Personally, I want to offer best wishes and thanks to each of you who have taken the time to comment, email or text me during the past year. While many times we will not agree, we all have the same feelings, and that is we love the Grand Ole Opry and we care about the show greatly.
I hate to get into the business of offering special thanks, because inevitably I will miss someone, but there are a few I want to mention (in no special order): Mike, Jeanene, Jim, Sven, E.Z., David, Gary, Barry, Steve, Nat, Art, James, Bob, Opryman, Ken, Woody, Fred, and the several of you who prefer to remain anonymous. There are others who prefer not to have their names mentioned (you know who you are), and I respect your privacy. There are those who do not comment on the blog itself, preferring to offer your thoughts and comments in other ways, and I always enjoy hearing from each of you. There are 106 of you who are listed as followers and many, many more who check out the blog on a regular basis. Thanks also goes to those at the Grand Ole Opry who read and follow our posts. Hopefully I do nothing to upset them and that they will continue to accept my money.
I am always surprised when I go to Nashville and someone will walk up to me and tell me that they read and follow the blog and how much they enjoy the connection to the Opry and its history. There are a few of you who I always make a point of visiting when I am in town and I always enjoy the brief time we spend together. It's fun and I have made many friends and acquaintances.
I am amazed at the number of emails or messages that I receive from those asking specific information about past shows, Opry members, or significant events. I am always willing to help and locate that information. Many times I will come across something that even I did not know.
I have a counter as to the number of comments and page views that I receive, and this past month alone there were 12,272 page views, and in the history of the blog, the count now stands at just over one million. Amazing!!!!
When I started doing this a decade or so ago, I had no idea where it would take me or who would read it. Daily I am surprised and amazed. All of you have made this journey worthwhile and fun. Without each of you, it would be pointless to continue.
As 2019 is approaching, I hope the discussion continues. I will always try to do the best I can and offer what I can. If I am able to offer one wish for the Christmas season for the Opry, it would be that they continue to offer the best show they an each week, continue to embrace the newcomers while honoring and appreciating the veterans and legends. Let's not forget those who have set the table for the new members.
My Christmas wish for each of you is peace and good health. Take care of your families and your neighbors. Enjoy and embrace what life offers and don't be afraid to walk out on that ledge once in a while. You never know what may be out there. I did and look what I came up with!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All:
Byron
Merry Christmas Byron and congratulations to Mark Wills!
ReplyDeleteExpanding on the conversation in the comments of the previous post. I almost posted a suspicion of Mark getting invited with him and Vince sharing the last segment, but thought that they wouldn't do it with the Jimmy Capps tribute going on. Unfortunately I did not catch any of the shows live this weekend but look forward to catching the replays when they are posted online.
Also, with regards to membership, if I remember correctly, it was noted that Chris Janson appeared as a guest between his invitation and induction which I believe was a rare (only?) occurrence. However, now Mark found himself in the same boat with his appearance on Saturday (and Chris on the same segment).
I don't believe I am counted as an official "follower" on the website, but I can promise you I am checking out the articles pretty much every week.
Thanks Joe. And Merry Christmas to you and your family. And yes, I was a little surprised at the invitation coming on the night of the Jimmy Capps tribute but I am certainly ok with it. An thanks for checking us out each week and commenting.
DeleteMerry Christmas Byron! And Merry Christmas to all the others who read and comment here.
ReplyDeleteI found this site in January 2012 when Charlie Collins passed and I was searching for more information. I can't say that I had lost interest in the Opry at that time, but I was struggling to keep the volume turned up all evening. I still listened in every Friday and Saturday but I was less likely to try and listen to every minute. I was getting to where I just could not take the new music, especially that music straying far from Opry roots.
Well, reading this blog nd then getting up the courage to participate, brought me back from the edge. Finding that there were others who still shared my love for the Opry and the artist, made me want to know again everything that went on, even if it did not fit my taste. It also verified the time I had spent since 1982 documenting the shows each week in lineup notes and all the cassette tapes I had collected had imprtance and was worthwhile. Every now and then I could throw in a fact that Byron or others did not remember or missed. And, most importantly, I have learned so much and found friends to share with. I have even met a couple of you but unfortunately not Byron.....yet.
So, thanks to all of you who tolerate my sometimes negative thoughts here. The truth hurts all of us sometimes but I think it has to be spoken.
After nearly two decades of watching the Opry as many of us love it seem to slip away, much sincere thanks to Sally Williams and team for leveling us out from what felt like a nose dive. I think we all appreciate the more balanced direction the Opry seems to be headed at this point. Hopefully 2019 will continue this trend.
My Opry wish for 2019 is......Rhonda Vincent becomes a member!!!
Merry Christmas to all.
