First question everybody asks: is there a dress code? No. Not at the Grand Ole Opry and not at the Ryman. You will see suits and you will see shorts on the same night. But these are the two most important rooms in country music, and most people want to look like they know it.
A Little History First
The Opry started on the radio in 1925 and has been on the air every week since. For about thirty years it lived at the Ryman Auditorium downtown, a brick church built in 1892 that everybody now calls the Mother Church of Country Music. In 1974 the show moved out to the Grand Ole Opry House, and they cut a circle out of the old Ryman stage and set it into the new one, so the people who sing there today stand on the same boards.
These days the Opry House is home most of the year, and the show often heads back to the Ryman during the winter. Either way, you are walking into history.
What to Wear to the Ryman
The Ryman is a church with wooden pews and stained glass, and it feels like one. Dress like you are going somewhere that matters, but dress for a pew. Dark jeans, boots and a good tee or a pearl snap is the move. A heavyweight tee like the Broke Musician Tee fits right in, a skeleton picker on a stage stool in a room that has seen every kind of picker there is.
Bring a light layer. The room can run warm when it is full and cold on the walk back out to Broadway.
What to Wear to the Opry House
The Opry House is out by Opryland, about fifteen or twenty minutes from downtown, and it is a bigger, more modern theater. The crowd is a little more relaxed. Jeans and boots are still the standard, and this is a good place to wear something with a story on the back. The Nashville Sessions Tee and the Holdup Tee both get a conversation started in the lobby.
Dress for the Season
Summer shows are hot in the parking lot and cold under the air conditioning. Winter shows mean a real jacket, or a heavy hoodie over a tee. The Lever Action Hoodie keeps it plain on the front and puts the roper across the back, which is about right for a room full of people facing the stage.
Can You Wear a Cowboy Hat?
Yes. Just be the person who takes it off when the lights go down so the folks behind you can see. Hat etiquette at a show is simple: wear it in the lobby, hold it in your lap or set it on the seat beside you once the music starts. Our guide to the right cowboy hat for you has the rest.
Come see us at the Hat Bar in Marathon Village. Pick a cowboy hat off the wall, get it branded and the brim shaped while you wait, and walk out wearing it.
Before the Show
Got an afternoon to kill before the Ryman? Marathon Village is a short ride away, and that is where you will find us. Grab a tee and change in the car. Shopping from home? Everything we design ships from Nashville within 2 business days. And for the rest of your trip, see our list of the best country music venues in Nashville.
