Another strong Tuesday Night Opry this week featuring Grand Ole Opry members Little Big Town, Eddie Montgomery with Montgomery Gentry, Chris Janson and Bill Anderson.
Tuesday March 5
7:00: Bill Anderson; The SteelDrivers
7:30: Tenille Townes; Eddie Montgomery with Montgomery Gentry
Intermission
8:15: Scotty McCreery; Chris Janson
8:45: Kelsea Ballerini; Little Big Town
This week also marks the beginning of the spring run of Opry Country Classics. This week the spotlight artist will be Tracy Lawrence
Thursday March 7
Host: Larry Gatlin
Spotlight Artist: Tracy Lawrence
Also Appearing: The Gatlin Brothers, Frankie Ballard, Mandy Barnett, Charlie Worsham
Who do you guys see going into the Hall of Fame this year?.
ReplyDeleteI think Marty Stuart has a good chance
DeleteKelsea Ballerini newest Opry member
ReplyDeleteI don’t know about this one. We’ll see.
ReplyDeleteWhat a shock and a bad choice. Bob
ReplyDeleteI agree she's not even a Country singer
DeleteHow many shows did she play last year? Seems like she has played a lot this year just hoping to get asked to be a member
ReplyDeleteNot her biggest fan, but I want to be fair. She has shown up a lot lately, plus she has some #1 hits now. The Opry has inducted a lot of talent into its ranks who were just getting started (and sometimes even with no hits at all). Kelsea has hits, album sales, and most importantly, she has been showing up to support the Opry. Saw this one coming. Good for her. She deserves it.
ReplyDeleteA little about Kelsea—
ReplyDeleteBallerini lists Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and NSYNC among these early artists influencing her. It was not until Ballerini heard "Stupid Boy" by Keith Urban that she decided to delve deeper into country music by listening to albums by Taylor Swift, Sugarland, and Dixie Chicks. Ballerini cites Shania Twain as her greatest influence.”
I wonder if she would know Jan Howard or Jeanne Pruett if she meet them on the street?
I would love to ask her to sing just one line of “Wabash Cannonball”.
Personally, I do not like this choice. If the Opry wanted a female vocalist, why not Rhonda Vincent, Kathy Mattea, Mandy Barnett or even Sara Evans.
This will just be a promotional deal for the Opry. Oh well.
I agree that this is a very poor choice. I know that change is inevitable and the Opry is no exception but to have such an institution stray so far from its traditional roots is truly disheartening. I try to listen to the Opry as often as I can but more and more I find myself reaching for the off switch on the radio.
DeleteToo Slim of the Riders in the Sky often jokes how some day the rapper Eminem will appear on the Opry and while this is considered funny, given the current direction the Opry is heading this cannot entirely be laughed off. Judge Hay would not be impressed!
Mandy Barnett would be a wonderful choice, she deserves it.
ReplyDeleteI am greatly disappointed with the selection for the newest Opry Member. Agree with David B. about the "influences" and the "promotional deal". I asked Rhonda's Mom if she has ever been asked to join the Opry (just in case we might not have known that she turned it down) and she emphatically stated that she has never been approached and would jump at the invitation !! For waiting so many years to have another female member added and this is the choice, I believe it is a sad commentary for the Opry Management. I just don't hear "country" and don't care for her music. With some of the other names mentioned on this blog, there is one that could be added and she is definitely "country music", Teea Goans; wonderful music, great personality, very articulate and appreciative of the history. FROM Anonymous in PA.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to wait to give my thoughts and allow the news to process. Here we go:
ReplyDeleteYes, it is true that Rhonda Vincent has never been asked to become an Opry member and would accept. I have been told that things are "good" between Rhonda and the Opry and that she pretty much always will accept an invite to appear on the show if her schedule allows. Personally, I would like to see her as a member some day.
As to the Kelsea Ballerini invite. First, I am not surprise and in fact, I speculated last year that I thought it was going to happen at some point. All you had to do was look at all of the guest appearances she made in the last half of 2018 and those scheduled for 2019 and figure that something was going to happen. While Kelsea would not have been my first choice as to Opry membership, like all of the others, I hope she will be a good member and support the show. It was definitely time, and actually overdue) that the Opry add a female member. If you look at the weekly line-up, outside of Jeannie Seely, Connie Smith and The Whites, most weeks the females are guest artists and not members.
Secondly, it really looks like the Opry is having a membership drive. Since Sally Williams has taken over as the Opry's general manager, the Opry has added Crystal Gayle, Dailey & Vincent, Chris Janson, Bobby Bare, Dustin Lynch, Mark Willis and now Kelsea. (and if you go back to October 2017, you can add Chris Young to that list).
So let's look at this and you will notice a pattern: Chris Young (young); Crystal Gayle (veteran); Dailey & Vincent (bluegrass)); Chris Janson (young); Bobby Bare (veteran); Dustin Lynch (young); Mark Wills (veteran); Kelsea Ballerini (young). Outside of D&V, the pattern seems to be young/veteran/young/veteran/young. Based on that pattern, I would expect a veteran artist to be the next member.
I know most don't consider Kelsea country. But I guess if you look at today's definition of country, she would fit right in. Again, she would not have been my first choice but I wish her well and hope that she supports the show.
