Coming off the big 5,000 show weekend at the Grand Ole Opry, Tuesday night will be another historic night as the Opry welcomes Mandy Barnett as the newest member of the Opry's cast. Mandy has been a guest on the Opry hundreds of times over the past several decades and is certainly deserving the honor of being an Opry member.
In addition to Mandy's Opry induction, Eddie Montgomery returns to the Opry for his first appearance of 2021. In fact, it will be his first Opry appearance since Covid.
Along with Eddie, Opry members Jeannie Seely, The Isaacs, Riders In The Sky, Connie Smith and Marty Stuart are also on the schedule. Based on the line-up, it would appear that Connie and Marty will be the ones formally welcoming Mandy to the Opry family.
7:00: Jeannie Seely, Eddie Montgomery, Hailey Whitters, The Isaacs
Intermission
8:15: Riders In The Sky, Connie Smith, Marty Stuart, Mandy Barnett
Yes, you are reading this correctly. 7 of the 8 acts are Opry members and there is no comedian on the schedule.
So, with Eddie Montgomery appearing on Tuesday night, the list of active members who have not appeared in 2021 is now down to Clint Black, Diamond Rio, Alan Jackson, Alison Krauss, Martina McBride and Keith Urban. Patty Loveless and Dolly Parton have not appeared, but they have not been performing anywhere. The Whites continue to lay low. There are a few others but some are out due to health concerns.
Congratulations to Mandy Barnett, the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry.
I continue to believe that the Tuesday night 'Opry is the most likely to feature traditional country music.
ReplyDeleteWhat a GREAT lineup this Tuesday.
Congratulations Mandy Barnett!
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess I get to cry again when they actually induct Mandy Barnett into the Grand Old 'Opry as an official member!
ReplyDeleteHeard Mandy say on WSM she had appeared on the 'Opry something like 600 times.
Way overdue 'Opry. WAY overdue.
I thought the 5000th Opry show was outstanding! I thought Marty Stuart & many Opry members congratulating the Opry & at the end, they all appeared in windows with all of them on one screen saying congratulations to the Grand Ole Opry was spectacular!
ReplyDeleteLoved all the grouped artists & how they mixed veteran/newer artists. For me, the one that stood out once again was Chris "Wild-Child" Janson. I had a good laugh when Jeannie Seely called him that. I saw him in concert up in Milwaukee almost two years ago, while he is pretty active on the Opry stage he is subdued vs how he was on stage that night. There was barely an area of the stage that he didn't walk on & true to what he said to Natalie Stovall, yes, he brought out the Grand Ole Opry mic stand he was given by the Opry to take on tour. That is when he does classic country songs for about 15 minutes. Once the concert was over & he & his band walked off stage the mic stand stood right where it was. Many of the audience walked up as far as they could to look at & admire it. I never underestimate how many people love the Opry, if they did not care about it, they would have already been out in the parking lot, but many people just stood there admiring the mic stand.
For me, there were several Opry members who were glaringly not there - where was Marty Stuart, Ricky Skaggs & Steve Wariner? Three of the Opry's veteran artists. They all had to have concert dates, but all three knew of the 5000th show too. I realize that they couldn't have every member there, that would have been a 5-hour show & I would have loved every hour of it.
But tonight, the Grand Ole Opry will throw yet another party with the Induction of Mandy Barnett with Connie Smith & Marty Stuart sharing Induction duties, so he will be there tonight! He should have been there Saturday, so should have the other two.
And tonight's show has another stellar line-up. Happy to see Eddie Montgomery back & happy that the Isaac's will be there - I would have liked to have heard another song from them, instead of 20 minutes of Trisha & Garth, not that Trisha/Garth were not good, they were very good & I know full well they were going to close out the show, just would have liked another song from the Isaac's.
Sending my congratulations out to Mandy Barnett! Will be listening to the Opry & watching her Induction on Facebook, so happy for her.
(Jeanene)
With everything else going on, the passing of Rose Lee Maphis on October 26 has been a bit overshadowed. While they were never Opry members, Joe and Rose Lee Maphis were frequent guests on the show from 1968 to around 1975 or so. Rose Lee worked in the costume shop at Opryland for a number of years and was a greeter at the Hall of Fame until just a few years ago. Their son, Jody, worked with the Earl Scruggs Revue on the Opry for several years as well.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGERerR3uRo
Thanks for the link Barry. I enjoyed it. Bob
ReplyDeleteThink about it. George Hamilton IV used to give backstage tours at the 'Opry. Rose Lee Maphis greeting people at the Hall of Fame. Absolutely amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Barry! Really enjoyed the drummer in the video. Country Music was fun back in those days.
Finally so happy Mandy Barnett is a member. I had been wanting this for years!!!!!
ReplyDeleteBarbara Mandrell used to appear on their TV show, and Joe Maphis has been credited with "discovering" her. I bet she would have something to say about all this.
ReplyDelete