The Grand Ole Opry has posted the line-up for the shows this weekend. There will be one show on Friday night, and the Opry is back to just one show on Saturday night, which will be the case until April. The only exception will be if there is a demand based on ticket sales to add a 2nd Saturday night show.
A couple of things that I noticed regarding the line-up. Jimmy Dickens is not scheduled for Friday night, but he is on the schedule for Saturday. And, he is not in his traditional "lead-off" position on Saturday, but is hosting the final segment, with only Jeannie Seely so far listed as a guest. I am going to make a couple of possible reasons why. 1st, Pete Fisher is still waiting on a confirmation on someone who might be on for that last segment. 2nd, with Jimmy gone last weekend, there might still be no guarantee that he will be there on Saturday, so Jeannie would probably step in and host and Pete will fill out the segment with a couple of guests, or the 3rd reason, which I think is probably the right one, is that Sunday is Jimmy's 90th birthday and maybe the Opry is going to do something special on that last segment for Jimmy. That would not suprise me at all and would be a nice tribute to Jimmy. I know that this is the weekend for the big Garth concerts in Nashville and there is no Garth show on Saturday night. Wouldn't it be nice if Garth came over to the Opry to honor Jimmy on his birthday? Or even good Jimmy friends such as Brad Paisley, who just finished up his concert tour, or Vince Gill is another friend of Jimmy, but I know Vince is on tour with his Christmas show right now, so that one might not be possible. I will be anxious to see what happens.
Friday December 17
7:00: Riders In The Sky(host); Jesse McReynolds & The Virginia Boys; Joey + Rory
7:30: John Conlee(host); George Hamilton IV; Del McCoury Band
INTERMISSION
8:15: Mike Snider(host); Jean Shepard; Eric Church
8:45: Bill Anderson(host); Jan Howard; Jamey Johnson
Saturday December 18
7:00: Mike Snider(host); John Conlee; Steel Magnolia
7:30: Bill Anderson(host); Jimmy C. Newman; Jack Greene; Del McCoury Band
8:00: Marty Stuart(host); Roger McGuinn; Jim Ed Brown; Bobby Osborne & Rocky Top X-Press; Opry Square Dancers
8:30: Jimmy Dickens(host); Jeannie Seely
Really, not a bad line-up on either night.
I did a double-take and then thought, yes, they're going to do something for The Potato on the final segment. And if Garth and/or Brad are available and don't show up, then we know a lot more about them, don't we?
ReplyDeleteIt was a good Friday night Opry last night with many of the acts singing Christmas songs. George Hamilton IV did a very nice job with the old Grandpa Jones' "The Christmas Guest" and with "Silent Night".
ReplyDeleteI do remember the time when the weekend before Christmas at the Opry was a very special show. All of the Opry's acts were usually at the show, as most had finished their touring for the year, and almost everyone did Christmas songs. (I say almost everyone, because it seemed Roy Acuff was one of the ones who stuck to his traditional Opry numbers).
Bill Monroe always did, "Christmas Times a Comin", Grandpa Jones would do, "Christmas Guest", and Skeeter Davis, Jim Ed Brown, Billy Walker, and even Hank Snow, would do the holiday numbers. It was always a great show.
Hank Snow had a number called Christmas Roses that I remember. This isn't nice, but Don Imus (of course he's not nice!) on his show used to play a George Jones song where a guy comes home for Christmas and finds his wife has taken the kids and the presents and left him. THAT was a country Christmas song.
ReplyDeleteLast week--I'm not able to listen this week--Del McCoury did Christmas Time's a-Comin'," and I remembered that when Mr. Monroe died, that Christmas, Bobby Osborne announced that Bob Whittaker had asked him and Sonny to sing the song to make sure the tradition continued. Of course, that was back when Bobby Osborne could play the Opry and do more than one song now and then.
Last night, Riders In The Sky hosted the first segment, and they led off with Christmas Time's a Comin'. They did a nice job with it.
ReplyDeleteTrivia: Ranger Doug was a Blue Grass Boy. I believe he played bass?
ReplyDeleteJeannie Seely ended up hosting the final segment. And, as speculated by myself, Brad Paisley did show up and was on the final segment.
ReplyDeleteDuring the show, many birthday greetings were read out loud for Jimmy, most by fellow Opry members and some were from fans, either in the audience or through facebook or twitter.
Jimmy did not perform tonight, but was on at the very end, as the audience sang Happy Birthday.
The entire show on Saturday was just outstanding. There was a good balance of Opry legends, veterans and younger stars. Steel Magnolia also did a good job, and except for Roger McGuinn, who was on with Marty Stuart, it was all Opry members tonight. If every Opry show was like this one, management would have no problem selling out the place each week.
Now my complaint. They have to fix the streaming of the show on WSM On-Line. Too many times, there was dead air, especially during the final segment with Brad. No excuse for this.