Here is the line-up for the Tuesday Night Opry 4/7
7:00: Jim Ed Brown; Mandy Barnett
7:30: George Hamilton IV; Mark Wills
8:00: Jack Greene; Daily & Vincent
8:30: Bill Anderson; Restless Heart
No big name attraction for Tuesday night, but a good, solid line-up.
Here is the line-up for the Opry Country Classics on Thursday 4/9
Host: Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives
Mark Collie; John Conlee; Charlie Louvin; Chuck Mead; Opry Square Dancers; Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press; Riders In The Sky; Jeannie Seely.
Spotlight Artist: Josh Turner
Another solid line-up for the Thursday night Opry Country Classics show. This is 3 strong line-ups in a row, so it looks like the Opry is giving this show the attention it deserves. I know there was some initial concern about some of the legends and veterans being taken off the weekend shows and shuttled to Thursday night, but so far that does not seem the case. As far as this show, Josh Turner would have to be the featured star, but a good mix of talent. Marty Stuart continues to make regular Opry appearances.
Fayfare, I'd like to know what you think of how the show is put together. It strikes me as a work in progress. They seem to want to do some different things, as in when Eddie Stubbs asked Marty Stuart a trivia question and tried to do the same with audience members. Eddie also announced the Opry's sponsors but only did commercials for the Cracker Barrel. I do think they are aiming for a looser approach by not having the defined 30-minute segments, which is fine but a little jarring in its own way. Anyway, I'd love your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI also noticed that on Tuesday nights, Pete Fisher seems to aim for one member and one guest per 30-minute segment. I've wondered why we don't see more of the bigger name members, since they would have more time to perform (they probably could do a full 30 minutes) and wouldn't have to give up the more lucrative Friday or Saturday night appearances out of town to do the Opry.
Mike: As always, I enjoy your comments and thank you for reading the blog. I listened to the first Thursday show with Larry Gatlin and thought it was very good. I did like the format and the music. I did not get a chance to listen to last weeks show, but I plan on listening to it this week on Sirius, as they play it on a one week delay. Pete Fisher does seem to be keeping the entertainers varied from week to week. Except for Marty Stuart and Mandy Barnett, there have been no repeat acts. I am planning on going to Nashville the last week in April, so my intention right now is to attend the April 30th show, and perhaps get backstage to get a feel for the show. But at this point, I agree that the show seems to be still revolving, especially with this concept of having a spotlight artist. That seems to be their way of making sure, or advertising, that they will have a "big" name artist there. Hopefully, they will stay with it and it will give both Opry and non-Opry veteran artists a chance to perform on the Opry stage.
ReplyDeleteI agree about hoping they will stay with it. I think it's a great idea and I'm glad they are doing it, and I certainly don't mind varying the entertainment on it (I suspect Mandy Barnett is also there to promote the show about Patsy Cline, which is fine--I wish the Opry would always have on the Midnight Jamboree host, since there's nothing wrong with some cross-promotion). I am hoping against hope that they will use the Thursday night show to try to revive a bit of the spirit of the Homecoming shows they used to do. There are enough legendary former Opry members around to be spotlight artists or just to come in for a number or two.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that scared me and that I didn't like about the Classics show was the 15 min intermission in the middle of the show. As someone who has been to nearly 300 regular Opry shows, I am having a hard enough time in my mind justifying spending more money ($50+) for a shorter 2 hour show on Saturdays already. If Opry management ever got the idea of adding an 15 min intermission to the regular Opry shows, I can honestly say I would go from attending 8 or 10 shows a year to 1 show maybe every 2 or 3 years. I think that would the last straw for me. I don't think I would drive 3 hours very often to see what would essentially be an hour and 30 min show since another 15 mins of the Opry is already commercials. If the commercials were as entertaining as they used be when I attended the show in the 70s and 80s and evern 90s, that would be one thing. But the commercials are getting extremely repetitive with just the few presenting sponsers of today. I know of many other regular Opry patrons who would probably feel the same way.
ReplyDelete