When fans play Dierks Bentley’s “American Girl” video online, they may find themselves a tad confused by the presence of a pipe organ.
Why the hell, one might ask, are a bunch of country musicians covering Tom Petty in a church?
But it’s actually a daily occurrence in Music City. As denominations across America consider the meaning of Good Friday and Easter this weekend, Nashville’s music infrastructure has drummers, producers, marketers and label executives working on their secular product in old churches that have been resurrected for a different purpose.
“I’m one who would never advocate for tearing down an old building if we could figure out a way to salvage it and make it useful in today’s age,” says Ryman Auditorium senior events manager Chrissy Hall. “If its use as a church isn’t necessarily what it’s needed for anymore, I think that’s a wonderful thing. It’s a great use of history.”
The Ryman is the most prominent example of a former place of worship becoming a modern Nashville music structure. Nicknamed the “Mother Church of Country Music,” it opened in 1892 as the Union Gospel Tabernacle, but in short order it was adapted as a significant meeting place. It earned particular notice as the home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1943-1974.
It was the place where Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn and Hank Williams all made their Opry debuts. It stands as a sort of “temple-ate” for other conversions from church to music-related structure. Clementine Hall – the place where Bentley shot his “American Girl” video – is an event space renovated from a Methodist church by Dragon Park. The company also turned an old Baptist sanctuary into Ruby, a…
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