Grand Ole Opry 8/6 & 8/7

Welcome to the first weekend in August and the final month of what is considered the summer months. For the Grand Ole Opry, it is the weekend after inducting its 3rd member of 2021 as Carly Pearce has followed in the footsteps of Lady A and Rhonda Vincent in becoming a member of the Grand Ole Opry's cast. No, Carly is not at the Opry this weekend, but there is plenty of talent on the schedule. 

The Friday Night Opry will feature Grand Ole Opry members John Conlee, Riders In The Sky and Jeannie Seely, while on Saturday night, Connie Smith, Marty Stuart, Ricky Skaggs, Chris Young and, celebrating their 10th year as members of the Grand Ole Opry, the Oak Ridge Boys. 

Brandy Clark will be guesting on Friday night, joined by Craig Campbell, Sean McConnell, comedian Chonda Pierce, and making her first solo appearance on the Opry, Jessica Willis Fisher. On Saturday night, Darin & Brooke Aldridge are scheduled, along with Wade Bowen. And let me add that I really believe Darin & Brooke would make great members of the Opry. The duo are so talented and their style of music fits right into what the Opry is about. 

Friday August 6
7:00: John Conlee; Craig Campbell; Jessica Willis Fisher; Riders In The Sky
Intermission
8:15: Jeannie Seely; Chonda Pierce; Sean McConnell; Brandy Clark

Saturday August 7
7:00: Opry Square Dancers; Connie Smith; Wade Bowen; Darin & Brooke Aldridge; Marty Stuart
8:00: Ricky Skaggs; Chris Young; Oak Ridge Boys

I don't think anyone can complain about Saturday night. A very solid show featuring five of the Opry's members and with only Opry members scheduled on the Circle TV segment. Certainly the better of the two nights this weekend. 
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As I mentioned, Jessica Willis Fisher will be making her first solo appearance on Friday night. Jessica was a member of The Willis Clan, who make dozens of appearances on the Opry. I won't go into the entire situation as to what happened to the family, but Jessica has moved on to a solo career. 

Jessica is a singer/songwriter as well as a very talented fiddle player. She has written hundreds of songs and is in the process of recording her first solo album. She also is a craft artist and her website features many of her original items which include wall art, jewelry and unique home goods. She also offers fiddle lessons.  _______________________________________________________________________

From years ago, Saturday August 7, 1971: 

1st show
6:30: Willis Brothers (host); Peggy Sue; Jay Lee Webb
6:45: The 4 Guys (host); Barbara Fairchild; Jerry Smith
7:00: Del Reeves (host); Jimmy Dickens; Peggy Little
7:30: Billy Grammer (host); Dottie West; Tommy Overstreet; Crook Brothers
8:00: Porter Wagoner (host); Dolly Parton; Mac Wiseman
8:30: Marty Robbins (host); Jeanne Pruett; Louie Roberts; Fruit Jar Drinkers; 

2nd show
9:30: Willis Brothers (host); Barbara Fairchild; Jimmy Dickens; Jerry Smith
10:00: The 4 Guys (host); Peggy Sue; Jerry Lee Webb
10:15: Del Reeves (host); Peggy Little; Jimmy Dickens
10:30: Dottie West (MC); Murry Kellum
10:45: Billy Grammer (host); Tommy Overstreet; Opry Square Dancers
11:00: Porter Wagoner (host); Dolly Parton; Mac Wiseman; Fruit Jar Drinkers; Sam McGee
11:30: Marty Robbins (host); Jeanne Pruett; Louie Roberts

Some interesting items from that night. First, Marty Robbins appeared on both shows which was very unusual (and on the first show he stayed in the time limits); Secondly, Dottie West was the "MC" on her segment on the late show (of course, they did not call the females hosts" during that time period, nor did they introduce acts); Third, Tommy Overstreet was on the Opry that night. There have been verified reports over the years that Tommy was offered Opry membership, but he was one of the ones who turned it down. 
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Now moving along at another of the Opry's older line-ups, here is one from 67 years ago, Saturday August 7, 1954: 

