After more than four decades of pickin' and grinnin' at the Mountain Opry, the smiles and the music have stopped.
"The building is 100 years old and shows it, and I'm 86 and tired," said Ken Holloway. Holloway has been a part of the iconic Friday night tradition in the town of Walden on Signal Mountain since the beginning. He's been a performer, the emcee and the guy who sets up before it starts and cleans up when it's over.
"It's a lot of work," he said.
Every week, except for special occasions like a benefit when a schedule of performers was put together ahead of time, whoever showed up and wanted to play had the chance to get up and perform. The venue holds 250, and got that many in better times.
"We've provided the opportunity for a lot of young people to play over the years," Holloway said. "That's every Friday night for 40 years."
The last show was March 28.
Holloway said the roof has been replaced three times since the Opry started and he worries how safe the building is today for large crowds of people.
"I'm about to replace part of the roof, or have it done, when this virus thing is over," he said.
Upkeep and maintenance are a big issue, Holloway said.
"There have been people say they'd like to take it over, but I don't know how sincere they are, or that they realize how much work is involved. You have to clean up when it's over. The bathrooms get pretty messy. I get home about 1 o'clock in the morning."
The crowds had already started to dwindle before the new coronavirus forced people to stay at home, he said, adding, "I think it had just run its course. We had a lot of people come through over the years."
The virus and the order to shelter in the place simply made Holloway's decision to stop booking new events and end the series now easier, he said.
The Opry was started in 1979 by Ray Fox, formerly the dean of admissions at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He said he based the venue on the Lucy Opry, a similar event he attended while living in Memphis before moving to Chattanooga.
Fox approached retired barber J.J. Hillis, the man who happened to be in charge of the building, about using the town hall building with the idea of presenting live bluegrass or folk music at the Walden's Ridge Civic Center. With its strict no-alcohol policy it became a favorite for families and music lovers.
Fox signed a 50-year agreement, which Holloway said in an earlier interview with the Times Free Press he thought was "ridiculous," believing it would never be around that long. It didn't quite make it to the half century mark, but darned close.
Holloway laughed at the idea of trying to list the number of musicians who have played there. The Dismembered Tennesseans were regulars, and a trio of sisters from Calhoun, Georgia, called The Lovell Sisters made their debut there in 2004.
These days Rebecca and Megan Lovell perform as Larkin Poe. The duo played the Riverbend Festival last year and are part of this year's Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival. They agreed the Opry holds a special place for them.
"We loved coming up and playing," Rebecca Lovell said.
Holloway and Fox played the venue as part of The Mountaineers.
"It's been a good thing, and I sure have met a lot of people, but it's time, I suppose," Hollway said.
Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.
Staff file photo by Kate Medley / Jacob Jenkins (left), 3, and Myles Medley, 3, dance in front of the stage in 2004 while The Itis Brothers play at the Mountain Opry.