The Grand Ole Opry was the gateway to country success in the years following World War II. While the Opry continues to be influential, this was one of its most fertile periods. Radio was king, and country music was the heart of what made the Opry popular. Charles K. Wolfe writes, "During the 1930s and 1940s, virtually every country musician had to establish himself or herself by doing live radio work" (ix).
The Opry helped establish central Tennessee as the country music capital. Joe Carr and Alan Munde write, "Many . . . country artists who began their careers in the late 1940s and early 1950s relocated to Nashville-'Music City USA'-or at least made it the center for their business endeavors" (145).
One of the characteristics needed to star on the Grand Ole Opry stage was testosterone. Until the later 1950s, when stars including Patsy Cline broke through, the conventional wisdom was that country music was men's work. Most of the women on the Opry stage at this time were part of family groups (such as the Carter Family, where two of the three primary performers were female).
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