In 1919, George D. Hay, a young newspaper reporter for the Memphis Commercial Appeal, visited Mammoth Spring on assignment and, before boarding a train back to the city, was invited to a traditional Ozark musical. He marveled at the enthusiasm of the musicians and dancers and later recalled meeting a truck farmer near the Missouri line who lived in an old railroad car, brought out a fiddle and bow, and invited him to a hoedown in a log cabin about a mile up a muddy road, where three old-time musicians furnished the earthy rhythm until dawn. A few years later, Hay took on the role of the "Solemn Old Judge" and inaugurated the Nashville radio show that became known as the Grand Ole Opry. In his 1945 book about the Opry and its history, he credited his visit to Mammoth Spring as the inspiration for the world-famous show, saying that the fun of that Ozark night stayed with him until the idea became the Grand Ole Opry seven or eight years later.