Grand Ole Opry 11/26 & 11/27-Thanksgiving Weekend

The weekend after Thanksgiving and the Christmas shopping season is officially upon us. Depending on when you read this, you are either getting ready for Thanksgiving, or hopefully have had a nice Thanksgiving and getting ready for the big weekend of shopping and football games. As far as the Grand Ole Opry this weekend, the shows both nights look solid, with a nice group of Opry members performing. 

Looking at the schedule for this weekend, Grand Ole Opry members Jeannie Seely and Riders In The Sky are scheduled for both nights. They will be joined on the Friday Night Opry by Mark Wills and Dailey & Vincent, while on Saturday night, Bill Anderson and Bobby Osborne are set to perform. 

In looking at the list of non-members, the name that stands out this weekend is Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, as Doyle will be making his final Opry appearance. Doyle has announced that he will be retiring from performing at the end of the year. Doyle, a member of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, has been one of the most influential leaders in bluegrass music and while never an Opry member, has appeared on the Opry numerous times over his career. 

As Doyle stated, “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. 2022 will be coming up on 60 years in music, and I feel like this is the time to step away from my position as a bandleader. I think it’s been 43 years for me in this role. In a few days I’ll be 77 years old, and while my voice has held up well and my hands feel good, I want to leave while I can still feel proud of my performance on stage.”

As Doyle said in his quote, he planned on retiring at the end of 2022, however last month he announced that he had decided that the end of 2021 would be it for him. Doyle will be missed on the bluegrass circuit. 

While Doyle Lawson will be appearing only on Friday night, comedian Gary Mule Deer is scheduled for both nights, joined on Friday night by veteran country artist Darryl Worley and making her Opry debut, Sierra Ferrell. The final artist scheduled for Friday is Gail Davies, who it seems hasn't appeared on the Opry for a number of years. 

Saturday night's line-up, in addition to Gary Mule, has Caroline Jones scheduled, along with the legendary T. Graham Brown, The SteelDrivers, and making his Opry debut, Sam Grow. 

Friday November 26
7:00: Mark Wills; Gail Davies; Jeannie Seely; Riders In The Sky; Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Intermission
8:15: Darryl Worley; Gary Mule Deer; Sierra Ferrell; Dailey & Vincent

Saturday November 27
7:00: Opry Square Dancers; Jeannie Seely; Sam Grow; Bill Anderson; The SteelDrivers
Intermission
8:15: Caroline Jones; Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press; Gary Mule Deer; T. Graham Brown; Riders In The Sky

No live TV again this weekend as Circle will be showing a previously recorded show featuring Connie Smith, Marty Stuart, Tennessee Mafia Jug Band and Lee Ann Womack. 
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As mentioned, there are a couple of artists who will be making their Opry debuts this weekend. 

Sierra Ferrell is from West Virginia. A singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist left home in her early 20s to journey across the country with a troupe of nomadic musicians, playing everywhere from truck stops to alleyways to freight-train boxcars speeding down the railroad tracks. After years of living in her van and busking on the streets of New Orleans and Seattle, she moved to Nashville and soon landed a deal with Rounder Records on the strength of her magnetic live show. Now, on her highly anticipated label debut Long Time Coming, Ferrell shares a dozen songs beautifully unbound by genre or era, instantly transporting her audience to an infinitely more enchanted world.

Co-produced by Stu Hibberd and 10-time Grammy Award-winner Gary Paczosa (Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton, Gillian Welch), Long Time Coming embodies a delicate eclecticism fitting for a musician who utterly defies categorization. “I want my music to be like my mind is—all over the place,” says Ferrell, who recorded the album at Southern Ground and Minutia studios in Nashville. “I listen to everything from bluegrass to techno to goth metal, and it all inspires me in different ways that I try to incorporate into my songs and make people really feel something.” In sculpting the album’s chameleonic sound, Ferrell joined forces with a knockout lineup of guest musicians (including Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien, Chris Scruggs, Sarah Jarosz, Billy Strings, and Dennis Crouch), adding entirely new texture to each of her gracefully crafted and undeniably heartfelt songs.

