Last March, I almost spent the good part of a day at the Grand Ole Opry.

It’s Nashville’s claim to national — if not worldwide — fame and home to lovers of country music.

On my second visit the Opry in the last five years, I began my Opry experience with a mid-morning behind-the-scenes tour led by a guide in the guise of Loretta Lynn. The hour-long tour of the 150,000-square-foot auditorium that holds 4,400 concertgoers gives visitors a look at some of the Opry’s 18 dressing rooms and the Green Room. In the latter, the stars of country often meet with select members of the audience. It’s where artist Archie Campbell displays his large mural depicting his impressions of the Opry when it was staged at the Ryman Theater in downtown Nashville.

Folks on the tour also get to go on stage and look out into the vast hall where weekend concerts reach millions of television viewers and radio listeners via Sirius Satellite Radio.

The lineup for each Opry show is not completely set until just a few days before each concert, so it’s difficult to post the weekly schedule far in advance. However, Opry artists are posted online as soon as they’re confirmed to the Calendar of Events section of the auditorium’s Web site, www.opry.com.

Shows are at 8 p.m. Fridays, 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturdays, and 7 p.m. Tuesdays from March 4 to Dec. 16.

Each year, approximately 6,024 songs are performed at the Opry, which also hosts hundreds of thousands of concertgoers annually. At a typical concert, an average of 88 singers, musicians and dancers perform on stage, and audiences can expect a mix of music that touches country, bluegrass, comedy, gospel and other musical genres.

Concertgoers also can expect to see Country Music Hall of Famers, founding members who helped establish the Opry as the home of country music, revered superstars and rising rookies just starting to make names for themselves.

“The Grand Ole Opry celebrates the diversity of all the musical styles under the country music umbrella,” said Opry general manager Pete Fisher. “In addition, the Opry presents the many generations of artists who have formed country music’s rich legacy and continues to forge its future course. The key to the Opry’s longevity can be attributed to its ability to evolve with the ever-changing musical landscape of the times.”

During my stay, I managed to catch the 7 p.m. Saturday show that featured an array of performers that included Jimmy Dickens, Vince Gill, Kellie Pickler and the fabulous Charlie Daniels Band, who brought down the house with his music and gave me so many thrills I left with a copy of his new CD, “Deuces.”

In between the tour and concert, I managed to have lunch at Jack’s Bar-B-Que at 416 Broadway in downtown Nashville. Jack Cawthon opened the precursor to his award-winning eatery 35 years ago. The present restaurant’s patio overlooks the backstage door of the Ryman Theater (where the Opry performs in winter months) and windows from the restaurant’s second floor peer out on Broadway, location for both the Ernest Tubb Record Store and the raucous Wild Horse Saloon, one of Nashville’s most popular entertainment venues.

Each week, Jack’s is said to go through 1,000 pounds of pork, 700 pounds of beef and 600 pounds of ribs slathered with one of six of his award-winning sauces, which are sold worldwide over the Internet at www.jacksbarbecue.com.

If you’d like to take home a Grand Ole Opry souvenir, the Opry Shop located within the Opry House, is stocked with CDs, videos, wearables, books, musical instruments and themed collectibles and accessories.