Grand Ole Opry October 10th/95th Birthday Recap

I debated whether or not to go. I went and I am glad that I did. 

On Saturday night, the Grand Ole Opry once again, and for the first time since March, performed the show before a live audience. Granted, it was only for 500 fans in the 4,400 seat Grand Ole Opry House, and granted, it was just a one hour show that featured four of the Opry's members, and granted it was $125 for a ticket, but in the end, it was well worth it. 

Vince Gill, Lorrie Morgan, Terri Clark and Dierks Bentley offered an entertaining hour of music, with Circle TV personality Natalie Stovall handling the introduction and announcing duties. While it was not like a normal Opry birthday show, the show did salute several Opry members who either have passed on (Roy Acuff, Skeeter Davis and Faron Young) or in the case of Barbara Mandrell, a retired Opry member. 

Inside the Opry House, all 500 were seated on the main floor and well spaced out. From my vantage point up front, it would appear that pretty much everyone stayed in their seats, as instructed, and kept their masks on. There were several health department representatives standing along the side walls and observing. In the lobby, all of the refreshment stands and bars were closed, and the seats in the lobby were taped off. The restrooms and Opry Shop were the only two locations open. 

When entering the Opry House, the entrance door was based on the seat location, with the normal front doors and side doors being used. Interesting observation was the removal of the door handles on the Opry House doors. The Circle Room was not open.

There was no evidence of any WSM announcers and there were no sponsors or commercials. When there were the TV breaks, Natalie, who was placed about two-thirds up in the audience, did promotions for Circle TV and the Opry. She also did the introduction prior to the show, going over the rules and regulations and pumping up the crowd. 

All of the Opry House employees, and there were enough of them, were happy, smiling and going out of their way to thank people for coming. There were many new faces that I hadn't seen before.

Everyone attending received a free commemorative poster and they did actually print a program for the night. 

I have not watched the TV replay of the show as of yet, but when the cast was doing the finale, the big video screen on stage offered a montage of all of the Opry's members, which I thought was a very nice touch. After the show ended, Terri Clark and Natalie Stovall did a 30 minute segment for Circle TV. Natalie interviewed Terri and she sang two songs. It would appear that most of those who attended the Opry show stayed for the extra segment. When the show ended, they dismissed the audience row by row, and directed you toward a specific aisle and exit door. Nicely done again to help with social distancing.

The only concern was outside and getting into the building, Even with multiple entrances, there was a backlog as only two security points were open at the main doors, and there were two tour groups that arrived at once. The doors did not open until 6:30, 30 minutes before show time. I think going forward they might want to look at getting people in sooner.

Will I attend again? Probably not until the Opry gets back to a normal show. $125 and $75 is a pretty stiff price for a one hour show with three-to-five acts that can be watched for free on TV, or on the various Circle internet sites. While I am sure this format will work for the month of October, I cannot see it sustaining itself, especially if the Opry is unable to book the bigger names that the casual Opry fans expect to see. 

So in the end, why did a go? Several reasons. First, I missed the Opry and live music. Secondly, I am not sure how long the Opry will be able to continue these abbreviated shows, much less get back to a normal, 2+hour show. I know they are hoping to expand in November, but who really knows when it could all be shut down again. Third, I felt it was one of those "can't miss" events that has helped to define the Opry over the years. Finally, I felt that the Opry would do everything possible to make it a safe event, which I felt that they did. 

My hats off to Dan Rogers and everyone at the Opry for their continued work and commitment on keeping the show going. And congratulations to the Grand Ole Opry upon its 95th birthday. The Opry continues to show that the circle cannot be broken. 

Here is the recap as printed in the Tennessean: 

On his song, "Night Train to Memphis," Roy Acuff sang about a man speeding down the tracks, impatiently waiting to reunite with his love.

It was an inspired choice for Vince Gill to sing that song as he opened up Saturday's Grand Ole Opry show. There was another long-awaited reunion taking place that night — between the Opry and a live, in-person audience. 

After nearly seven months, country music fans once again sat in the stands of Nashville's Grand Ole Opry House.

Since the coronavirus first transformed Nashville gatherings back in March, the Opry has broadcast and streamed a weekly show from an an empty venue. On Saturday, the Opry House brought in a limited audience of 500 — all masked and socially distanced in groups. 

"What's that noise?" Gill joked, as the crowd cheered for his opening number.

Gill told them he had just done an interview backstage, and someone asked him, "What's it going to be like tonight?"

"I said it's gonna be like having a conversation again. That's what happens when you stand up here and sing a song, and somebody listens and responds. It's like having a great conversation. It's just beautiful to hear that kind of conversation coming back. Thank you for that."

On Saturday's show, Gill and the Opry's masked house band were joined by three other country stars: Dierks Bentley, Terri Clark and Lorrie Morgan. 

Returning to the Opry with a audience was "another dream come true" for Morgan, who sang "Something In Red" and Skeeter Davis' "End Of The World." Every performer picked at least one classic country song to sing, as Saturday's show was also the kickoff of the Opry's monthlong 95th birthday celebration.

