The big news, which the Grand Ole Opry has been heavily promoting, is that Trisha Yearwood will be celebrating her 20th anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry on this weeks Tuesday Night Opry.
Whether belting out one of he signature hits on the Grand Ole Opry stage or writing a best-selling cook book, Trisha Yearwood approaches everything she does with an abundance of passion, integrity, and talent.
The Georgia native knew she wanted to be a country singer by the time she was five years old. Winning a talent contest in Macon at 16 served to further fuel her creative desires. As a teen, she talked her parents into a family vacation in Nashville and after seeing her heroes on stage at the Grand Ole Opry, she knew there was nothing else she wanted to do.
She moved to Music City to attend Belmont University, took a job as a tour guide at the Country Music Hall of Fame, and began pursuing her dream. She worked as a receptionist at MTM Records and begin singing demos. She met Garth Brooks when the two were hired to sing a duet demo for songwriter Kent Blazy. Garth introduced her to his producer, Allen Reynolds, who introduced her to Garth Fundis, who would become her friend and longtime producer. After five years in Nashville, Trisha signed with MCA Records and her first single, "She's in Love With the Boy," rocketed to the top of the country charts in 1991. Since then, Trisha has populated country radio with such memorable hits as "Wrong Side of Memphis," "The Woman Before Me," "XXXs and OOOs (An American Girl)," "Thinkin' About You," "The Song Remembers When," "Walkaway Joe," and "How Do I Live," as well as hit singles with Garth, now her husband. Trisha has won Grammy Awards and has been recognized as a top female vocalist by both the CMA and ACM.
Among all the accomplishments and accolades, being a member of the Grand Ole Opry holds special significance for Trisha. "My mother came here on her senior class trip from South Georgia," she says. "She wrote in her diary about seeing Hank Snow, Hawkshaw Hawkins and all those people. When I was inducted as a member of the Opry in 1999, she brought her diary and got Hank Snow to sign it. So it's not only about me, it's also about my whole family."
While I don't doubt Trisha's story about Hank Snow signing her mother's diary, I do have to believe she was mistaken as to the date (perhaps it took place on her Opry debut). In 1999, Hank was in declining health and had not appeared on the Opry for several years. Now it is possible that Trisha did get Hank to sign the book through a mutual acquaintance, but I know in 1999 Hank was nowhere near the Opry House.
In addition to Trisha Yearwood, the Tuesday Night Opry will also feature Opry members Terri Clark, Mark Wills, Trace Adkins and Ricky Skaggs.
Tuesday March 12
7:00: Mark Wills; Terri Clark
7:30: Rodney Atkins; Aaron Lewis
Intermission
8:15: Trace Adkins; Ricky Skaggs
8:45: Trisha Yearwood
Trisha was asked to join the Opry's cast on Saturday January 16, 1999, which was also the weekend in which the Opry returned to the Ryman Auditorium for the first time since moving to the Grand Ole Opry House in 1974. The invitation was not a total surprise as Trisha had been hinting around for several years that she would love to be an Opry member. Sadly, she has followed the lead of many of her contemporaries and once becoming a member, has made very few Opry appearances.
Here is the running order from Saturday March 13, 1999, the night Trisha Yearwood became a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
1st show
6:30: GHS Strings
Jimmy C Newman (host): La Cajun Band
Skeeter Davis: I'll Fly Away
Jimmy C Newman: Jambalaya
Bessyl Duhon: Cajun Stripper
6:45: National Corvette Museum
Jim Ed Brown (host): Looking Back to See/Morning/Pop a Top/The 3 Bells
7:00: Shoney's/Standard Candy
Porter Wagoner (host): Dooley
Bill Carlisle: I've Waited Too Long
Janie Fricke: Bouncing Back/Don't Worry 'Bout Me Baby
Porter Wagoner: Fireball Mail/Night Train to Memphis/Cabin in Gloryland
Rick Wayne: On the Line
Randy Scruggs: Black Mountain Rag
Steve Wariner: Holes in the Floor of Heaven
Trisha Yearwood: Living on the Wrong Side of Memphis/She's in Love With the Boy/Sweet Dreams
8:00: Martha White
Bill Anderson (host): No Fair Falling in Love
Marty Stuart: Southern Accent
John Prine: Paradise
Jean Shepard: I'll Sail My Ship Alone
Opry Square Dance Band and The Melvin Sloan Dancers: Rachel
Bill Anderson: Still
8:30: Physicians Mutual
Jimmy Dickens (host): Sleepin' At the Foot of the Bed
Ricky Skaggs: Little Maggie
The Whites: I Hear the Wind A' Blowing
Vince Gill: Pretty Little Adriana/When I Call Your Name
2nd show
9:30: Blue Green Vacation Resort Development
Porter Wagoner (host): On a Highway Headed South
Jeanne Pruett: Satin Sheets
Jimmy C Newman: Good Deal, Lucille
Trisha Yearwood: A Perfect Love/How Do I Live/She's in Love With the Boy
Porter Wagoner: I'll Fly Away
10:00: Lincoln Mercury
Vince Gill (host): Don't Come Crying to Me
Randy Scruggs: Soldier's Joy
Vince Gill: Whenever You Come Around
10:15: Ray Stevens Show
Jimmy Dickens (host): Take an Old Cold Tater
Mike Snider and Marty Stuart: Rawhide
Jimmy Dickens: Life Turned Her that Way
10:30: Epiphone
Marty Stuart (host): Doin' My Time
John Prine: Grandpa Was a Carpenter
Marty Stuart and John Prine: Angel From Montgomery
10:45: Joggin' In A Jug
Ricky Skaggs (host): I'm Lost, I'll Never Find the Way
Jean Shepard: Tennessee Waltz
Opry Square Dance Band w/Ricky Skaggs and The Melvin Sloan Dancers: Durang's Hornpipe
Ricky Skaggs: Connemara
11:00: Coca-Cola
Bill Anderson (host): Po' Folks
Holly Dunn: Daddy's Hands
John Conlee: Friday Night Blues
Jeannie Seely: Make the World Go Away
Billy Walker: Come a Little Bit Closer
Bill Anderson: The Paper
11:30: Opry Book
Johnny Russell (host): Folsom Prison Blues
Jack Greene; Statue of a Fool
Jeanne Pruett: Temporarily Yours
Del Reeves: Splish; Splash/Answer the Phone/Hound Dog
Stonewall Jackson: A Wound Time Can't Erase
Johnny Russell: Wabash Cannonball
Wilma Lee Cooper was schedule along with Jim Ed Brown on the 6:45 segment but missed the show due to snow. Also, can't help but notice that the last two segments on the second show were all Opry members who only appeared on that 2nd dhow (exception being Bill Anderson). It was as if they just grouped a bunch of Opry members together.
