Artist of the Week: Nashville, Saturday, July 20, 1946

On this one afternoon and evening, photojournalist Edward Clark, Nashville native, recorded the familiar weekly ritual of the Grand Ole Opry at The Ryman Auditorium. People arriving by truck, bus, and car from North Carolina to California; standing in line, hanging out backstage, on stage, and in the standing room only audience, and autograph seeking at the stage door. These photographs combine many legends - The Ryman, The Opry, many revered country music artists, whose careers were already at high tide in the 1940s - and Clark himself.

Clark had already recorded, or would soon record in LIFE Magazine, many of the images by which we remember the 20th century. Clark literally captured moments in time when the country music fans of fifty years ago lined up and the stars revved up for an evening at the Opry at The Ryman Auditorium in downtown Nashville.

Ed Clark's Opry series contains over 100 images. The photographs were neither printed nor published at the time. The negatives were tucked away in obscurity until 1994 when a chance discovery led to the development of a collectors' portfolio of selected images. Photographs from Clark's personal collection, including the entire Opry series, can be seen at The Arts Company so come in and visit!