<P> Some of the bands regularly on the show during its early days included Bill Monroe, the Possum Hunters (with Dr. Humphrey Bate), the Fruit Jar Drinkers with Uncle Dave Macon, the Crook Brothers, the Binkley Brothers' Dixie Clodhoppers, Sid Harkreader, Deford Bailey, Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, and the Gully Jumpers . </P> <P> Judge Hay, however, liked the Fruit Jar Drinkers and asked them to appear last on each show because he wanted to always close each segment with "red hot fiddle playing". They were the second band accepted on Barn Dance, with the Crook Brothers being the first . When the Opry began having square dancers on the show, the Fruit Jar Drinkers always played for them . In 1926, Uncle Dave Macon, a Tennessee banjo player who had recorded several songs and toured the vaudeville circuit, became its first real star . </P> <P> The phrase "Grand Ole Opry" was first uttered on the air on December 10, 1927 . At the time, Barn Dance followed the NBC Red Network's Music Appreciation Hour, a program of classical music and selections from grand opera presented by classical conductor Walter Damrosch . On that particular night, Damrosch had remarked that "there is no place in the classics for realism ." In response, Opry presenter George Hay said: </P> <P> Friends, the program which just came to a close was devoted to the classics . Doctor Damrosch told us that there is no place in the classics for realism . However, from here on out for the next three hours, we will present nothing but realism . It will be down to earth for the "earthy". </P>

Where did the grand ole opry get its name