The Grand Ole Opry has posted the line-ups for this weekend. As with the previous weeks, there is one show on Friday night and two shows on Saturday night, both nights taking place at the Ryman Auditorium.
Friday night's line-up features The Steeldrivers and Love and Theft visiting, along with Opry member Joe Diffie. Saturday night has Curtis Potter, Rodney Crowell and Bo Bice visiting. To be honest, the line-up for both nights are not overwhelming.
Friday December 3
7:00: Mike Snider(host); Jean Shepard; The Steeldrivers
7:30: Jimmy Dickens(host); Jimmy C. Newman; Love and Theft
INTERMISSION
8:15: Bill Anderson(host); Jack Greene; Mandy Barnett
8:45: Riders In The Sky(host); Stonewall Jackson; Jeannie Seely; Joe Diffie
Saturday December 4
First Show
7:00: Jimmy Dickens(host); The Whites; Curtis Potter
7:30: Mike Snider(host); Jean Shepard; Jimmy C. Newman; Rodney Crowell
8:00: Riders In The Sky(host); Jan Howard; Bo Bice; Opry Square Dancers
8:30: Bill Anderson(host); Connie Smith; Cherryholmes
Second Show
9:30: Jimmy Dickens(host); The Whites; Curtis Potter
10:00: Mike Snider(host); Jeannie Seely; Rodney Crowell
10:30: Riders In The Sky(host); Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press; Bo Bice; Opry Square Dancers
11:00: Bill Anderson(host); Connie Smith; Cherryholmes
As with last weekend, the same four acts are hosting the segments on all three shows, and on Saturday night, both shows are in the same order.
If you aren't impressed, you obviously haven't seen Bo Bice and Bart Walker perform live. You need to check Bo out. He is a great performer!
ReplyDeleteHey, I like those people!
ReplyDeleteIf we are unable to be there in person, is there a way to view this to be great performance? I take it that it will not be on TV.... How about a DVD? Or anything??? Please advise. I am a HUGE Bo fan!
ReplyDeleteFirst to Anonymous, thanks for reading the blog and thanks for making comments. I always do enjoy reading other people's opinions, whether they agree with mine or not. I just enjoy talking about the Opry.
ReplyDeleteAs far as seeing Bo at the Opry, unfortunately, as I am sure you know, the Opry is no longer televised live, or even taped, except for special shows. So as far as seeing him, unless you buy a ticket, you are out of luck. Now, of course, you can listen to the show on WSM, on-line, or on Sirius-XM. If you cannot listen on Saturday night, you can listen to the archive shows on WSM's website.
As far as my opinion of Bo Bice, as a performer, I have to say I am neutral. I have seen him on tv (obviously), but never in person. I am familiar with they style of music that he plays. He is good, not just my style.(which is ok).
When I look at the weekend's Opry line-up, and make a comment whether it is good or not, or in this case, "not overwhelming", I look at a couple of things. One, is there variety in the line-up over the two nights, or in this case, the 3 shows. This weekend, the line-up has a lot of repetition in it. The same hosts for the segments, multiple segments that are the same, etc. Another item I look at is how many of the "name" Opry members are there. In this case, not very many. We have many of the Opry's veterans (which I personally love to watch), but many of the Opry's "stars" are missing. I also look at the value of the product to the ticket buyer. At $55.00 a ticket for a prime seat, is this a line-up that I would jump in my car to drive to Nashville and see. In this case, no.
Now, I am glad that Bo is doing the Opry and I hope he does well. I am glad to see Rodney on the Opry. I have seen him several times and he always does a nice job. Same with Joe Diffie, Mandy Barnett and some of the others.
While it is a nice line-up, I expected more in December (the holiday season with lots of folks in town), and I expected more from the point that they are putting on 2 shows on Saturday night.
Again, thanks for reading and I hope that gives you an idea on my thoughts.
Anonymous, as a regular reader and commenter here, I'd like to add that I'M glad you're here, too!
ReplyDeleteAlso, another point that Byron often makes is that for as much as the Opry charges for admission, they need to have strong lineups. And my crusade is that a lot of big-name members don't fulfill their obligations to be present. That doesn't mean Bo or, say, Mandy Barnett aren't great performers, and the Opry has a tradition of regular guests and of giving newer performers like Bo a shot, but there should be more variety and more big names around, especially at this time of year.
Michael, thanks for the kind comments, as always. And, I agree with your comments. I do wish that the Opry line-ups were strong each and every week, not only for myself, but for all of the Opry fans who go and buy tickets to the show, or who listen to the show each Friday and Saturday night.
ReplyDeleteJimmy Dickens sounded pretty good on the Friday Night Opry. After he did his opening number, instead of saying, "I'm Willie Nelson after taxes", he instead said, I'm Little Jimmy Dickens or Willie Nelson after Mexico." Loved that little reference to Willie's arrest last week. The audience seemed to appreciate that joke also.
ReplyDeleteI just noticed this. On every segment Saturday night, the main performer--the one getting two songs--was a non-member. That happens frequently. I don't know whether that says more about the management or the membership, but it's disgusting either way.
ReplyDeleteI have noticed that also. The Opry veterans that seem to be on a 1 song limit now are Jimmy C. Newman, Jack Greene, Jan Howard, Bobby Osborne, Jesse McReynolds, Stu Phillips,Charlie Louvin, Stonewall Jackson, Ray Pillow, and on some weeks when not hosting a segment, Jean Shepard and Jeannie Seely.
ReplyDeleteJim Ed Brown, The Whites and Connie Smith still seem like they are allowed to do 2 songs.
To me it looks like a combination of the fact the Opry wants to get away from some of the veteran performers, while adding time for more commercials, especially between segments, and making sure that the show comes in on time. Like you, I don't like it.