Grand Ole Opry, king of all hillbilly shows, began almost spontaneously and kept growing untio, by the 1990s, it was a national country music institution, far from its hillbilly origins. The catalyst was George Dewey Hay, "the solemn ole judge," who discovered an affinity for simple mountain life on a mule expedition into the Ozarks in his youth. There he found a people unchanbged since Valley Forge, and he became an advocate of the primitive (butsometimes startlingly polished) mountain music performed at country dances and socials. _{John Dunning}