Thursday, February 16, 2012

Grand Ole Opry 2/17 & 2/18

The Grand Ole Opry has posted the schedule for both shows this weekend and it looks like Jimmy Dickens is going to give it a go, as he is scheduled for both shows. Also on both shows again this weekend are Diamond Rio, who have really been making the Opry their home so far in 2012.

In addition, the Friday Night Opry will feature Ricky Skaggs and Steve Wariner, while Saturday night will feature non-Opry members Kip Moore, Matraca Berg and Canaan Smith.

Friday February 17
7:00: Mike Snider (host); Jim Ed Brown; Sarah Darling
7:30: Jimmy Dickens (host); Riders In The Sky; Steve Wariner
INTERMISSION
8:15: Bill Anderson (host); Mark Wills
8:45: Ricky Skaggs (host); John Conlee; Diamond Rio

Saturday February 18
7:00: Jimmy Dickens (host); Jimmy C Newman; Kip Moore
7:30: Bill Anderson (host); Mike Snider; Joe Diffie
INTERMISSION
8:15: Jeannie Seely (host); George Hamilton IV; Matraca Berg; Opry Square Dancers
8:45: John Conlee (host); Canaan Smith; Diamond Rio

Couple of observations when looking at the shows this weekend. First, only 1 female for the Friday Night Opry (Sarah Darling), and just 2 females on Saturday night. Also, except for Ricky Skaggs on Friday night, it looks like to bluegrass this weekend at the Opry.

Currently, the Friday Night Opry has 11 acts schedule, with 12 for the Saturday show, with 9 Opry members each night.

Finally, the Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree will present another archived show, this one hosted by Boxcar Willie. That should be a pretty good one to check out. I will tell you that when I was at the record shop over the weekend, several people were complaining about no live show for Saturday night. The had come from out of town and were looking forward to the Midnight Jamboree. I know that those of us listening at home enjoy the older, archived shows, but I can understand the unhappiness over not having a live show.

7 comments:

  1. I know it was commented on in an earlier post, but I did watch the Carol Lee Cooper video from Larry's Country Dinner. Carol Lee looked "ok" and sounded fine, although she did not sing and the video was pretty short. I will say, and it may have been the make up or lack of it, that she looked a bit older.

    She said she is getting better so it will be interesting to see if she does come back to the Opry or not. Like I mentioned, she was not there last weekend and nothing was said about her.

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  2. I thought she had aged a lot as well.

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  3. Fred here:

    Carol Lee looked so good for so long it's hard to remember how old she is, born 1942 or '43. She was a teenager when I was, in the 1950s! Had her picture taken with Elvis when Elvis was still working those old country package shows!

    Given her illness -- whatever it was -- and that the gerontologists tell us we tend to visually age 5 years at jump, I wouldn't be surprised that she looks older than when we last saw her.

    That her mother died last fall at age 90 tells you something!

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  4. Fred again:

    Gotta say, Byron, the new "not a robot" word tests, with their smudged backgrounds, are plenty challenging. Hey, my eyes are as old as Carol Lee Cooper's!

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  5. My opinion of the archived Midnite Jamborees are just about the same as my opinion of the "Golden Era of the Grand Ole Opry" that airs after the Friday Night Opry and Grand Ole Opry... as a lover of history and the way these shows used to sound, it is a thrill for me to hear these archived shows, and I must admit that I enjoy listening to them more than what is on the live shows each weekend. But as someone who appreciates the importance of the history of these great shows - for the sake of principle if not for the fans that DO want to see and hear these great shows continue as they have for decades - the Midnite Jamboree NEEDS to be performed each weekend live from the Record Shop and the Grand Ole Opry NEEDS to have two live shows every Saturday night, ending at midnight just before the Jamboree. You have to go back to the 1920s to find a time that the Grand Ole Opry did not end at midnight, until just the last few years. It seems as the ticket prices get higher, we get less Grand Ole Opry. But I digress...
    Regarding the archived Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamborees: I think a really nice thing to please both the listening audience and visitors to Nashville who expect a live show, and all the history buffs who love listening to the old shows, would be to put some archived material from past Jamborees on the website. I'm not talking about the archived shows like they have on there already, but shows back from the past like they have been using on the archived weeks. For some time they have been rotating Country Style USA radio programs on the main page of the site, but Midnite Jamboree programs from the past would be so much more unique to the "brand" of the Ernest Tubb Record Shop. It would also potentially generate more traffic to the website, which can't be a bad thing...

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  6. Robert, I agree with you 100%. The Opry needs to be going until midnight and the Ernest Tubb show needs to be live each week. It's tradition and part of what made Nashville the country music city that it is. Also, you would think that with the collection of shows that they probably have, it would be no problem for them to put a few of those shows up on the website.

    As far as the Friday Night Opry, Jimmy Dickens was back on and sounded no better or no worse than what he has of late and Craig Morgan was on, taking the spot after Mark Wills on Bill Anderson's segment.

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  7. I may have missed something but why does the Saturday night Opry end so early now?

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