Band digs up Nashville’s forgotten past with songs, videos

From a public hanging on Nashville’s Music Row to the days when a young and still unknown guitar player named Jimi Hendrix walked the city’s streets, a band is documenting Nashville’s forgotten history in songs and videos.

Granville Automatic, which got its start in Atlanta and is now based in Nashville, recently released its album “Radio Hymns.”

The title track recounts how the Ryman Auditorium was saved just as it was about to be demolished in the 1970s.

The former church that became home to the Grand Ole Opry radio show and still hosts music shows, was built with help from riverboat Capt. Thomas Ryman. He helped build the church after finding Jesus at a tent revival.

Ryman “wanted to save people — he felt Nashville needed saving,” said Granville Automatic songwriter and guitarist Elizabeth Elkins.

“I like to think the building is still saving people, even though it’s through music rather than through God,” Elkins said.

The band released an album of songs inspired by Civil War battles in 2015, then filmed videos on the battlefields and in the places where the stories played out in the 1860s. Future projects in the works include an album about lost buildings of New York City. Another album focused on Texas history, the home state of band member Vanessa Olivarez, is also planned.