Clark's selection was Barbara Mandrell's "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool," alongside her own "Better Things To Do." She flashed back to playing one of the first no-audience shows at the Opry House in April, which was "haunting." But Saturday's audience, she said, was "kind of a part of history."

"These types of things are just so heartwarming, and I love seeing you all out there being safe, and wearing your masks, and being here with us tonight."

Dierks Bentley looked up to the mezzanine and smiled as he and his band launched into "Burning Man." For his Opry member tribute, he chose Faron Young's "Going Steady," which he said he used to sing on Nashville's Lower Broadway.

Against all conventional wisdom, he joked, Gill ended up playing three songs at Saturday's show that he'd never sung before. That included a touching, solo acoustic rendition of "In The Ghetto," the Elvis Presley hit written by Mac Davis, who died Tuesday at age 78. 

The one-hour broadcast concluded with a song nearly as old at the Opry itself: The Carter Family's reworked version of the hymn "Will The Circle Be Unbroken," which has become country music (and the Opry's) eternal theme song.

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Looking at the line-up for the show this Saturday night, which will be televised by Circle TV, Grand Ole Opry legend Jeannie Seely returns to the Opry stage. Jeannie, who recently turned 80 and marked her 53rd year as an Opry member, also has released a new album of wonderful music with several guest artists. 

Also appearing will be Opry member Josh Turner, frequent guest (and possible future Opry member) Carly Pearce, and making his Grand Ole Opry debut, Niko Moon. 

Each show in October has a theme that relates to the 95th anniversary of the Opry, and the theme for this show is Opry duets and Opry firsts. 

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Niko Moon, who was originally scheduled to make his Opry debut on April 14, is from Tyler, Texas, where he was born the son of a truck driver and a waitress at a Chinese restaurant. His father gave up an opportunity to tour as a drummer when he found out Niko was on the way, but music remained a significant part of the family’s personality.

“Both of my parents are songwriters,” he says. “They’re not professional, but they love to do it. Some of my first memories in life were crawling into the living room and watching them write a song together on guitar, sitting Indian-style on the floor.”

When Niko was 10, his mom picked up a job with a temporary staffing company in Douglasville, and it was in the new location that Niko took up music on his own. When Dad was away, Niko routinely snuck a guitar out of the closet and learned to play left-handed on the standard, right-handed instrument.

He immediately started writing songs, unwittingly establishing his future path. His first experience as a band member came playing rudimentary bass for a local punk group. And when his prowess in cross country brought a full-ride athletic scholarship at Samford University in Alabama, he used the opportunity to focus his studies on music, a pursuit he felt gave him the best chance to make a difference.

He skipped classes routinely to write songs, drove back frequently to Douglasville and left school after a year. He needed money, so he jumped into construction work, a whole series of jobs that concluded with Moon successfully running his own real estate appraisal company. But the music bug continued to bite, and he started playing in bars. When an Atlanta booking agent offered him $200 a night, and allowed him to mix his original music in with covers songs, it was a no-brainer. Moon took the gig – loved it – and fortuitously bumped into another Atlanta musician, Zac Brown, who hadn’t yet taken his band to the national level.

The two began co-writing, and Moon became a regular collaborator, credited on five #1 Zac Brown Band hits: “Loving You Easy,” “Homegrown,” “Beautiful Drug” and “Keep Me In Mind” – plus “Heavy Is The Head,” which topped the rock charts with Chris Cornell singing lead.

That project coincided with a move to Nashville, where Moon’s creative sphere widened further. His wife, Anna Moon, snagged a pop deal with Monument, and Niko expanded his co-writing work, landing a Rascal Flatts single, “Back To Life,” and supporting reggae/hip-hop artist Michael Franti as a co-writer and producer. During the work on Franti’s Stay Human, Vol. II, Moon’s personal journey reached a tipping point, inspiring him to make his own artistic statement. He enlisted Anna and a longtime friend, guitarist/producer Josh Murty (Luis Fonsi, Brandon Heath), to co-write what became 

Some of country’s prominent movers and shakers bought into Moon’s artistic story right away. Already signed to Warner/Chappell, he landed a booking deal with the Creative Artists Agency, and secured Luke Combs’ partners, Lynn Oliver-Cline and Chris Kappy, as his managers. Sony Music Nashville – his first choice for a label – signed Moon within a week of an audition in chairman/CEO Randy Goodman’s office.

With some of Nashville’s strongest business players are on board with an artful singer/songwriter breaking down barriers between two musical worlds that once seemed so separate. Moon’s Good Time is a reflection of country’s new order in the 21st century, a culture of fluid genres and wider tastes.

“We were listening to country and hip-hop all at the same time and we were constantly flipping back and forth,” Moon says of his own good-timin’ musical heritage. “I really wanted to figure out how to mix those two worlds together in a way that felt really authentic and genuine to who I am. And to everyone else who grew up the same way.”