7:30: Prince Albert
Webb Pierce: Even Tho
Rod Brasfield: Gags
Kitty Wells: One By One
Dance Tune: Devil's Dream
Webb Pierce: Bugle Call from Heaven
Del Wood: 12th Street Rag
Minnie Pearl: Gags
Kitty Wells: He's Married to Me
Grandpa Jones: Pretty Little Pink
Webb Pierce: Sparkling Brown Eyes
Dance Tune: Mississippi Sawyer

8:00: Martha White
Hank Snow: My Arabian Baby
Bill Monroe: Close By
Johnny and Jack: Goodnight Sweetheart, Goodnight
June Carter: Well I Guess I Told You Off
Hank Snow: I Don't Hurt Anymore
Ferlin Husky: Homesick
Possum Hunters: Tennessee Wagner
Bill Monroe: Wishing Waltz
Hank Snow: For Now and Always
Dale Potter: Leather Britches

8:30: Royal Crown Cola
Roy Acuff: I Couldn't Believe It Was True
Fruit Jar Drinkers: Katy Hill
Ray Price: Release Me
Jug Band: Under the Double Eagle
Martha Carson: I Bowed Down
Lonzo and Oscar: Crazy About You Baby
Roy Acuff: We'll Understand it Better Bye-in-Bye
Oswald: Good Old Mountain Dew
Jimmy Riddle: T Model
Howdy Forrester: Wake Up Susan

9:00: Jefferson Island Salt
Carl Smith: Go Boy Go
Jimmy Dickens: Black Eyed Joe
George Morgan: Walking Shoes
Anita Carter: Heartless Romance
Crook Brothers: 8th of January
Marty Robbins: Call Me Up and I'll Come Calling on You
Carl Smith: If You Saw Her Through My Eyes
Jimmy Dickens: I Just Got to See You Once More
Chet Atkins: San Antonio Rose
Fiddle Chaser: Old Joe Clark

9:30: Warren Paint
Roy Acuff: Do You Wonder Why
Howdy Forrester: Grey Eagle
Lew Childre: Southern Hospitality
Goldie Hill: Make Love to Me
Roy Acuff: The Great Judgement Morning

9:45: American Ace
Roy Acuff: Just to Ease My Worried Mind
Cowboy Copas: Return to Sender
Oswald: Stuck Up Blues
Roy Acuff: Lonesome Valley
Jimmy Riddle: Red Wing

10:00: Wall-Rite
George Morgan: It's Been Nice
Bill Monroe: I Hope You Have Learned
Martha Carson: I Feel it In My Soul
Blue Grass Boys: Get Up John
George Morgan: A Petal from a Faded Rose

10:15: Dr. Le Gear
Hank Snow: Panamama
Grandpa Jones: The Trader
Chubby Tommy: Back Up and Push
Goldie Hill: Yesterday's Girl
Hank Snow: Act I; Act II; Act III

10:30: Hester Battery
Carl Smith: Dog-gone it Baby I'm in Love
Jimmy Dickens: I'll Dance at Your Wedding
Chet Atkins: Black Mountain Rag
Duke of Paducah: Gags
Mother Maybelle: Little Darling Pal of Mine
Ferlin Husky: Somebody Lied
Carl Smith: If You Tried as Hard to Love Me
Cowboy Copas: Sorry
Jimmy Dickens: What About You
Fiddle Tune: Soldier's Joy

11:00: W. E. Stephens
Webb Pierce: Slowly
Ray Price: Much Too Young to Die
Rod Brasfield and Minnie Pearl: Gags
Gully Jumpers: My Little Girl
Webb Pierce: You Just Can't Be True
Lonzo and Oscar: Got It on My Mind
Ray Price: I Love You So Much I Let You Go
Kitty Wells: He's Married to Me
Fiddle Tune: Cotton Eyed Joe
Webb Pierce: Walking the Dog

11:30: Delited
Hank Snow: Golden Rocket
Lew Childre: Snow White Horse
Crook Brothers: Sally Goodin
Johnnie and Jack: I Get So Lonely
Hank Snow: You Broke the Chain That Held Our Hearts

11:45
Marty Robbins: Too Big to Cry
Sam and Kirk: Waiting For a Letter
Fruit Jar Drinkers: Walking in My Sleep
Grandpa Jones: Come Be My Rainbow
Marty Robbins: Pretty Words
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To finish it up for this week, I am going back to Saturday August 6, 1988 which was the night that former Grand Ole Opry member Webb Pierce made his final guest appearance on the Opry. 

