Miracle in Music City

by Natalie Grant

  “I hope so,” Maddie said, meaning it.

  SIX

  Lulu wriggled in her booster seat. “How long until we get there?”

  Mom checked the girls out in the rearview mirror. “Just a minute or two more.”

  From the passenger seat, Miss Julia turned to look at them too. “Anyone need anything? I packed a picnic dinner to eat backstage a little later, but do you need anything now? Snack bar or anything?”

  “No, thank you,” they all answered.

  Mom followed Dad, caravan style. They needed both cars since they’d brought so many auction items. Plus, some of the band members had squeezed into the car with Dad. Maddie watched out the window as they wound through side streets on the outskirts of Nashville. Outside, the wind was blowing hard, whipping tree branches back and forth with wild gusts.

  “Why again is the Opry so far away from town?” Maddie knew that if no one had an answer, Miss Julia would find out and teach them all something new.

  “It used to be some kind of farm.” Miss Julia tapped her phone to find the details, just like Maddie guessed she would. “Right. It was farmland used for making sausages.”

  “How does a farm make—” Lulu started.

  Mia cut her off. “Don’t ask.”

  Lulu gave Mia a puzzled look.

  Miss Julia shrugged. “Sausage comes from pigs.”

  “Oh,” Lulu said, and then made a face. “Right.”

  “So, the Grand Ole Opry started at the National Life & Accident Insurance’s radio venue,” Miss Julia explained. “More and more fans wanted to see the country music show, and they kept outgrowing their space. They ended up at the Ryman Auditorium downtown. The Ryman stuck for a while, but then they wanted an even larger space—one with air conditioning and plenty of parking. So, in 1974, they built the theater out here.”

  “There’s plenty of parking,” Mia pointed out, as they passed through the mall’s giant parking lot.

  “Before the new Opry building opened, they opened a theme park out here, called Opryland.”

  “With rides?” Lulu wanted to know.

  Miss Julia consulted her phone. “There were some rides. One was called Flume Zoom. Later on, it was renamed Dulcimer Splash. They also had the Timber Topper, which became the Rock and Roller Coaster.”

  “Ooh, like the barrel ride this summer,” Lulu said. “Remember when Mia saw that seal in the water, Maddie?”

  “On Barrel Buffoonery,” Maddie said. “That was one of my favorite rides in the whole park.”

  “My favorite thing at the park were the Belgian waffles,” Lulu said. “Oooh. Are we going to have popcorn at the Opry tonight?”

  “Remember, it’s not a regular night at the Opry. We’ll be getting ready for the auction,” Mom said. “We need to tag all the auction items and see what we’re still missing.”

  “What kinds of things will there be?” Mia asked. “More guitars?”

  Mom said, “There are a few instruments. A banjo, an accordion, some harmonicas, a couple ukuleles, and a tuba. There are also some gift baskets with concert tickets and gift certificates for dinner or dessert. People like to bid on experiences, so we have a couple baskets that offer dinner with famous musicians.”

  “Like Beethoven?” Lulu asked.

  “Taylor Swift?” Maddie asked.

  “Or the Glimmer Girls,” said Mia. “Since we’re having our Grand Ole Opry debut!”

  “We’ll see about that,” Mom said.

  Dad pulled up near the loading dock, and parked next to the other members of the band. Everyone piled out of the cars. The band grabbed their instruments, and the Glimmers filled their arms with auction items. Maddie ended up with a giant basket stuffed so full of tissue paper, she could barely see over the top. The loading dock door was open, so she headed in that general direction.

  She was so busy trying to navigate the parking lot, she nearly ran right into a man wearing jeans with holes in the knees. He had a scruffy beard, and hair that poked out from under a blue-and-maroon-striped wool cap. Surprised, Maddie stepped back and edged closer to Miss Julia.

  “That’s a lot of guitars you have there . . . Need me to take one of those off your hands?” he called after the band, his voice a little louder than it needed to be.

  “Who is he?” Maddie whispered to Miss Julia, hoping the man couldn’t hear.

  “Don’t worry,” Miss Julia answered, putting her arm around Maddie. “You’re safe.”

