The Grand Ole Opry has announced that Dolly Parton will be performing on the Saturday night September 18 show. For those who keep track, this will be her first appearance at the Opry since 2007. We have discussed this before that Dolly is one of the veteran Opry members that you can classify as "missing in action." Just my opinion, but living in the Nashville area and still active in the business should get you more than 1 Opry appearance every 3 years. But regardless for the reasons, I am glad that Dolly is coming back to the Opry.
Her 2 Opry appearances in 2007 were on Saturday May 19 when the Opry honored Porter Wagoner for his 50 years as an Opry member. Prior to that, her last Opry appearances were in 2005. In fact, since 2000, she has appeared on the Opry a total of 6 times!!! A shameful recored for an Opry member.
On another note, the Opry has announced their line-up for the Thursday Night Opry on September 16, at the Ryman Auditorium.
7:00: The Whites; Heidi Newfield
7:30: Riders In The Sky; The Grascals
INTERMISSION
8:15: Jimmy Dickens; Holly Williams
8:45: Carrie Underwood
Remember, the only reason this show was changed from Opry Country Classics to a Thursday Night Opry show was to accommodate Carrie.
I yield to no one in my admiration for Dolly Parton. But I remember that she hadn't done the Opry for years before coming back in 1988 for a big reunion with Porter Wagoner, and it was designed to save her variety show. She has tended to return only to push a new album or CD.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the 60th anniversary show on CBS that featured Porter introducing a segment about Opryland while Dolly and guests Willie Nelson and Alabama sang. Hank Snow refused to appear because he would be limited to a verse and a chorus of "Movin' On," and he rightly considered that disrespectful. After it aired, the Statlers did the TV portion and criticized the Opry for that, saying that the heroes of the Opry were the performers who were loyal to it and appeared every week. Interestingly, I don't remember them ever appearing on the Opry again. I wonder why.
I think that during the time of the Statler Brother's television show on TNN, they were on the Friday Night Opry once and that was it. And, considering that they filmed their tv show in Studio A, which is part of the Opry House, they should have been on more.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your comments about Dolly. When there is a reason or purpose for her to be at the Opry, she will be. And that is too bad, because she could be a real asset to the Opry, even performing just a couple of times each year. Like I have said, we are so quick to complain about the younger Opry members not being on the show, but many veterans are just as bad--Dolly, George among others.
Final comment is that I do remember the incident with Hank Snow and I admired Hank for taking the stance that he did. No excuse for not allowing one of the all-time greats to sing his biggest hit. Of course, the CMA did not learn anything from this incident, as if you remember they pulled the same stunt with Alan Jackson/George Jones a few years back, regarding the song, "Choices."
Dolly Parton is now confirmed for the birthday bash on Saturday October 9th. Both shows. Can we handle 2 Opry appearances by Dolly within a month? But, seriously, its great that she is scheduled.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad she'll be there.
ReplyDeleteMr. Snow said in his autobiography that he probably turned down more TV appearances than any other singer because they took so much time for so little result.