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

1st show
6:30: Mrs. Grissoms
Charlie Walker (host): Right or Wrong
Wilma Lee Cooper: This Old House
Charlie Walker: Just Call Me Lonesome/Take Me Back to Tulsa

6:45: Rudy's
The 4 Guys (host): Sing it High; Sing it Low
Jeannie Seely: Why Doesn't He Just Leave Me Alone
The 4 Guys: Look Out for Me, Oh Muddy Water

7:00: Shoney's
Jack Greene (host): My World Ain't Turning Yet
Jean Shepard: A Stranger in My Place
Ray Pillow: So Far, Not So Good
Webb Pierce: There Stands the Glass/Memory No. 1
Jack Greene: You Are My Treasure/There Goes My Everything

7:30: Standard Candy
Tom T. Hall (host): Faster Horses
Osborne Brothers: Midnight Flyer
Jeanne Pruett: Satin Sheets
The Wagoneers: I Want to Know Her Again/Every Step of the Way
Tom T. Hall: The Old Side of Town/The Year that Clayton Delaney Died

8:00: Martha White
Roy Acuff (host): Wabash Cannonball
Jan Howard: Somebody's Always Saying Goodbye/Faded Love
Billy Walker: A Million & One/Charlie's Shoes
Bill Carlisle: I'm Movin'
Opry Square Dance Band and The Stoney Mountain Cloggers: Rachel
Roy Acuff: I Saw the Light

8:30: Music Valley
Hank Snow (host): Send Me the Pillow You Dream On
Stonewall Jackson: Why I'm Walkin'
Vic Willis Trio: American Trilogy
Teddy Wilburn: Lovesick Blues
Connie Smith: Sing, Sing, Sing
Hank Snow: Among My Souvenirs

2nd show
9:30: Dollar General
Jack Greene (host): Try a Little Kindness
David Houston: Have a Little Faith
Wilma Lee Cooper: Big Midnight Special
Ray Pillow: Don't We All Have the Right
The 4 Guys: Tennessee
Jack Greene: Don't You Ever Get Tired of Hurting Me/Midnight Tennessee Woman

10:00: Little Debbie
Charlie Walker (host): Cherokee Maiden
Jeannie Seely: Tell Me Again
Charlie Walker: Just Call Me Lonesome/San Antonio Rose

10:15: Sunbeam
Roy Acuff (host): Meeting in the Air
Tom T. Hall: Old Dogs & Children & Watermelon Wine/I Love
Roy Acuff: I'll Fly Away

10:30: Pet Milk
Osborne Brothers (host): Flying South
Roy Drusky: Time Has Made a Change in Me
Osborne Brothers: Kentucky
Glen Duncan: Katy Hill

10:45: B. C. Powder
Billy Walker (host): Down to My Last Cigarette
Jean Shepard: At the Time
Opry Square Dance Band and The Stoney Mountain Cloggers: Bill Cheatham
Billy Walker: Wild Texas Rose

11:00: Coca Cola
Hank Snow (host): Snowbird
Jeanne Pruett: Satin Sheets
Justin Tubb: Looking Back to See
Webb Pierce: In the Jailhouse Now/I'm Walkin' the Dog
Hank Snow: Little Buddy

11:30: Creamette
Stonewall Jackson (host): Me & You & A Dog Named Boo
Jan Howard: Slow Burning Memory
Bill Carlisle: Leave that Liar Alone
Teddy Wilburn: Arkansas
Connie Smith: I've Got My Baby on My Mind
Stonewall Jackson: Ol' Chuck of Coal/Waterloo

Webb Pierce was a member of the Grand Ole Opry for a short time in the 1950s. He came to Nashville from the Louisiana Hayride. Like several others from that time period, his stay as an Opry member was fairly short as he found that financially he was giving up a lot of money from the Saturday road dates in order to play on the Opry. 

