Grand Ole Opry 9/13 & 9/14

The Grand Ole Opry has released the schedule for the two shows this weekend, the Friday Night Opry and Saturday's Grand Ole Opry.

Grand Ole Opry members Jeannie Seely and Bill Anderson will be appearing both night, joined on Friday by Bobby Osborne, Riders In The Sky, Ricky Skaggs and The Whites. On Saturday night, the duo will be joined by Jesse McReynolds, Connie Smith and Mark Wills.

Exile will be guesting both nights, joined on Friday by Smithfield, Mason Ramsey, Suzy Bogguss, who would be on my short list of females who I think would make great Opry members, and in what I would call an "out of the box" artist, Yola, who will make making her Opry debut.

As mentioned, Exile is also scheduled to appear on Saturday night, where the group will be joined by Anna Vaus, Levi Hummon, Chris Shiflett, Paul Cauthen, and Ruston Kelly, who is the husband of Kacey Musgraves.

Friday September 13
7:00: Jeannie Seely (host); Smithfield; Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press
7:30: Bill Anderson (host); Yola; Exile
Intermission
8:15: Riders In The Sky (host); Mason Ramsey; Suzy Bogguss
8:45: Ricky Skaggs (host); The Whites

Saturday September 14
7:00: Jeannie Seely (host); Anna Vaus; Jesse McReynolds
7:30: Bill Anderson (host); Levi Hummon; Chris Shiflett
Intermission
8:15: Connie Smith; Ruston Kelly; Opry Square Dancers
8:45: Mark Wills (host); Paul Cauthen; Exile

As mentioned Yola will be making her Opry debut this weekend.

Yola’s debut album Walk Through Fire, produced by Dan Auerbach, is a genre-bending release from one of the most powerful emerging British voices in music today. The singer/ songwriter first came to the attention of Auerbach (The Black Keys) after a chain of people, starting with her manager, forwarded a video of her performing in Nashville that eventually found itself in Auerbach’s inbox. Tastemaker media also saw promise in Yola’s early recordings and live performances in Nashville–NPR, Rolling Stone Country, the Wall Street Journal, Paste, and Stereogum all praised Yola, comparing her to a diverse range of artists from the Staples Singers to Dolly Parton.

After watching the video, Auerbach set up a call and they connected quickly. Auerbach says “The moment I met Yola I was impressed. Her spirit fills the room, just like her voice...she has the ability to sing in a full roar or barely a whisper and that is a true gift. She made everyone in the studio an instant believer.”

“We knew we loved the Everlys,” Yola says. “Soul, Americana, singer/songwriters. When Dan and I talked we thought we’d explore what we loved, really go there.”

Auerbach assembled a writing team that included Yola, longtime John Prine collaborator Pat McLaughlin, and the legendary Dan Penn (“Dark End of the Street,” “Cry Like A Baby,” “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,”), among others, to write together over five days in Auerbach’s Nashville studio. There was a fluidity to their collaboration, with loose boundaries that gave the assembled musicians a wide canvas.

For a girl raised on the coast of Southwest England, where she did not fit in and life was hard, finding herself in the easy camaraderie of Dan Auerbach’s studio was the realization of a childhood dream. Yola’s mother’s choice to raise her daughter in a small town outside of Bristol, where she could play outside, meant that Yola was “other” from the start. Between the isolation of being the only black family around, the family’s poverty, and a turbulent home life, Yola needed refuge, which she found in her mother’s record collection; among the albums she clung to was Aretha Franklin’s 1972 album, Young, Gifted & Black.

Inspired by those records, at age four she told her mother, “‘I’m going to write songs and sing’. I don’t know how I knew that, but I did. Even then.”

She later discovered Crosby, Stills & Nash and the Band’s Music from Big Pink as well as The Byrds’ Sweetheart of the Rodeo. These iconic records shaped her writing and helped her find her own unique voice—equal parts Mississippi mud, honeyed sunshine, and midnight musk.

To record her album Walk Through Fire, Auerbach assembled some of the most iconic session musicians performing today: bassist Dave Rowe (Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Chrissie Hynde), keyboardist Bobby Wood (Elvis, Wilson Pickett, George Jones), drummer Gene Chrisman (Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Bush), steel player Russ Pahl (Don Williams, Leon Russell, Nikki Lane), and guitarist Billy Sanford (Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings, Tammy Wynette). Guests also joined, including Vince Gill (whose tangled counter vocal is heard on “Keep Me Here”) and bluegrass icons Ronnie McCoury, Molly Tuttle, Stuart Duncan, and Charlie McCoy.

Reflecting on the recording experience Yola says, “Here in Nashville, people have such high levels of experience, you let them be free and create.”

Yola concludes, in what could be a mission statement for her life, “To be vulnerable is terrifying but to walk through fire with a smile on your face is about as liberating as anything can be. In some ways, I was reborn in that fire.”
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I am not sure if Ruston Kelly has appeared on the Opry previously with Kacey Musgraves, but regardless, here is a little information on Ruston.

Nashville-based singer/songwriter Ruston Kelly is in the midst of a landmark year following the release of his full-length debut album, Dying Star, out now on Rounder Records. With a storytelling sensibility that constantly shifts from candid to poetic, Kelly details his experience with addiction, which included time in rehab and an overdose in early 2016.

Rooted in a delicately sculpted sound that shows every nuance of his vocal delivery, Dying Star captures all the chaos and heartbreak on the way to finding redemption. The album landed on several "Best of 2018" lists including Rolling Stone, Paste, UPROXX, American Songwriter and NPR Music, who praises, “Kelly digs down deep on Dying Star to fearlessly put forth a set of songs steeped in emotional twists, turns, and complications…This here is powerful stuff." Additionally, Kelly's song "Mockingbird" was recently nominated for Song of the Year at the 2019 Americana Music Association Honors & Awards. He'll continue to tour extensively throughout 2019 with an extensive headline run this fall as well as several festival performances including Newport Folk Festival, Lollapalooza, John Prine's "All The Best Fest" and more. Ruston Kelly’s Brightly Burst Tour begins this Fall starting in September.
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And now, here is the posted Grand Ole Opry line-up from ten years ago, the second weekend in September 2009:

Friday September 11
7:00: Steve Wariner (host); Jeannie Seely; Mike Snider
7:30: Jimmy Dickens (host); Stonewall Jackson; Joe Diffie
8:00: Bill Anderson (host); Jean Shepard; Pam Tillis
8:30: Marty Stuart (host); Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press; Jim Ed Brown; Connie Smith

Saturday September 12
7:00: Jimmy Dickens (host); Jimmy C Newman; The Infamous Stringdusters
7:30: Lorrie Morgan (host); Jesse McReynolds & The Virginia Boys; Jack Greene; Jean Shepard
8:00: Mike Snider (host); Jan Howard; The Carter Twins; Opry Square Dancers
8:30: Bill Anderson (host); The Whites; Pam Tillis

Notice anything special about the Friday Night Opry? If your guess was that the show was made up of only members of the Grand Ole Opry, you are correct. I mention it because very rarely do we see that any longer.

Now from 25 years ago, Saturday September 10, 1994:

1st show
6:30: Grandpa Jones (host); Wilma Lee Cooper
6:45: Jeanne Pruett (host); Bill Carlisle
7:00: Porter Wagoner (host); Brother Oswald; Justin Tubb; The Four Guys; Ray Pillow
7:30: Jack Greene (host); Jimmie Davis; Jean Shepard; Mark Collie
8:00: Bill Anderson (host); The Whites; Charlie Walker; Nashville Bluegrass Band; Opry Square Dance Band; The Melvin Sloan Dancers
8:30: Hank Snow (host); Jimmy C Newman; Jeannie Seely; Billy Walker; Mike Snider

2nd show
9:30: Porter Wagoner (host); Charlie Walker; Mark Collie
10:00: Grandpa Jones (host); Roy Drusky
10:15: Jimmy C Newman (host); Ray Pillow
10:30: Bill Anderson (host)l Jeanne Pruett
10:45: Jack Greene (host); Jean Shepard; Opry Square Dance Band; The Melvin Sloan Dancers
11:00: Hank Snow (host); The Four Guys; Charlie Louvin; Nashville Bluegrass Band
11:30: Billy Walker (host); The Whites; Mike Snider
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Looking at the Grand Ole Opry line-up from 50 years ago, Saturday September 13, 1969, it was the night that the Earl Scruggs Revue made their debut as members of the Grand Ole Opry.

After breaking up with Lester Flatt in early 1969, Earl Scruggs put together his own, more progressive group, The Earl Scruggs Review. The group consisted of two of his sons, Randy (guitar) and Gary (bass) and later Vassar Clements (fiddle), Josh Graves (Dobro) and Scruggs' youngest son, Steve (drums).

The Earl Scruggs Revue gained popularity on college campuses, live shows and festivals and appeared on the bill with acts like Steppenwolf, The Byrds and James Taylor. They recorded for Columbia Records and made frequent network television appearances though the 1970s. Their album I Saw the Light with a Little Help from my Friends featured Linda Ronstadt, Arlo Guthrie, Tracy Nelson, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. This collaboration sparked enthusiasm by the latter to make the album Will the Circle be Unbroken. Earl and Louise Scruggs made phone calls to eminent country stars like Roy Acuff and "Mother" Maybelle Carter to get them to participate in this project to bring a unique combination of older players with young ones. Bill Monroe refused to participate saying he had to remain true to the style he pioneered, and this "is not bluegrass." The album became a classic, and was selected for the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry of works of unusual merit.

Earl had to retire from the road in 1980 due to back problems, but the Earl Scruggs Revue did not part ways until 1982. Despite the group's commercial success, they were never embraced by bluegrass or country music purists.

The Earl Scruggs Revue was only at the Opry for several years before moving on, with Earl giving up his Opry membership. Earl would continue to collaborate with other country and bluegrass artists for the remainder of his life and would make guest appearances on the Opry. There was also a report that Earl expressed a desire to rejoin the Opry later in his life, however that request was denied.

Here is the running order from 50 years ago, Saturday September 13, 1969, the night that the Earl Scruggs Revue made their Opry debut:

1st show
6:30: Mrs Grissoms
George Hamilton IV (host): Canadian Pacific
The Four Guys: My Special Angel
Leona Williams: Once More
George Hamilton IV: Break My Mind

6:45: Rudy's
Stu Phillips (host): That's A Chance I'll Have to Take
Liz Anderson: Mama Spank
Bobby Lewis: 'Til Something Better Comes Along
Stu Phillips: Little Tin God

7:00: Luzianne
Billy Walker (host): Better Homes & Gardens
Skeeter and Vic Willis: Buying Popcorn
Stringbean: Little Pink
Diana Trask: Children
Billy Walker: You Gave Me a Mountain
Skeeter Willis: A Maiden's Prayer
Diana Trask: There Goes My Everything

7:30: Standard Candy
Billy Grammer (host): Detroit City
Ray Pillow: You Don't Care What Happens to Me
Martha Carson: Swing Down, Chariot
Crook Brothers: Cotton Eyed Joe
Billy Grammer: Peace on Earth Begins Today
Johnny Carver: Sweet Wine
Ray Pillow: Working Man's Blues
Martha Carson: Let the Light Shine on Me

8:00: Martha White
Charlie Walker (host): Truck Driving Man
Ernie Ashworth: My Love for You
Lonzo and Oscar: Rocky Top
Merle Kilgore: Folsom Prison Blues
Charlie Walker: Moffitt; Oklahoma
Ernie Ashworth: Love, I Finally Found It
Lonzo and Oscar: Hertz, Rent A Chick
Merle Kilgore: Wolverton Mountain
Charlie Walker: Pick Me Up on Your Way Down

8:30: Stephens
Roy Acuff (host): Meeting in the Air
Earl Scruggs Revue: Foggy Mountain Breakdown
Linda Martel: All I Have to Offer You is Me
Fruit Jar Drinkers: Old Hen Cackle
Roy Acuff: Branded Wherever I Go
Randy Scruggs: If I Were A Carpenter
Linda Martel: Color Him Father

2nd show
9:30: Kellogg's
George Hamilton IV (host): Early Morning Rain
Willis Brothers: Buying Popcorn
The Four Guys: Love of the Common People
Liz Anderson: Excedrin Headache #99
George Hamilton IV: Urge for Going
Willis Brothers: Bile Them Cabbage Down
The Four Guys: The Games People Play
Liz Anderson: If the Creeks Don't Rise
George Hamilton IV: Abilene

10:00: Fender
Billy Walker (host): Things
Stringbean: Battle of New Orleans
Bobby Lewis: Love Me & Make it All Better
Billy Walker: Cattle Call

10:15: Pure
Roy Acuff (host): Wabash Cannonball
Earl Scruggs Revue: Reuben
Roy Acuff: The Great Speckled Bird

10:30: Trailblazer
Stu Phillips (host): Do What 'Cha Do Do Well
Leona Williams: Once More
Merle Kilgore: Ring of Fire
Stu Phillips: Little Tin God

10:45: Kent
Ray Pillow (host): Wonderful Day
Diana Trask: Children
Crook Brothers: Black Mountain Rag
Ray Pillow: Take Your Hands off My Heavy Heart

11:00: Coca Cola
Billy Grammer (host): Gotta Travel On
Ernie Ashworth: A New Heart
Martha Carson: This Old House
Fruit Jar Drinkers: Bill Cheatham
Billy Grammer: Jesus Is A Soul Man
Ernie Ashworth: You Can't Pick a Rose in December
Martha Carson: Shout & Shine
Kirk McGee: Milk Cow Blues

11:30: Lava
Charlie Walker (host): San Antonio Rose
Lonzo and Oscar: Lonesome Road Blues
Linda Martel: All I Have to Offer You is Me
Johnny Carver: Proud Mary
Charlie Walker: Jambalaya
Lonzo and Oscar: Making Plans
Linda Martel: Color Him Father
Johnny Carver: That's Your Hang Up, Baby

There you have it for this week. As always, thanks for reading and commenting and I hope everyone enjoys the Grand Ole Opry this weekend!!