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Opry Country Classics on Thursday night will feature Chris Janson as the spotlight artist:
Thursday March 14
Host: Bill Cody
Spotlight Artist: Chris Janson
Also Appearing: Elizabeth Cook; Wade Hayes; Jeannie Seely; Mike Snider
"The invitation was not a total surprise as Trisha had been hinting around for several years that she would love to be an Opry member. Sadly, she has followed the lead of many of her contemporaries and once becoming a member, has made very few Opry appearances."
ReplyDeleteSays it all, says it all.
Twenty-five years of showing us how LITTLE the 'Opry really means to her. It's magical when she and Garth are there, it simply doesn't happen often enough to show they really care or mean what they say about the 'Opry.
On Trisha Yearwood: As Nat stated, and I think I wrote in her bio, she had been hinting around for a few years that she wanted to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Bob Whittaker was the general manager of the Opry in the late 1990s and the story is that he refused to invite her as member because of the potential lack of commitment (not that it stopped him from asking others). Bob retired from Gaylord and the Opry at the end of 1998 and Steve Buchanan took over running the Opry while the search was on for a new general manager (with Pete Fisher being hired in June). Literally within the first several weeks of Steve running the Opry, the invitation went out to Trisha to join. She accepted and as history shows, perhaps Bob was correct on his thinking regarding Trisha.
ReplyDeleteWhen I met Trisha, I told her I was at the Ryman the night Ricky invited her to join. She lit up and told me how much that night meant to her and her family. It was either an article or once when I was talking to Billy Walker (I don't remember which) he said Trisha had told him she hoped to play the Opry at least once a month. Sadly, I doubt if she's played 12 times in the last 20 years. It's a nice award to have on the shelf and we (me included) complain because there are so few Opry members on the show each week, but the truth is, we have precious few "regulars" left who support the show. Maybe six or eight? The Opry would have long faded away if not for all those faithful underappreciated members like Louvin, Wood, Newman, Reeves, Walker, Walker, Willis, Wilburn, Drusky, Stonewall, Phillips, Carlisle, Skeeter, Jean and Jan who filled out the roster week after week in the 70s/80s/90s. (oldtimeopry)
ReplyDeleteI did some checking. Since Trisha joined the Opry in 1999, she was appeared 29 times, with 15 of those appearances coming in her first 4 years of membership. In her 20 years of Opry membership, there were 6 years that she made 0 appearances and another 4 years of just appearing one time. Since 2011, she has just appeared 4 times. (I hope she has a GPS unit with 2804 Opryland Drive punched in or she might not know where to go tonight.
Deleteoldtimeopry, here is one for you: When Trisha joined the Opry and made that statement about appearing once a month, that went out the window the very first year she joined. After her induction in March, she did not make another Opry appearance in 1999.
Upon further review, I stand corrected. Trisha appeared on the Friday Night Opry on June 11 and September 10. So she did 2 appearances after her induction that year.
DeleteI remember Ricky Skaggs saying that when he joined, Mr. Acuff told him he would be "just like the others" and not make regular appearances. Ricky said that whenever he was there--and he was always good about appearing then--he would lean into Dressing Room #1 and yell out, "I'm here!"
DeleteThat would have been in the early 1980s. It hasn't gotten better.
As Chonda Pierce would say "Wasn't that precious"?
ReplyDeleteJim
Knightsville, IN
For those who are wondering, yes, Garth showed up last night and did a duet with Trisha. Emmylou also appeared and introduced Trisha.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll parrot Jim, invoke Chonda, and say, wasn't that precious.
DeleteGrrrrrrr.
Just listened to Chris Jansen's set on OCC. Say what you will about his radio hits, but when it comes to the Opry, he gets it.
ReplyDelete