  “Not this afternoon,” Dad answered the man, smiling apologetically.

  “Never hurts to ask.” When the man smiled at Dad, it was like the sun had come out from behind clouds. His eyes lit up and, for just a moment, he looked kind and gentle and like he’d be easy to talk to.

  Maddie stayed close to Miss Julia, but she couldn’t help thinking this man, whoever he was, didn’t seem quite as bad as she’d thought at first.

  “Do you think he’s homeless?” Mia asked, once they were inside. “I mean, is he one of the people we’re raising money to help?”

  “I don’t know.” Maddie realized Mia might be right. The man had all the telltale signs. Dirty clothes, worn-out shoes, no coat—and that ragged wool hat. He was bony and thin, and looked like he might be hungry.

  “Do you think a homeless person would smile like that?” she asked Mia. “I mean, he seemed . . . I don’t know . . .”

  “What’cha talking about?” Lulu asked, joining them. “And where do I put this thing down? Why do we need a gigantic basket for this tiny envelope?”

  “This way, ladies.” Miss Julia led them toward a room with wide-open doors, directly across the entryway from the loading dock. The room had rows of pipes across the ceiling, with lots of theater lights.

  “Is this a theater?” Maddie asked, looking around the room for a stage.

  “It’s a filming studio,” Dad said. “This is where they filmed Hee Haw.”

  “What’s that?” Lulu asked.

  Dad grinned. “We’ll have to show you sometime. You’d love the television show. It’s an old-time musical revue with stories and singers. Lots of fun.”

  Tables had been set up around the room. The auction items were all clumped together on the middle table.

  “Set your baskets here,” Mom instructed. “Once we see what we have, we can spread them out across the tables. We’ll stage the auction here, and on the night of the benefit, take everything out into the lobby so people can bid.”

  SEVEN

  At first, shuttling the baskets to the various tables was a lot of fun. Dad let them oil the ukulele strings and polish the harmonicas. Lulu tried to play the banjo, but as the twangy music filled the room, Mom drew the line.

  “Let’s save music for the stage, girls. There’s a lot to go through here, and we all need to be able to hear ourselves think.”

  “Can we go play the instruments on stage?” Lulu asked, but all the girls knew the answer to that question.

  Unless the band members were supervising, no playing the instruments.

  “Can we go look at the dressing rooms?” Mia asked Mom, acting a little restless now that their part of the work was done.

  Maddie felt restless too. Now that they’d finished polishing instruments, there wasn’t much to do. Watching Mom and the committee check paperwork wasn’t all that interesting.

  “Ooh!” Lulu said. “I want to come.”

  “I’ll go with them,” Miss Julia offered.

  “Thanks, Julia,” Mom said.

  The dressing rooms were around the corner, through some double glass doors, and past the security desk. The girls and Miss Julia signed the clipboard and hung visitor badges around their necks.

  “I’m Charles,” the security guard told them, shaking each of their hands. “If you need anything, let me know. A couple of our staff are cleaning up the rooms. You never know, you might even be able to pry a story or two out of them.”

  “What are all those boxes?” Lulu asked.

  To the right of
the wood-paneled security desk, boxes with numbered glass doors lined a wall.

  “Those are mailboxes for the current Opry members,” Charles said. “Fan mail comes in for them from all across the country.”

  “Over here, they post all the members’ names.” Miss Julia pointed out the brass plaques that filled the wall behind them.

  Maddie scanned the names. A lot of them she’d heard before, but she didn’t know much of their music. “Carrie Underwood!” she said.

  “Did your mom ever show you the video of her invitation to the Opry?” Miss Julia asked.

  “No,” the girls said.

  Miss Julia pulled out her phone. “You have to see this. You girls will love it.”

  “Why don’t you go on into the Women of Country Music dressing room?” Charles suggested. “Perfect place to watch that video.”

  “True,” Miss Julia said. “Thank you!”