As she continues to embark on her own career. Sierra has appeared at several major festivals, such as The Avett Brothers at the Beach, AmericanaFest and Out on the Weekend, while also touring with Parker Milsap and Charley Crockett. 
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After the breakout success of his first studio album, 2019’s Love and Whiskey, a lot has changed for Average Joes Entertainment star Sam Grow. That milestone project followed years of grinding work, writing his own tunes, booking his own shows and recording his own EPs … but it was all rewarded.

Love and Whiskey hit Number One on iTunes’ Country Albums chart – doing so with zero radio airplay – and since then he’s only poured more gas on the fire. Grow’s 2020 single “Song About You” burned red hot, pulling in more than 50 million streams and getting named one of Spotify’s “Best Country Songs” in the process. Grow’s been featured on Billboard’s coveted “7 Country Acts To Watch” list, and touted by Music Row as a sure-bet for future superstardom, among other accolades, as the temperature continues to spike. 

“I feel like right now I’m making some of the best music I’ve ever made,” he says – and honestly, that’s saying a lot, since the Maryland native is the definition of a “prolific creator.” Since his 2014 arrival in Nashville, he’s dropped three EPs and his milestone debut album, never letting more than a few years pass between releases. But things are different now.

“2020 was a big revelation to me, of how important music is to people’s lives – even in the worst times,” he says. “To be able to put on a song and not feel alone, even when the world seems like it’s crashing around you, that’s such an intimate thing.”
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Now from 50 years ago, Saturday November 27, 1971: 

1st show
6:30: The 4 Guys (host); Stringbean; Margie Bowes
6:45: Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper (host); Ernie Ashworth; Del Wood
7:00: Charlie Louvin (host); Earl Scruggs Revue; Grandpa Jones; Jack Barlow; Diane McCall
7:30: Roy Acuff (host); Jean Shepard; Merle Kilgore; Crook Brothers
8:00: George Morgan (host); Skeeter Davis; Archie Campbell; Louie Roberts
8:30: Wilburn Brothers (host); Peggy Little; Jay Lee Webb; Fruit Jar Drinkers; Ed Hyde

2nd show
9:30: Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper (host); Margie Bowes; Louie Roberts; Harold Weakley
10:00: The 4 Guys (host); Stringbean; Jack Barlow
10:15: Roy Acuff (host); Earl Scruggs Revue
10:30: Charlie Louvin (host); Diane McCall; Grandpa Jones; Del Wood
10:45: George Morgan (host); Jean Shepard; Crook Brothers
11:00: Archie Campbell (host0; Skeeter Davis; Merle Kilgore; Fruit Jar Drinkers; Phil Campbell; Sam McGee
11:30: Wilburn Brothers (host); Peggy Little; Jay Lee Webb

I highlighted Margie Bowes as these were her last shows as a member of the Grand Ole Opry cast. She would appear a couple of more times as a guest, usually in relation to the Opry's annual reunion shows. 
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Saturday November 26, 2005 was a special night at the Grand Ole Opry as Jean Shepard was recognized upon her 50th year as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. 

Here is the running order from the show that night: 

1st show
6:30: Cracker Barrel
Jimmy Dickens (host): Take an Old Cold Tater
Osborne Brothers: Mansion for Me/Rocky Top
Danielle Peck: Isn't That Everything/I Don't
Jimmy Dickens: Another Bridge to Burn

7:00: Tootsie's
Mike Snider: Soldier's Joy/Angeline the Baker/Old Molly Hare
Jan Howard: He Thinks I Still Care
Mel McDaniel: Stand Up
Restless Heart: (?)/Dancy's Dream
Mike Snider: Fire on the Mountain

7:30: Standard Candy
Hal Ketchum (host): Past the Point of Rescue
Jean Shepard: A Satisfied Mind/Second Fiddle
Shannon Brown: Can I Get an Amen/Corn Fed
Hal Ketchum: Stay Forever

