(NBC) — This year marks the 100th anniversary of the “Grand Ole Opry,” Nashville’s mecca for country music.

NBC is celebrating the milestone Wednesday night with a live, three-hour special, “Opry 100”, hosted by Blake Shelton and featuring many of country music’s biggest names.

Some of those stars shared their thoughts about the Opry’s century-long legacy.

When Brad Paisley first dated his eventual wife, Kimberly Williams, he had to enlighten her.

“I said I was doing the Opry this weekend and she was out in California, and she said, ‘What’s that?’ I said, ‘What?!’” said Paisley.

The Opry is the Grand Ole Opry House, home to Nashville’s showcase stage for country music.

“Setting foot on the Opry stage is one of those moments where you feel like you’ve made it,” said Luke Combs.

It started with a 1925 radio broadcast of a barn dance music show in front of a small studio audience. Bluegrass, folk, gospel and country joined the weekly music mix and by 1927, a new name, the Grand Ole Opry.

The show’s audience surged on air and in person outgrowing multiple Nashville venues. Before settling at Ryman Auditorium in 1943.

“My mom and dad brought the family to Nashville, I got to see the Opry for the first time, never dreaming, in my wildest dreams, that someday, I might be lucky enough to step up on that stage myself,” said Bill Anderson.

Ryman would become a second home for Anderson, his achievements in country music made him one of the Opry’s 200 plus members.

“Hey, I got in there it was 64 years ago, and they still haven’t run me off,” said Anderson.

By 1974, the Opry moved again for more space, to its current four thousand-seat home, the Grand Ole Opry House.

“You feel the history and the richness of the stories and the people that have made country music what it is,” said Kelsea Ballerini.

Those weekly shows, with country’s biggest names, continued cultivating new Opry fans, including one young radio listener in West Virginia.

“It was an amazing sort of mental theater,” said Paisley. “I’m thinking about, ‘What’s going on, what’s it look like? What’s happening in that place that’s so important?’”

Making it all the more momentous when artists get that first chance to perform there.

“It’s probably like Neil Armstrong trying to explain what it’s like walking on the moon,” said Keith Urban. “You can see it and you can imagine it, but you’ve got no reference for it.”

But that feeling and a century of Opry history will get a star-studded salute Wednesday night.

“I can’t imagine it’s been a hundred years,” said Barbara Mandrell.

Watch “Opry 100” live on Wednesday at 8 p.m. on NBC4.