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And now, from 50 years ago, Saturday October 10, 1970:

1st show
6:30: Roy Drusky (host); Skeeter Willis; Harold Weakley
6:45: Bobby Lord (host); Mel Tillis; Stu Phillips
7:00: Roy Acuff (host); Earl Scruggs Revue; Archie Campbell; The Four Guys
7:30: Porter Wagoner (host); Dolly Parton; Bob Luman; Crook Brothers
8:00: Lester Flatt (host); Skeeter Davis; Charlie Walker
8:30: Hank Snow (host); Tex Ritter; Minnie Pearl; Fruit Jar Drinkers; Marion Worth

2nd show
9:30: Roy Drusky (host); Skeeter Willis; Stu Phillips
10:00: Bobby Lord (host); Earl Scruggs Revue
10:15: Roy Acuff (host); Tex Ritter; Archie Campbell; Lorene Mann
10:30: Lester Flatt (host); Charlie Walker; The Four Guys
10:45: Porter Wagoner (host); Dolly Parton; Crook Brothers
11:00: Hank Snow (host); Skeeter Davis; Fruit Jar Drinkers; Sam McGee
11:30: Wilburn Brothers (host); Marion Worth; Skeeter Davis
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On October 10, 1987, the Grand Ole Opry celebrated its 62nd birthday. The first show that night was highlighted by an appearance by Glen Campbell. Here is the running order from that night:

1st show
6:30: Bonanza
Del Reeves (host): Two Dollars in the Jukebox/A Dime at a Time/Looking at the World Thru a Windshield
The Four Guys: Once More
Del Reeves: I Wish I had Loved Her That Way

6:45: Rudy's
Jimmy C Newman (host): Cajun's Dream
Lorrie Morgan: There's No Love in Tennessee
Jimmy C Newman: Pistol Packin' Mama

7:00: Shoney's
Jim Ed Brown (host): Fools
Jean Shepard: Second Fiddle
Charlie Louvin and Jennifer O'Brien: Everytime You Leave
George Hamilton IV: Someday My Ship Will Sail
Jan Howard: Somebody's Always Saying Goodbye
Jim Ed Brown: I Don't Want to Have to Marry You

7:30: Standard Candy
Roy Acuff (host): Wabash Cannonball
Stonewall Jackson: Closer to the Vine
Del Wood: Down Yonder
Glen Campbell: The Hand that Rocked the Cradle/I Remember You
Roy Acuff and The Opry Cast: Happy Birthday Grand Ole Opry
Roy Acuff, Glen Campbell and the Opry Cast: I Saw the Light

8:00: Martha White
Bill Monroe (host): My Rose of Old Kentucky/Blue Moon of Kentucky
Connie Smith: The Keys in the Mailbox
Riders In The Sky: Faded Love
The Whites: If It Ain't Love
Crook Brothers and the Melvin Sloan Dancers: Lafayette
Bill Monroe: Lord, Let the Gates Swing Wide for Me

8:30: Music Valley Drive
Hank Snow (host): Between Fire & Water
Skeeter Davis: My Last Date with You/Silver Threads and Golden Needles/The End of the World
Roy Drusky: The Moon is still Over Her Shoulders
Jack Greene: Statue of a Fool
Bill Carlisle: Worried Man Blues
Hank Snow: I'm Glad I Got to See You Once Again

2nd show
9:30: Dollar General
Bill Monroe (host): Uncle Pen
Jeannie Seely: That May Be All I Need to Know
Del Reeves: The Chair That Rocked Us All
The Whites: Swing Low Sweet Chariot
Jimmy C Newman: Big Mamou
Bill Monroe: The Home Above

10:00: Little Debbie
Jim Ed Brown (host): Pop A Top
The Four Guys: Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes
Jim Ed Brown: The 3 Bells

10:15: Sunbeam
Roy Acuff (host): Meeting in the Air
Wilma Lee Cooper: I Dreamed About Mama Last Night
Roy Acuff and The Opry Cast: Happy Birthday Grand Ole Opry
Roy Acuff: I'll Fly Away

10:30: Pet Milk
George Hamilton IV (host): Break My Mind
Jean Shepard: I'll Sail My Ship Alone
George Hamilton IV: Forever Young

10:45: Heil Quaker
Jack Greene (host): Walking on New Grass
Charlie Walker: Deep Water
Crook Brothers and the Melvin Sloan Dancers: Sally Goodin
Jack Greene: There Goes My Everything

11:00: Coca Cola
Hank Snow (host): Why Do You Punish Me
Connie Smith: Once A Day
Charlie Louvin: True Love
Jan Howard: Release Me
Justin Tubb: Thanks Troubadour, Thanks
Hank Snow: I Care No More

11:30: B.C. Powder
Roy Drusky (host): Too Old to Die Young
Skeeter Davis: The End of the World
Bill Carlisle: Elvira
Riders In The Sky: Back on Those Texas Plains
Roy Drusky and Riders In The Sky: Cool Water
Roy Drusky: Just A Closer Walk with Thee

One final note: Still no word as to Rhonda Vincent's induction date. I am guessing they are probably waiting for a full audience show so that they can do it properly, and of course, with social distancing, it would be hard for other artists to interact with Rhonda. 

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

Final thought: Prayers for Stonewall Jackson