[1.] A night at the Opry : Backstage ; Remembering Roy Acuff ; What goes into an Opry show ; Grandpa Jones and Little Jimmy Dickens ; A bluegrass spectacular ; Hank Snow and Boy Howdy ; Saying goodnight
[2.] The hills are alive : Roots and branches: the origins of country music ; Old familiar tunes made new: America's hunger for nostalgia during the twenties ; Eck Robertson makes the first country record ; The competition between radio and records ; Fiddlin' John Carson and the first country hit ; Vernon Dalhart has the first million-selling country record ; How the music came to be called "hillbilly" ; Turn your radio on!: the WLS Barn Dance ; George D. Hay becomes a radio star ; A hot time in the old town of Nashville: station WSM goes on the air ; George D. Hay arrives at WSM ; The Grand Ole Opry is born: Uncle Jimmy Thompson kicks off the Opry ; The string bands ; Uncle Dave Macon ; DeFord Bailey
[3.] From blue yodels to cowboy tunes : The Bristol sessions: Ralph Peer plans a recording expedition ; Peer discovers the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers ; Tonic for a depression: the Stock Market Crash of 1929 ; The Opry thrives ; Harry Stone arrives at WSM ; The Opry turns professional ; WSM and the Opry widen their broadcasting range ; Opry artists begin touring ; The Opry outgrows one home after another ; The national barn dance: Bradley Kincaid ; WLS expands and begins broadcasting over NBC network ; Gene Autry and the cowboy sound: Autry's beginnings ; Autry's movie stardom ; Sons of the Pioneers ; Roy Rogers ; Pee Wee King ; The cowboy style catches on
[4.] Country diversifies : New styles for a new era: new sounds emerge ; The singing governor: Jimmie Davis and "You are My Sunshine" ; The kind of western swing: Bob Wills, Milton Brown, and their danceable sound ; The Texas troubadour: Ernest Tubb electrifies country ; Acuff arrives: Roy Acuff realizes his dream of Opry stardom ; The Opry broadcasts over the NBC network ; The father of bluegrass: Bill Monroe joins the Opry ; The show moves to Nashville's War Memorial Auditorium ; "How-dee!": Minnie Pearl joins the Opry ; Hooray for Hollywood: the Opry becomes a movie ; Roy Acuff as movie star ; Roy Acuff runs for governor
[5.] Music city, U.S.A. : Country and the war: problems with rationing and the draft ; Country music spreads from the country to the cities ; Acuff becomes a music publisher: Roy Acuff and Fred Rose found Acuff-Rose Publications ; The significance of BMI to country songwriting ; The Opry starts at the Ryman: a new home for country's hottest radio show ; Bob Wills visits the Opry ; The journey of Merle Travis: beginnings in Cincinnati with Grandpa Jones and King Records ; Movie making and songwriting in Hollywood ; Nashville's rise to power: Red Foley joins the Opry ; Recording begins in Nashville ; The Tennessee Plowboy: Eddy Arnold comes to prominence ; His manager, Colonel Tom Parker ; The hillbilly Shakespeare: the rise and fall of Hank Williams ; Nashville gets a new nickname.
