In 2023 I saw Crowded House at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. I didn’t know anything about the venue or its historical significance. I simply knew it was the first time they had toured in a decade and that this was the closest stop to me. Once you get to downtown Nashville the history and pedigree of that venue casts a long shadow. Howdy! Welcome to the Grand Ole Opry! Is an illustrated book that’s as much a love letter to live entertainment, as it is to country music and the physical entity where that great band from New Zealand played.
The Grand Ole Opry turns 100 in 2025. Fans of a certain age will remember The Grand Ole Opry from watching Hee Haw with their parents back in the 70’s. I don’t know if any of Hee Haw was filmed in that building. I simply recall that the institution was mentioned on the show. That was indeed a classic show that combined such disparate, archaic elements set against the slapstick, animation or a scantily clad weather girl, with musical performances every seven minutes or so. If this show had a corny romance and were set on a boat it could’ve been produced by Aaron Spelling.
As an illustrated book, Howdy! Welcome to the Grand Ole Opry! is very fun and effortless to look at. You’re thinking, “but I don’t like country music, so the book would be a waste of time.” I completely understand that line of thinking but take county music out of the equation and transpose the feel of the book to any other musical genre. The book would still work as a fan letter to that genre, as well as, an overview of music appreciation that any kid would find fascinating.
Put heavy metal, classical, rap, top 40, jazz, reggae, blues, electronica-any genre of music and ascribe it to its most well-known physical location. The Apollo Theater would be entertaining as an illustrated book if it were created in the same manner as Howdy!. I don’t know any professional yodelers or any go-to songs (or yodels). In my mind’s eye I envision it happening exclusively in Switzerland amidst jagged mountains climbing at impossible angles running north. Yeah, I’d still enjoy a book about that subset of a musical genre, if it were created with the same care and creativity as Howdy! Welcome to the Grand Ole Opry!.
The book uses multi-media on every page in an interactive, manic and creative way that demands your attention. The real photographs complement the illustrations in a manner that gives the pages an outsider art vibe. The illustrations and curt text add up to create a non-fiction story that effortlessly flows forward. The layout of the pages builds to a climax that makes the book feel like it ends too soon.
Is the goal of Howdy! Welcome to the Grand Ole Opry! to make young readers curious about county music? It is written by Emily Frans, the Director of Archives and Content for Opry Entertainment Group, so that’s logical. However, the book is so well done that it doesn’t come across as forced or artificial. It never says country music is the best and The Grand Ole Opry is a must visit destination. Instead, it introduces a building, follows it up with key people who have grown up with takes readers through the pomp, circumstance and honor that they encounter while performing there. Howdy! Is one of those great illustrated books that takes a thing young readers probably won’t be familiar with, and by the end of the book, makes them want to know more about the subject.
Howdy! Welcome to the Grand Ole Opry! is by Emily Frans with illustrations by Susanna Chapman and is available on Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Abrams Books.
There are affiliate links in this post.
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube