Grand Ole Opry April 11

Another Saturday night brings another Grand Ole Opry show on WSM and Circle, along with Dish and the various streaming services.

As with the past several weeks, there is another fine line-up, with no repeats from earlier shows. And with this being Easter weekend, I am sure some special music will be played as the show is being advertised as a special holiday show.

Grand Ole Opry member Trace Adkins will head the show, joined by frequent Opry guests T. Graham Brown and Jason Crabb, along with Bobby Bones.

While pretty much everyone is familiar with Trace and T. Graham, perhaps not everyone is familiar with the career of Jason Crabb.

In his career, Kentucky-born Jason Crabb has won a GRAMMY and 21 Dove Awards – being named the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards Artist and Male Vocalist of the Year along with Song of the Year. He also has had over 20 million views on YouTube. He has hosted shows on TBN, along with appearing on numerous award shows and television specials.

Since his first solo release in 2009, Jason has performed at many of the world’s most prestigious stages such as Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Tabernacle, Billy Graham’s final crusade in NYC, and of course, the Grand Ole Opry. Not only recognized as a solo artist, Jason has also performed with dozens of other performers.

Whatever the Road, Jason’s 2015 release, was nominated for a GRAMMY® for Best Contemporary Christian Album.

His latest release, Unexpected, releases on April 20, 2018. The project was produced by Jay DeMarcus (Rascal Flatts) and features Gary LeVox (Rascal Flatts) and Kaya Jones.
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And now, from 25 years ago, the second weekend in April 1995:

Saturday April 8
1st show
6:30: Bill Monroe (host); Wilma Lee Cooper
6:45: Grandpa Jones (host); Del Reeves
7:00: Jimmy Dickens (host); The Four Guys; Charlie Louvin; Mike Snider
7:30: Jim Ed Brown (host); Bill Carlisle; The Whites; Kitty Wells; Johnny Wright
8:00: Porter Wagoner (host); Stonewall Jackson; Jeanne Pruett; Boxcar Willie; Opry Square Dance Band; The Melvin Sloan Dancers
8:30: Hank Snow (host); Jimmy C Newman; Brother Oswald; Ricky Skaggs

2nd show
9:30: Porter Wagoner (host); Jeanne Pruett; Stonewall Jackson; Stu Phillips; Charlie Walker
10:00: Bill Monroe (host); The Whites
10:15: Jimmy Dickens (host); Mike Snider
10:30: Grandpa Jones (host); Roy Drusky
10:45: Billy Walker (host); Ray Pillow; Opry Square Dance Band; The Melvin Sloan Dancers
11:00: Hank Snow (host); The Four Guys; Stonewall Jackson; Boxcar Willie
11:30: Ricky Skaggs (host); Johnny Russell; Nashville Bluegrass Band

And from 50 years ago, Saturday April 11, 1970:

1st show
6:30: Billy Grammer (host); Del Wood; Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper
6:45: Ray Pillow (host); Barbara Fairchild; Billy Troy
7:00: Charlie Walker (host); Jean Shepard; Jim and Jesse; Leroy Van Dyke
7:30: Willis Brothers (host); Carl and Pearl Butler; Jay Lee Webb; Crook Brothers
8:00: Roy Acuff (host); Bobby Lewis; The Four Guys; Webb Pierce; Crook Brothers
8:30: Ernest Tubb (host); Marion Worth; Hugh X. Lewis; Fruit Jar Drinkers; Billy Parker

2nd show
9:30: Billy Grammer (host); Willis Brothers; Leroy Van Dyke; Billy Troy
10:00: Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper (host); Del Wood; Barbara Fairchild
10:15: Ray Pillow (host); Jay Lee Webb
10:30: Roy Acuff (host); Jean Shepard; Webb Pierce
10:45: Ernest Tubb (host); Billy Parker; Crook Brothers
11:00: Jim and Jesse (host); Connie Eaton; Bobby Lewis; Fruit Jar Drinkers; Sam McGee
11:30: Charlie Walker (host); Marion Worth; Hugh X Lewis; Louie Roberts

(Lots of cancellations that night as Stringbean, Margie Bowes, Lonzo and Oscar and the Glaser Brothers all failed to appear)

April 11, 1987 was another of the Grand Ole Opry's reunion shows. While not as many former members appeared this particular year, those who did show included Clyde Moody, Zeke Clements, Pee Wee King and Curly Fox.

Here is the running order from that night 33 years ago:

1st show
6:30: Bonanza
Jack Greene (host): Walking on New Grass
The Four Guys: Way Down Deep
Jack Greene: Yours for the Taking.Midnight Tennessee Woman

6:45: Rudy's
Jimmy Dickens (host): Family Reunion
Skeeter Davis: 'T Ain't It Nice
Jimmy Dickens: Life Turned Her That Way

7:00: Shoney's
Bill Anderson (host): Po' Folks
Ray Pillow: Days When You Were Still in Love With Me
Jeanne Pruett: Satin Sheets
Billy Walker: Funny How Time Slips Away
Charlie Louvin: When I Stop Dreaming
Bill Anderson: No Ordinary Memory

7:30: Standard Candy
Roy Acuff (host): Wabash Cannonball
Clyde Moody: The Kind of Love I Can't Forget
Zeke Clements: I'll Have to Live and Learn/Somebody's Been Beatin' My Time/Why Should I Cry/Just A Little Lovin'
Pee Wee King: Bonaparte's Retreat
Crook Brothers and The Melvin Sloan Dancers: Sally Goodin
Roy Acuff: I'll Fly Away

8:00: Martha White
Jim Ed Brown (host): Lyin' In Love with You
Jimmy C Newman: La Cajun Band
Lorrie Morgan: Lone Star State of Mind
Curly Fox: Mockingbird/The Old Gray Mule
Riders In The Sky: Wayward Wind
Jim Ed Brown: The 3 Bells

8:30: Music Valley Merchants
Hank Snow (host): I Don't Hurt Anymore
Jeannie Seely: It Should Be Easier Now
Stonewall Jackson: Muddy Water
Wilma Lee Cooper: Walking My Lord Up Calvary's Hill
George Hamilton IV: Forever Young
Hank Snow: A Faded Petal from a Beautiful Bouquet

2nd show
9:30: Dollar General
Bill Anderson (host): Southern Fried
The Four Guys: Tennessee
Jeanne Pruett: Satin Sheets
Charlie Walker: Does Ft. Worth Ever Cross Your Mind
Bill Carlisle: White Lightening
Bill Anderson: Golden Guitar

10:00: Little Debbie
Jimmy Dickens (hos): Me & My Big Loud Mouth
Zeke Clements: The House at the End of the Road
Jimmy Dickens: I Leaned Over Backwards for You

10:15: Sunbeam
Roy Acuff (host): Meeting in the Air
Pee Wee King: Tennessee Waltz
Roy Acuff: I Saw the Light

10:30: Pet Milk
Jimmy C Newman (host): Jambalaya
Jack Greene: All the Time
Jimmy C Newman: Let the Good Times Roll

10:45: Heil-Quaker
Jim Ed Brown (host): Everyday People
Clyde Moody: Somebody Loves You Darling
Crook Brothers and The Melvin Sloan Dancers: Gray Eagle
Jim Ed Brown: Morning

11:00: Coca Cola
Hank Snow (host): Caribbean
Wilma Lee Cooper: I'm Picking Up the Pieces
Curly Fox: Alabama Jubilee
Lorrie Morgan: Candy Kisses
Hank Snow: I'm Glad I Got to See You Once Again

11:30: B. C. Powder
George Hamilton IV (host): Break My Mind
Riders In The Sky: Riding Down the Canyon
Jeannie Seely: Pride/It Should Be Easier Now
George Hamilton IV: She's a Little Bit Country

Zeke Clements was one of those who appeared that night.

Zeke Clements, also known as "The Dixie Yodeler" was born on September 6, 1911 near Empire, Alabama.

 In 1928, his career began when he joined Otto Gray and his Oklahoma Cowboys touring show and was signed to the National Barn Dance at WLS in Chicago. In 1930, he performed on the Grand Ole Opry for the first time and he became a member of the Bronco Busters, led by Texas Ruby. In 1932, Zeke and The Bronco Busters became members of the Opry.

In the 1930 and 1940s, Clements appeared as a singing cowboy in several of Charles Starrett's B-Westerns. During this time, he also provided the voice of Bashful, the yodeling dwarf, in Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

After leaving the Opry for a short amount of time while he was filming his movies, Zeke formed the Western Swing Gang and returned to the Opry in 1939. He had his first major country hit with Smoke On the Water. The song was recorded by Red Foley in 1944 and became the No.1 Country Recording of 1945. Also in 1945, he started Liberty Records in Southern California. It was later renamed Blazon Records. After a short stint on the Louisiana Hayride in the later 1940s, he appeared on several radio stations in the South. In the 1960s, he moved to Florida and joined a Dixieland band as banjo player.

Zeke Clements passed away in Nashville in 1994.

Also appearing that night was Curly Fox.

Arnim LeRoy Fox was born in Graysville, Tennessee. His father, a barber, taught him to play the fiddle, with help from James McCarroll of the Roane Country Ramblers. He began his professional career playing and traveling with Chief White Owl's "Indian" medicine show. Fox soon began working with Claude Davis and the Carolina Tar Heels in Atlanta and founded the Tennessee Firecrackers. He played and recorded with the Shelton Brothers in New Orleans from 1934 to 1936, also recording three singles himself.

 In 1937, he met Texas Ruby (born Ruby Agnes Owens in Wise County, Texas) at the Texas centennial celebration. Ruby, a true cowgirl and sister of radio cowboy Tex Owens, had sung several times on the Grand Ole Opry and various radio stations with Zeke Clements and His Bronco Busters. Soon after meeting Fox, the two married and began appearing on the Opry from 1937-39 and again from 1944-48. In between, they worked in Cincinnati and at other major stations as well.

The duo did make some recordings, but according to Fox, Ruby's throaty contralto didn't sound as good on records as it did on the radio. Her best recordings were made for King in 1947. In 1948 the couple moved to Houston, where they lived and worked for ten years bringing country music to local television.

In 1960, they returned to the Grand Ole Opry. Unfortunately, Ruby's health was failing, so Fox often played alone. They did manage to record an album for Starday in 1963, but shortly thereafter, Ruby burned to death in a mobile home fire while her husband was playing on the Opry. Fox continued his solo career for a while after her death, but then left for Chicago to live with one of his daughters. Though he too suffered ill health, he made some albums and occasionally appeared live. He returned to his hometown in the mid-'70s and worked with a local bluegrass band before retiring to live with an older sister.

Curly Fox passed away in 1995.

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