[6.] All shook up : Winds of change: television and teenagers ; Man of steel: Webb Pierce and the pedal steel guitar ; Lefty: the legacy of Lefty Frizzell ; Tater and the Singing Ranger: Little Jimmy Dickens and Hank Snow join the Opry ; A woman's voice: Kitty Wells and her landmark record ; Beginnings of music row: Owen Bradley's transition from musician to recording studio owner ; The first studio on music row ; The hillbilly cat: Elvis Presley rocks Nashville ; After Elvis, the deluge: Buddy Holly ; Carl Perkins ; Jerry Lee Lewis ; Johnny Cash
[7.] A Nashville sound : Upheaval in Nashville : Problems at the Opry ; Rock and roll's effect on country ; The response: Chet Atkins aims for a new sound ; Jim Reeves ; Don Gibson ; The studio system ; Owen Bradley takes charge at Decca ; Brenda Lee hits the pop charts ; Patsy Cline's difficult climb to stardom ; Her tragic death ; Jim Reeves dies a year later ; The Opry in mourning
[8.] From fields of bluegrass to the streets of Bakersfield : Bluegrass meets the folk revival: the innovative banjo sound of Earl Scruggs attracts the folk movement ; Flatt & Scruggs become the biggest stars in bluegrass ; Bill Monroe finally gets his due ; The man in black: Johnny Cash connects with the folk movement ; Kris Kristofferson ; Buck from Bakersfield: Buck Owens and his beginnings ; His influential recording career ; The poet of the common man: Merle Haggard's early troubles ; His success as a recording artist ; "Okie from Muskogee" and its fallout
[9.] Woman to woman : A coal miner's daughter: Loretta Lynn's long road to Nashville ; Her frank songwriting sets new standards for country ; Heroine of heartbreak: Tammy Wynette's rags-to-riches story ; Her producer Billy Sherrill and husband George Jones ; Hello, Dolly: Dolly Parton gets an early start in music ; Her move to Nashville and partnership with Porter Wagoner ; Solo superstardom
[10.] Outlaws and rockers : A new home for the Opry: after thirty years the Opry leaves the Ryman ; The last tearful night ; The gala opening of the new Opry house ; President Nixon visits, and performs ; What Garrison Keillor learned ; Waylon: Waylon Jennings and his West Texas beginnings ; His work with Buddy Holly ; Waylon tries to fit in in Nashville ; How he became an "Outlaw" ; The red headed stranger: Willie Nelson and his first songwriting successes ; His troubles as a recording artist ; His move back to Austin, Texas ; His breakthrough albums ; Bocephus: Hank Williams Jr. wrestles with the ghost of his famous father ; His brushes with death ; His recovery and eventual success on his own terms ; The boys from Alabama: three cousins from Alabama work to establish themselves ; A permanent drummer joins them ; Alabama becomes the best-welling country act of the 1980s.
[11.] Hearts on fire : Urban cowboys: country music goes Hollywood ; Barbara Mandrell and her TV show ; The voice of experience: George Jones's reputation as country's greatest singer ; His marriage to Tammy Wynette and his struggles afterward ; His biggest record and his recovery ; Emmylou: her early ambitions and her failures ; Gram Parsons inspires her ; Her influence as a bandleader and as a recording artist ; The bluegrass kid: Ricky Skaggs joins Emmylou Harris ; His background as a musical prodigy ; Ricky goes solo and takes country music by storm
[12.] Back to basics : Who's gonna fill their shoes?: the New York Times pronounces the Nashville sound dead ; The 1985 CMA awards show spotlights a talented class of young artists ; Music videos begin to influence country ; Strait country: George Strait's music ; The soap sisters: the long and winding road that brought the Judds to Nashville and country stardom ; The voice of a generation: Randy Travis cements country's return to traditional sounds
[13.] Country's explosion : Honky tonk man: Dwight Yoakam makes country music cool again ; The ballad singer: Ricky Van Shelton hits with straight-ahead country ; Just folks: Kathy Mattea finds herself and a successful style in Nashville ; Mary Chapin Carpenter surprises herself by becoming a country star ; Clint: Clint Black closes the eighties with a bang ; Garth: how a jock from Oklahoma became Nashville's biggest star yet ; Alan: Alan Jackson reasserts the hard-country style ; Splendor in the bluegrass: how Vince Gill fulfilled his potential by turning down rock stardom for country ; Marty: Marty Stuart finds his rightful place in country ; Put some drive in your country: Travis Tritt brings back outlaw country
[14.] Will the circle be unbroken? : An embarrassment of riches: country's success in the nineties ; Achy Breaky Heart: how Billy Ray Cyrus and a catchy dance song conquered America ; Boot Scootin' Boogie: Brooks & Dunn prove two heads are better than one ; A new wave of traditionalists: Doug Stone ; Joe Diffie ; Aaron Tippin ; Mark Chesnutt ; Ladies choice: Trisha Yearwood ; Pam Tillis ; Lorrie Morgan ; Patty Loveless ; The Ryman reborn: a profusion of building projects in Nashville ; Emmylou Harris's live album at the Ryman provides a spark ; The Opry's former home undergoes renovation ; Trisha Yearwood's wedding ; Garrison Keillor kicks off the grand opening ; Back to the future: looking ahead ; The abiding strengths of country music and the Grand Ole Opry.