Webb  was one of the most popular honky tonk vocalists of the '50s, racking up more number one hits than similar artists like Hank Williams, Eddy Arnold, Lefty Frizzell, and Ernest Tubb. For most of the general public, Pierce -- with his lavish, flamboyant Nudie suits -- became the most recognizable face of country music, as well as all of its excesses; after all, he boasted about his pair of convertibles lined with silver dollars and his guitar-shaped swimming pool. For all of his success, Pierce never amassed the reputation of his contemporaries, even though he continued to chart regularly well into the '70s. Webb's weakness for gaudy ornaments of his wealth, as well as his reluctance to break away from hardcore honky tonk, meant that he had neither supporters in the industry, nor the ability to sustain the ever-changing tastes of a popular audience. Nevertheless, he remains one of the cornerstone figures of honky tonk, both for his success and his artistic achievements.

In late 1949, Pierce accepted a spot on the Louisiana Hayride, a radio program on KWKH that was instrumental in launching the careers of many country artists. Webb began to assemble a band of local Shreveport musicians, which included recruiting pianist Floyd Cramer, guitarist/vocalist Faron Young, bassist Tillman Franks, and vocalists Teddy and Doyle Wilburn. The Wilburns and Franks all wrote songs, which provided the basis for Webb's initial set list. Pierce also founded a record label called Pacemaker and Ark-La-Tex Music, a publishing company, with Horace Logan, the director of the Louisiana Hayride. 

In 1951 Webb signed with and Decca Records. Webb's second single, "Wondering," became his breakthrough hit, climbing to number one early in 1952. After the single became a hit, Pierce left Louisiana for Nashville, where he met and married his second wife, Audrey Greisham. 

In June of 1952, he had his second number one single with "That Heart Belongs to Me." The following September, the Grand Ole Opry needed to fill the vacancy left by the firing of Hank Williams, so they invited Pierce to join the cast. After Williams' death, Pierce became the most popular singer in country music. For the next four years, every single he released hit the Top Ten, with a total of ten reaching number one, including "There Stands the Glass" (1953), "Slowly" (1954), "More and More" (1954), and "In the Jailhouse Now" (1955).

Pierce and Opry manager Jim Denny formed Cedarwood Music, a music publishing company, in 1953; later, the pair would invest in radio stations together. Their business ventures were not looked upon kindly by the Opry superiors, and they began pressuring the duo to cease any outside interests. At the same time, Pierce was growing tired of being confined to the Grand Ole Opry -- he thought he wasn't being treated with the respect a star of his stature deserved, and he wanted to be able to partake in the lucrative financial rewards that came with touring. Pierce left the Opry in 1955 and began appearing on Ozark Jubilee, a television program on the ABC network. He left Ozark Jubilee in 1956 and returned to the Opry but left for good the following year.

By 1965, the country-pop leanings of the Nashville Sound had pushed honky tonk from the top of the country charts. Pierce remained a star, but he simply didn't have many big hits in the latter half of the '60s -- the most notable was "Fool Fool Fool" in 1967. Since his music had faded from the spotlight, he became known for his excessive lifestyle. Instead of indulging in intoxicants, Webb indulged in material items. Pierce had Nudie Cohen, a Hollywood tailor famous for his custom-made flamboyant clothing, line two Pontiac convertibles with silver dollars. He built a guitar-shaped swimming pool at his Nashville home. The swimming pool became a popular tourist attraction -- nearly 3,000 people visited it each week -- causing his neighbors, led by Ray Stevens, to file a legal suit against Pierce in order to prevent visitors from coming into their neighborhood.

Throughout the '70s, Pierce continued to record, but most of his income came from his highly lucrative financial investments. Pierce left Decca Records in 1975, making a handful of records for Plantation Records that didn't experience much chart success. His last hit came in 1982, when his duet on "In the Jailhouse Now" with Willie Nelson scraped the bottom of the country charts.

Despite all of his success, Pierce was never inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame during his lifetime; it's likely that the members never forgave him for his rejection of the Grand Ole Opry and the Nashville industry. Pierce died of pancreatic cancer on February 24, 1991. Just months before his death, he didn't receive enough votes to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He was finally inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001, 10 years after his death. His career stands as one of the most successful in the history of country music.

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.