8:00: Martha White/Tennessee Pride
Jeannie Seely (host): Winter Wonderland
Billy Walker: Behind Closed Doors
Cherryholmes: You Don't Know What Love Is/Dixie Hoedown
Opry Square Dance Band: Cherokee Shuffle
Jeannie Seely and Danny Davis: What's Going on In Your World
Jack Greene: Walkin' the Floor Over You/There Goes My Everything
Marty Stuart: Badlands/Beyond the Point of Return
Jeannie Seely: I'll Be Home for Christmas

2nd show
9:30: Cracker Barrel
Jimmy Dickens (host): Sleepin' at the Foot of the Bed
Mike Snider: (?)/If My Nose was Runnin' Money
Danielle Peck: Isn't that Everything/I Don't
Jimmy Dickens: We Could

10:00: Martha White
Hal Ketchum (host): It's A Five O'Clock World
Osborne Brothers: Nobody's Darling But Mine/Rocky Top
Restless Heart: Bluest Eyes in Texas/Why Does it Have to Be Wrong or Right
Hal Ketchum: Small Town Saturday Night

10:30: J.W. Tours
Jean Shepard (host): I Thought of You/It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels/You Win Again/A Dear John Letter
Jack Greene: Statue of a Fool
Shannon Brown: Can I Get an Amen/Corn Fed
Opry Square Dance Band: Tennessee Waggoner
Jean Shepard: Blanket on the Ground

11:00: Opry Cruise/Country Christmas
Jeannie Seely (host): Burning That Old Memory
Mel McDaniel: Louisiana Saturday Night/Stand Up
Marty Stuart: Hillbilly Rock/It Takes One To Know One/Country Boy Rock 'N Roll
Jeannie Seely and Danny Davis: What's Going On In Your World
Billy Walker (host): Smokey Places/A Million & One
Cherryholmes: When He Reached Down His Hand for Me/Nine Yards
Jeannie Seely: I'll Be Home for Christmas

A couple of notes from that night: both Porter Wagoner and Bill Anderson cancelled out. Porter was supposed to host the 8:00 segment on the 1st show and Bill the 8:30 segment. Jeannie Seely ended up hosting both. On the late show, it was the same deal as Bill Anderson was scheduled to host the 11:00 segment and Jeannie at 11:30. Jeannie ended up hosting the final hour. 

As far as Jean Shepard, her Opry career did not stop at 50. Jean would go on to be an Opry member for just over 60 years, becoming the only female, as of this writing, to have reached the 60 year mark as an Opry member.

To finish up, let's go back to Saturday November 26, 1955, which was Jean's first Saturday night at the Opry as a member (her actual induction date was November 21). Here is the running order from that night: 

7:30: Marty Robbins; Minnie Pearl; Don and Rita
7:45: George Morgan; Goldie Hill; Eddie Hill
8:00: Flatt and Scruggs; Jim Reeves; Hawkshaw Hawkins; Jean Shepard; Moon Mullican; Possum Hunters; Maybelle Carter
8:30: Ferlin Husky; Rod Brasfield; Louvin Brothers; Del Wood; Minnie Pearl Chet Atkins
9:00: Hank Snow; Fruit Jar Drinkers; Lonzo and Oscar; Bill Monroe; Carlisles; Marty Robbins
9:30: Ray Price; Slim Whitman; Anita Carter; Cousin Jody; Crook Brothers; Grandpa Jones; Chet Atkins; Jordanaires
10:00: George Morgan; Bill Monroe; Moon Mullican
10:15: Marty Robbins; Carlisles; Goldie Hill
10:30: Jim Reeves; R.D. Heardon; Jean Shepard
10:45: Hank Snow; Jimmie Snow; Gully Jumpers
11:00: Lonzo and Oscar; Ferlin Husky; Rod Brasfield; Slim Whitman; Grandpa Jones; Maybelle Carter; Crook Brothers
11:30: Ray Price; Louvin Brothers; Eddie Hill; Sam and Kirk McGee; Cousin Jody; Dot and Smokey; Fruit Jar Drinkers

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.