  Framed photos and glass cases lined the backstage hallway. Most of the pictures were of performers onstage. A glass case tucked into one of the walls was lit up and filled with costume pieces—a pearl-studded jacket, a shirt embroidered with holly and ivy, and some fancy boots. Information cards sat next to the items, explaining who had worn them and in which decade, making the hallway feel a little like a museum. Each dressing room had a sign on its door, and a specific name. They passed the Stars and Stripes Room, which had striped walls and flag pillows. A lighted mirror filled the far wall. Farther down the hallway, they found the Women of Country Music room. Maddie liked the curved blue couch and the soft brown and beige pillows that invited you to curl up and relax.

  They squished together on the couch so everyone could see Miss Julia’s phone. In the video, Carrie Underwood was just finishing a song on stage when she turned to see a man right beside her. Surprised, she shrieked and covered her mouth, and then gave him a big hug.

  “Who is that man?” Maddie asked.

  “That’s Randy Travis,” Miss Julia said.

  He invited Carrie Underwood to become a member of the Opry. This was clearly a big deal. She pressed her hands to her face and looked ready to cry—happy tears. They watched all the way to the end, and then her interview after.

  “It’s a big deal, when you’re invited to be an Opry member, isn’t it?” Mia asked.

  “It’s a huge honor—you’re being invited into a big, musical family,” Miss Julia said.

  “I want to be a member someday,” Lulu announced.

  “I can see that happening,” Miss Julia said.

  “And then I could wear sparkly costumes and have my own fan mail box!” Lulu said, bouncing off the couch and spinning around the room.

  “There’s a lot of work involved too,” Miss Julia said. “Opry members have to earn their membership all through their careers. They work hard, and pay dues too.”

  Lulu wasn’t really listening. She was too busy dancing around and imagining herself on stage.

  “Can we go look at some of the other rooms?” Mia asked.

  “Sure,” said Miss Julia. “Lead the way, girls.”

  They wandered from room to room. Each one had a lighted mirror and some kind of couch or cushy chairs, and pictures of singers who’d been at the Opry over the years. To Maddie, the dressing rooms felt alive with stories from the past, and made her feel that if you spent much time here, the talent—and courage—of all those past singers might just rub off on you.

  “Do you think Mom will let us sing on Friday?” Mia asked, as they came into the Cousin Minnie room, which was blue and pink, and even had an upright piano in it.

  “I don’t know.” Maddie still couldn’t picture herself standing on that stage, in front of an audience filled with people, singing. Not even if her sisters were up there with her. The thought of it made a whole flock of butterflies flutter in circles inside her stomach.

  Lulu led everyone into a room around the corner, where they found a woman straightening the chairs and dusting off the small end tables.

  “Well, hello there,” she said to the girls. “Welcome to the greenroom!”

  “Why is it called the greenroom?” Lulu asked.

  “All theaters have a greenroom,” Mia said. “Where the singers or actors wait for the show.”

  “Aren’t their dressing rooms for that?” Lulu asked.

  “Sometimes they want to be with the other performers, and the greenroom is a good place to gather,” the woman said. “The reason why they call the performers’ waiting room a greenroom is lost to history. Some people think it’s because one of the first waiting rooms for performers was painted green. But no one knows for sure. By the way, I’m Amanda.”

  “I’m Mia,” Mia said. “This is Maddie, and that’s Lulu.”

  “Hi there,” Miss Julia said, holding out her hand to shake Amanda’s. “I’m Julia.”

  “So, you’re getting ready for Friday’s benefit,” Amanda said to the girls.

  “Mom is setting up the auction items,” Lulu said. “And we’re learning our way around backstage, so we’ll be ready. We’re going to sing!”

  “We might sing,” Mia corrected.

  “Mom’s going to let us,” Lulu said confidently, causing Maddie’s butterflies to flutter all over again.

  “We’ll see,” Miss Julia said. “Actually, Amanda, the girls were hoping we’d find someone backstage who knew some of the Opry’s history. Mia and Maddie’s teacher, Jennifer Carpenter, is the great-granddaughter of Earl Eldridge Jr. She donated his guitar for the benefit.”

  “I have some excellent stories about Earl Eldridge Jr.,” Amanda said. “Want to sit a while?”