Jim
Knightsville, IN
Jim, I hope you wish comes true in 2019. Rhonda needs to be an Opry member and hopefully it will come true. Merry Christmas to you and your family and thanks for being a part of this. Your comments have always been appreciated.
DeleteJim: I'm with you on wishing that Rhonda Vincent will become an Opry member in 2019. I love her voice, her music and feel that she would make a great member. Bob
DeleteI'll second Jim and Joe, and thank Byron for a great blog, and say reading it is certainly one of the highlights of my day. Here's to a great 2019 for all of us, for the Opry ... and yes, for Rhonda Vincent. C'mon, already, Sally!
ReplyDeleteMike, as always, thank you. Your thoughts and opinions are always valued. May you and your family have a wonderful Christmas.
DeleteMerry Christmas to you all. I live a mile from the Opry and am often listening as I drive by the Opry House.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Patrick. And lucky you!!
DeleteMerry Christmas Byron and all of the “fayfare” followers.
ReplyDeleteI just found a video of Grandpa doing his last live performance of The Christmas Guest from Christmas of 1996. Lorie Morgan introduced him. It’s a great story of the true meaning of Christmas! Only someone like Grandpa could make the recitation so meaningful.
As we set here tonight listening to Christmas music, I am reminded of all the great Christmas albums and music our Opry friends and classic Country Artist have given us. And, although I did not have time when Byron posted the 12-21-68 show last week, I saw several Christmas songs on the list.
ReplyDeleteOn that 1968 show, one of the most interesting things was "Christmas Wants" by Hank Snow. This was a very deep recitation from his wonderful 1967 Christmas LP. And I also saw a non Christmas song by Del Reeves on the list "If I Lived Here, I'd Be Home Now" which is a hardcore shuffle cheating song. But that reminds me that Del's Christmas LP was possibly his very best album.
Think about all those great albums by Ernest Tubb, the Louvin Brothers, Connie Smith, Kitty Wells, Bill Anderson(which included "My Christmas List Gets Shorter Every Year" which he did Friday night) Tammy Wynette, Johnny Cash, Ferlin Husky, Ray Price, Marty Robbins, Loretta Lynn, Eddy Arnold, Charley Pride, Chet Atkins, and Sonny James. I'm sure I am leaving someone out but at some point all of those folk were Opry members. Most of those LP's were in the 60's and 70's and I suspect at some point in their contracts they were expected to do a Christmas LP just like a gospel LP. But in many cases, they were every bit as good if not better than their regular LP's.
Then, outside the Opry, you had Hank Thompson(Opry short timer), Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Red Simpson, Lynn Anderson, Red Sovine, Jimmie Davis, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Glen Campbell, the Statler Brothers, Jimmy Dean and more and I'm talking pre 1980. It continued to lesser extent after that with the likes of George Strait, Alan Jackson, the Oak Ridge Boys and others. And some of the Opry members who joined in the 80's and 90's have done complete albums. Patty Loveless comes to my mind right away along Ricky Van Shelton and Randy Travis.
Forgive me for missing artist. And, I may have left some out that I do not listen to much and am not aware of. I also know that in the later years of artist career after they had left major labels, they did Christmas LP's or CD's. Billy Walker, Jeannie Seely and Faron Young come to mind.
Then, still some of the best Country Christmas songs were by artist who never had a full LP that I know of. Jimmy Dickens, Grandpa Jones, George Jones, Faron Young, Bob Wills, Webb Pierce, Jimmy Newman, George Morgan, Archie Campbell, Willie Nelson, Tex Ritter, Dotty West, Bill Carlisle, the Browns, Red Foley, Stonewall Jackson and so many more.
My point in bringing this up was to make all of you think of all the great Christmas music these folks have given us. I know that many of those LP's had a lot of covers of traditional songs in them but there were some tremendous original songs that came with them. Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Charley Pride, Lynn Anderson and the Statler Brothers come to mind as LP's that were almost all original new material. We have been blessed by these folks and their producers and record companies at Christmas just like the rest of the year.
Like some of the regular Country songs I love, some of these really get to me, more than ever on this fourth Christmas since our mom passed. However, like Eddie Stubbs, I still love them. I might be down but not as much as some of the people portrayed in some of these songs. Like Bill said the other night, he was living it when he wrote Christmas List.
This was just off the cuff and my quick thoughts so I apologize for any big artist or song I missed. If you have Christmas LP's by any of these folks you have not listened to in a while, you might give them a listen tomorrow if you have time.
Again, Merry Christmas.
Jim
Knightsville, IN
Byron: Those stats on your blog are truly amazing. I'm so happy for you. I know you work really hard on it and you do a great job. Thank You for everything. Bob
ReplyDelete