which means a longer set and fewer excuses.
TheaterTue Oct 20 · 7:30 PM
Sons of Legion
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Wed Oct 21
TheaterWed Oct 21 · 7:30 PM
Sons of Legion
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Wed Oct 21
TheaterOur Pick
Thu Oct 22 · 8:00 PM
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 5 other dates, through Sat Oct 24
Lucero’s frontman opens solo, which sets up a night about two different ways of writing the same kind of damage.
TheaterOur Pick
Fri Oct 23 · 8:00 PM
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 5 other dates, through Sat Oct 24
Amy LaVere opens with an upright bass and a voice that does not need to be raised to reach the back of the Ryman.
TheaterOur Pick
Sat Oct 24 · 8:00 PM
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 5 other dates, through Sat Oct 24
The final night of a six-show Ryman stand, which is usually when the setlist stops being careful.
TheaterOur Pick
Wed Oct 28 · 7:30 PM
Shenandoah's 40th Anniversary Celebration with Special Guests
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Marty Raybon still has the voice, and those late-eighties records were better built than the format that produced them.
TheaterOur Pick
Wed Nov 4 · 8:00 PM
Dwight Yoakam
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Thu Nov 5
Four decades after country radio rejected him, the Bakersfield guitars still bite and the ballads still belong in the Ryman.
TheaterOur Pick
Thu Nov 5 · 8:00 PM
Dwight Yoakam
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Thu Nov 5
The Telecaster can stay sharp without flattening the voice, giving the Bakersfield songs both air and muscle.
TheaterOur Pick
Sun Nov 8 · 7:30 PM
The Milk Carton Kids
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Two guitars, two voices, and a great deal of silence. The Ryman was built for exactly this.
TheaterOur Pick
Thu Nov 12 · 7:30 PM
Lauren Alaina
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
A huge country voice in a hall that can also carry her quieter phrasing, years removed from the television competition.
TheaterOur Pick
Fri Nov 13 · 8:00 PM
Sawyer Brown
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Kinetic eighties and nineties country in a famously reverent hall. Mark Miller is unlikely to let the pews settle him down.
TheaterSat Nov 14 · 8:00 PM
Jim Gaffigan
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Sun Nov 15
TheaterSun Nov 15 · 8:00 PM
Jim Gaffigan
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Sun Nov 15
TheaterFri Nov 27 · 8:00 PM
Brett Eldredge
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 2 other dates, through Sun Nov 29
TheaterSat Nov 28 · 8:00 PM
Brett Eldredge
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 2 other dates, through Sun Nov 29
TheaterSun Nov 29 · 8:00 PM
Brett Eldredge
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 2 other dates, through Sun Nov 29
TheaterWed Dec 2 · 7:30 PM
Lauren Daigle
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Thu Dec 3
TheaterThu Dec 3 · 7:30 PM
Lauren Daigle
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Thu Dec 3
TheaterOur Pick
Fri Dec 4 · 8:00 PM
The Mavericks
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Sat Dec 5
Raul Malo died in December 2025, and the band kept going, with guest singers on his parts and a founding bassist back on stage.
TheaterOur Pick
Sat Dec 5 · 8:00 PM
The Mavericks
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Sat Dec 5
Raul Malo died in December 2025, and the band kept going, with guest singers on his parts and a founding bassist back on stage.
TheaterSun Dec 6 · 7:00 PM
Andrew Peterson
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Mon Dec 7
TheaterMon Dec 7 · 7:00 PM
Andrew Peterson
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Mon Dec 7
TheaterTue Dec 8 · 7:30 PM
Little Big Town: The Christmas Shows
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 2 other dates, through Thu Dec 10
TheaterWed Dec 9 · 7:30 PM
Little Big Town: The Christmas Shows
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 2 other dates, through Thu Dec 10
TheaterThu Dec 10 · 7:30 PM
Little Big Town: The Christmas Shows
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 2 other dates, through Thu Dec 10
TheaterMon Dec 14 · 7:30 PM
Amy Grant & Vince Gill Christmas
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 7 other dates, through Wed Dec 23
TheaterTue Dec 15 · 7:30 PM
Amy Grant & Vince Gill Christmas
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 7 other dates, through Wed Dec 23
TheaterWed Dec 16 · 7:30 PM
Amy Grant & Vince Gill Christmas
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 7 other dates, through Wed Dec 23
TheaterThu Dec 17 · 7:30 PM
Amy Grant & Vince Gill Christmas
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 7 other dates, through Wed Dec 23
TheaterMon Dec 28 · 7:30 PM
Toy Factory Project
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Tue Dec 29
TheaterTue Dec 29 · 7:30 PM
Toy Factory Project
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Tue Dec 29
TheaterWed Dec 30 · 8:00 PM
Old Crow Medicine Show
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Thu Dec 31
TheaterThu Dec 31 · 9:00 PM
Old Crow Medicine Show
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Thu Dec 31
TheaterWed Feb 17 · 8:00 PM
Stella Lefty
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Thu Feb 18
TheaterThu Feb 18 · 8:00 PM
Stella Lefty
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Thu Feb 18
TheaterFri Feb 19 · 8:00 PM
Joe Bonamassa
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Sat Feb 20
TheaterSat Feb 20 · 8:00 PM
Joe Bonamassa
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Sat Feb 20
TheaterSat Feb 27 · 8:00 PM
Michelle Branch
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Sun Feb 28
TheaterSun Feb 28 · 8:00 PM
Michelle Branch
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
Also plays 1 other date, through Sun Feb 28
Tue Mar 9 · 7:00 PM
Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy and Friends play R.E.M.'s Document
Ryman Auditorium · Downtown
