Nashville's Ryman Auditorium is known as the Mother Church of Country Music. And, indeed, it began as a church, built by a riverboat captain who was converted to religion by an evangelist.
More than 130 years after it was built as the nondenominational Union Gospel Tabernacle, Music City's most revered concert venue retains its religious roots.
Thousands have filled its original wooden pews surrounded by colorful stained-glass windows to listen to stars ranging from Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton to Prince, Taylor Swift and Elvis, the king of rock 'n' roll.
"Technically it's a building, but it's clearly a living entity of some sort," said Jessi Woods, a tourist from Massachusetts. She toured the Ryman's museum in the morning of a recent visit and attended a performance by the band Postmodern Jukebox in the evening.
It all started with the Rev. Samuel Jones, an evangelist who came from Georgia to Nashville in 1885 for a revival sponsored by local churches under a huge tent.
