Honors Theses
Date of Award
Spring 5-10-2020
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Southern Studies
First Advisor
Ted Ownby
Second Advisor
Rebecca Marchiel
Third Advisor
Jay Watson
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
This thesis centers around the history of Opryland USA, a theme park and “musical showplace” that existed from 1972 to 1997 in the suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee. Using a variety of primary sources including park ephemera, newspaper articles, and songs, I show how, over its twenty-five years, Opryland became a country music theme park after initially presenting a seemingly diverse picture of American popular music. I reveal that, despite local businessowners’ and musicians’ reluctance to embrace Opryland at first, the park was accepted by many Nashvillians to the point where it is now nostalgically mourned. Then, putting those primary materials in conversation with secondary scholarship on twentieth-century southern history, this thesis connects the relatively unexplored story of Opryland to broader themes in modern southern history including suburbanization, the rise of the Christian Right, and questions of authenticity and distinctiveness in an increasingly interconnected world.
Recommended Citation
Nieman, William C., "Country Fun: A Cultural History of Opryland USA, Nashville, and the Suburban South" (2020). Honors Theses. 1348.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1348
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