Kathy Mattea, a near newly minted member of the Grand Ole Opry, doesn’t remember the first time she performed at the Ryman Auditorium.

There have been so many shows, but the West Virginia native does remember the first time she stepped inside the home of the Grand Ole Opry.

“When I first moved to Nashville, I worked as a tour guide at the Hall of Fame,” the country star said. “As part of what we did, on slow days, they’d send us around to the other tourist attractions so we could tell people about them firsthand.”

On one of these slow days, they sent the guides to the Ryman for a backstage tour.

“It was long before it ever got remodeled,” the country star said. “I walked out onto the middle of the stage, in this big, empty hall and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I got chills

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