  EIGHT

  Actually, before you sit,” Amanda said, “come on over here and take a look at this picture. Here’s the man himself, and I’m willing to bet this guitar he’s holding is the one you’re auctioning.”

  Maddie squinted at the black-and-white picture, looking for the telltale chip. “It might be. I can’t see the chip at this angle.”

  “He dropped the guitar one night,” Lulu said, “when his strap broke, and the guitar got chipped. But even then, he didn’t want a new guitar. He thought the chip made his old guitar even more beautiful.”

  Amanda nodded, smiling. “That’s right. Sounds like you girls are already experts.”

  “Why was he so famous, though?” Mia wanted to know. “Was it just because he was one of the first members of the Opry?”

  “That’s not the only reason,” Amanda said, gesturing to the couches.

  The girls squeezed onto a couch that was a lot smaller than the blue one in the Women of Country Music room. Miss Julia sat in a chair next to them. Amanda leaned forward, elbows on her knees, her eyes sparkling. Before she even got started, Maddie could see she loved telling stories.

  “It all began on the night of November 28, 1925, with a radio broadcast hosted by George D. Hay. He called his show a one-hour barn dance, and it was full of old-time fiddle music and fun. People kept tuning in week after week. In 1927, for the first time, the words ‘Grand Ole Opry’ were broadcast across the radio. Soon, they added a live audience. From there, the show grew and grew, outgrowing its space time and again. In fact, the show’s popularity is one of the main reasons that people started calling Nashville ‘Music City.’ ”

  “But what about Earl Eldridge Jr.?” Lulu asked.

  “He was quite something,” Amanda said. “He was known for his chin whiskers and gold teeth—you saw those in the picture. E. E. Jr. would hoot and holler and stomp in the recording studio, giving the technicians a terrible time as they tried to manage the sound levels.”

  “E. E. Jr.?” Maddie asked.

  “Yes, that’s what people called him. He was a comedian as well as a musician, and everyone said his tales were the tallest of them all. One time, he tried to convince the Opry listeners that he’d been swallowed by a whale, just like Jonah.”

  “No one believed it, though,” Mia said. “Right?

  “As many times as he told that one, people
started to wonder,” Amanda said, laughing. “I’ve heard some old recordings where he’d spin that yarn, moaning over the smell inside the whale’s belly, and explaining all the ways he tried to come up, with no escape.”

  “So how’d he finally escape?” Lulu asked.

  Mia elbowed her sister. “Lulu, he wasn’t actually swallowed by a whale.”

  Lulu elbowed Mia right back. “Well, how did he say he got out, anyway?”

  “It was a different story each time,” Amanda said. “My favorite—of the ones I’ve heard—is that a starfish tickled the whale’s insides so fiercely that the whale coughed them both up.”

  “Ms. Carpenter said he served at a soup kitchen a lot,” Maddie said.

  “True. People who didn’t have enough to eat would line up, and there E. E. Jr. would be, telling jokes, dishing up soup, grinning his gold-toothed smile. I hear he used to say it wasn’t much good to warm up a person’s belly if you didn’t warm up his heart too.”

  “I wish I could have met him,” Mia said. “He sounds like a fun person.”

  “Me too,” Maddie said. “I’m glad we heard these stories about him. They make the guitar even more special.”

  “It will certainly be a special item for the fortunate person who wins it in the auction,” Amanda said.

  “Speaking of which,” Miss Julia said. “Girls, we should probably check in on how things are going in the studio. Are you ready to head back?”

  “I wanted to see the stage, though!” Lulu said.

  “It’s okay with me if the girls want to go on through to the stage and take a look,” Amanda said. “As long as they don’t touch any of the rigging or other equipment. But it’s fun to see the stage, especially when it’s quiet and empty the way it is right now.”

  “We promise not to touch any instruments,” Mia said. “Plus, some of the band members might even be out there still, setting up. Please, Miss Julia?”

  “As long as you promise to be on your best behavior. And no more than fifteen minutes. Then, if I haven’t come to get you, I want you to head straight back to the studio.”