I'll echo Byron by saying that I'm not that big a fan of Carrie Underwood's singing, but I honor the fact that she is loyal to the Opry. Alison Krauss was on last weekend, and I think she walks on the water as a singer, but considering her "loyalty" to the Opry, I have no interest in her. I'll put loyalty first.
DeleteI have to say that Kelsea has had a LOT of chart success lately and will no doubt draw in a lot of fans to the 'Opry. Shows continue to sell out, so they're doing something right from a business point of view.
DeleteWe can all moan, and I've done my fair share, but the fact is the 'Opry is a business and they need to invite people who are hot TODAY as well as veterans.
Bobby Bare hit it pretty hard after being invited to be an 'Opry member for the second time a while back, but has he been back much in the last few years?
Give me young kids selling records today as well as my teen years idols (I'm seventy one!)
Hey Guys,
ReplyDeleteThe 2019 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees will be announced on Monday, March 18 and will be hosted by Reba McEntire.
Sounds like a good year for her partners Brooks & Dunn
DeleteI would like to see Suzy Bogguss added to that list. She would make a great member. Bob
ReplyDeleteChris Janson was a controversial pick when he was invited to the Opry in early 2018. Some of his songs are outright terrible, and though maybe not as pop as Kelsea Ballerini, they’re much more worse from a songwriting standpoint. But Chris Janson had spent years showing loyalty to the Opry, both in playing regularly as a non member, and being willing to play classic country songs that the Opry crowd is there to hear. Kelsea Ballerini has none of this on her resume. Neither did Little Big Town when they were inducted in 2014. They were the ones to officially invite Ballerini into the Opry Tuesday night (3-5), and they only played the Opry 6 times in 2018 themselves.
ReplyDeleteThis decision smacks of wanting to push a female artist forward in a genre that is struggling to break and support women in their careers. But Kelsea Ballerini underscores one of the issues of why women continue to fail to find traction in country, which is the fact that many of these new performers aren’t country at all. Pop will always have its place in country, and it always has. But country should have a place in country music too. It was that pragmatism of mixing pop with the roots of country that resulted in Kacey Musgraves’ award-winning Golden Hour getting multiple Grammy Awards. It’s being purely pop that is holding many of “country” music’s young women back on radio, in tour slots, and at festivals. They simply don’t belong, not because they’re not men, but because they’re not country.
Meanwhile Kelsea Ballerini has been leading this recent charge by many of “country” music’s newest female stars in covering and collaborating on pop songs to try to get attention for themselves. In January, Ballerini made headlines when she covered “Lost in Japan” by Shawn Mendes as part of a Spotify Singles release. Last year she guested on a single from The Chainsmokers. In fact pulling up Kelsea Ballerini’s officially Spotify playlist, it’s called Pop Picks, and features no country artists at all. Instead, it includes songs by Post Malone, Bebe Rexha, Ariana Grande, and The Chainsmokers. Why doesn’t Kelsea use her position of prominance as a rising woman in country to promote her fellow women artists? Saving Country Music’s playlist has way more women of country on it (and more followers, btw).
ReplyDeleteEvery sign points to Kelsea Ballerini wanting to have no business with country music, beyond leveraging what she can for radio play and tour slots. And now we’re inviting her into country music’s most hallowed institution? Kelsea Ballerini, like Taylor Swift before, is simply using country music as a stepping stone. But at least Taylor Swift spent time opening for George Strait, covering Tim McGraw, and at least trying to ingratiate herself to the genre. Kelsea Ballerini’s idea of paying country dues is covering Taylor Swift’s “Delicate.”
This is nothing against Kelsea Ballerini, or her music specifically. Compared to the caustic, arrogant and down-looking personality of Maren Morris, Kelsea Ballerini is harmless. Compared to the abominable efforts by many of country’s current mainstream males, her music is probably an improvement. But Kelsea Ballerini is a pop star, which isn’t an offense in itself, until you start parading her around as country, until you start pushing more worthy artists who’ve devoted their lives to country music out of important distinctions like invitations to join the Grand Ole Opry. Then it becomes the biggest problem of the moment.
Sorry Grand Ole Opry, but this is a terrible pick.
By the way, has anyone noticed how Florida Georgia Line´s new álbum has bombed in sales?? It’s said that time is the harshest critic of all. If that’s the case, time has not been very kind to the music of Florida Georgia Line at all. The title of their new album Can’t Say I Ain’t Country isn’t fooling anybody, and apparently the fickle pop country music fan has moved on en masse to the likes of Luke Combs and others. This has left only bread crumbs for the once high-flying Florida Georgia Line, who just a few short years ago were the biggest thing in all of country music.
ReplyDeleteBut perhaps all that exposure has soured the taste of Florida Georgia Line, while the genre as a whole appears to want to move on from the Bro-Country era.
It’s not time to sound the all-clear signal just yet. Rest assured radio will continue to cram Florida Georgia Line singles down the throats of consumers for years to come. But all those predictions that Florida Georgia Line was a band with a short shelf life are starting to come to fruition. Sure better hope they invested all that “Cruise” money wisely.
Nittannee1973
ReplyDeleteVery informative. Thanks!
Chris sort of has two personalities. He's putting out some weird stuff, but when at the 'Opry, he 'gets it."
We'll see about Kelsea.
I constantly hear new artists, claiming to be country (and even on WSM radio), list their influences as worn out rock and roll acts, mellow folk singers, etc.
I often wonder if Alan Jackson didn't nail it perfectly with his song "gone country."