Grand Ole Opry 10/28 & 10/29

I want to start out by thanking everyone who has posted the kind and complimentary comments regarding myself. While I may not comment or reply, I do read all of the comments posted and I appreciate all of you who take the time to read and/or post on my blog. 

Now to this weekend at the Grand Ole Opry as the Opry out the month of October with three solid shows on the schedule. This also marks the last week of two Saturday night shows until December 10, when Ashley McBryde will be inducted as the Opry's newest member. 

Looking at the Friday Night Opry, Opry members Jeannie Seely, John Conlee, Bobby Osborne and Charlie McCoy are on the schedule. John Conlee returns for both shows on Saturday night, joined by members Mandy Barnett, Don Schlitz, and seldom seen Opry member Clint Black. This will actually be Clint's second and third Opry appearances of 2022 as he appeared on a show earlier this year. 

Sam Williams returns on Friday night, along with Dillon Carmichael, Hannah Ellis and Brandon Heath. Saturday night will feature the Opry debut of Naomi Raine, along with Lukas Nelson and Exile. Nice to see this group back on the Opry as it has been a while. Exile had been scheduled for an appearance on Opry Country Classics a short time back but canceled. 

Michael Martin Murphy was originally posted on the Friday schedule but was not on the final version and in what can be determined as a rarity, there is no comedian on the schedule this weekend. 

Friday October 28
7:00: Jeannie Seely, Hannah Ellis, John Conlee, Sam Williams
Intermission
8:15: Dillon Carmichael, Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press, Brandon Heath, Charlie McCoy

Saturday October 29
1st show
7:00: Opry Square Dancers, Mandy Barnett, John Conlee, Naomi Raine, Don Schlitz
8:00: Lukas Nelson, Exile, Clint Black

2nd show
9:30: Opry Square Dancers, Mandy Barnett, John Conlee, Clint Black
10:30: Naomi Raine, Lukas Nelson, Exile, Don Schlitz

The second hour of the first show will be televised live on Circle TV and on the various streaming platforms.

And now, from 50 years ago, Saturday October 28, 1972:

1st show
6:30: Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper (host); Wynn Stewart
6:45: Jimmy C Newman (host); Willis Brothers
7:00: Stu Phillips (host); Justin Tubb; Jeanne Pruett; Eddie Low
7:30: Tompall (host) and The Glaser Brothers; Bill Carlisle; Jack Barlow; Crook Brothers
8:00: Ernest Tubb (host); Johnny Carver; Karen Wheeler; Lee Otis; Wayne Hammond
8:30: Hank Snow (host); Marion Worth; The 4 Guys; Fruit Jar Drinkers; Tex Withers

2nd show
9:30: Tompall (host); and The Glaser Brothers; Willis Brothers; Johnny Carver; Wynn Stewart
10:00: Jimmy C Newman (host); Tennessee Ernie Ford
10:15: Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper (host); Karen Wheeler; Eddie Low
10:30: Justin Tubb (host); Bill Carlisle; Jeanne Pruett
10:45: Ernest Tubb (host); Jack Barlow; Crook Brothers
11:00: Hank Snow (host); Stu Phillips; Tex Withers; Fruit Jar Drinkers; Sam McGee
11:30: Marty Robbins (host); Marion Worth; The 4 Guys

(Tennessee Ernie Ford only appeared on the second show that night, as did Marty Robbins. In a rarely, Tennessee Ernie did not appear on a Martha White sponsored segment, which he normally did when he visited the Opry). 

Johnny Carver was on a lot of Opry shows during this period and it is somewhat surprising that he never became a member of the Opry. 

This was the first time I had seen the name Eddie Low listed on the Opry schedule. I had to do some research as I was not familiar with this singer. From what little I could find; Eddie Low was from New Zealand and was blind.  He developed his musical talent and skills on a wide range of instruments at the Blind Institute in Auckland. During the 1960s Eddie Low was a member of The Quin Tikis, touring through New Zealand.  He starred in the 1966 musical comedy film Don't Let It Get You. In 1970 he was signed to Joe Brown Records and released singles for the label, "Lonely Women Make Good Lovers" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night". It would appear that at the age of 79 he is still alive. 


Yes, for a short amount of time, Slim Whitman was a member of the Grand Ole Opry, as he joined the cast on Saturday October 29, 1955. While some may remember Slim from those late-night commercials promoting his greatest hits album, in his day, Slim was a pretty big star. 

Though he was once known as "America's Favorite Folksinger," Slim Whitman was, for the majority of his career, more famous in Europe than in the United States. Best remembered for his early-'50s hit singles like "Love Song of the Waterfall," "Indian Love Call," and "Singing Hills," Whitman was an excellent yodeler known for singing mellow, romantic, and clean-cut songs.

As a child, Slim Whitman (born Ottis Dewey Whitman Jr.) became infatuated with music and learned to yodel listening to Montana Slim and Jimmie Rodgers records. At age 17, he married 15-year-old Geraldine Crist, a preacher's daughter. The newlyweds moved to a 40-acre farm south of Jacksonville, Florida, where Whitman worked as a meat packer. During World War II, Slim served in the U.S. Navy, where he learned to play guitar. Following the war, he returned to the shipyard and also joined a local minor-league baseball team, the Plant City Berries. Whitman remained with the team through 1948, but then began building a singing career at several Tampa radio stations, eventually creating a backup band, the Variety Rhythm Boys.

Slim Whitman got his first big break after Colonel Tom Parker -- who was managing Eddy Arnold at the time -- heard him singing on radio station WFLA. Parker landed a contract with RCA for him by the end of 1948. After reluctantly complying with the label's request to change his first name to "Slim," he released his first single, "I'm Casting My Lasso Towards the Sky" -- eventually to become his theme song. He made his national debut on the Mutual Network's Smokey Mountain Hayride in the summer of 1949, and the following year joined The Louisiana Hayride. 

In the early '50s, he released a cover of Bob Nolan's "Love Song of the Waterfall," which became his breakthrough hit, peaking at number ten on the country charts; the follow-up single, "Indian Love Call," made him a star, peaking at number two on the country charts and crossing over into the pop Top Ten. Both sides of his next single -- "Keep It a Secret"/"My Heart Is Broken in Three" -- were also major hits and he continued to have a string of Top Ten hits into the mid-'50s. In 1955, his title song for the film Rose-Marie became a smash on both sides of the Atlantic; following its success, Whitman joined the Grand Ole Opry, and then went to Britain in 1956 as the first country singer to play the London Palladium. Throughout the late '50s and early '60s, he had a string of British hits, including "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," "Unchain My Heart," and "I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen."

Although he was experiencing great success in the U.K., Whitman's career was in neutral in the U.S. After 1954's "Singing Hills," he had only two Top 40 hits in the course of a decade. In 1965, he bounced back into the country Top Ten with "More Than Yesterday." For the next few years, he had a series of minor country hits, including "Rainbows Are Back in Style" (1968), "Happy Street" (1968), and "Tomorrow Never Comes" (1970). Throughout the early '70s, he continued to have minor hits, but in 1974, he retired from active recording.

In 1979, Slim filmed a television commercial to support Suffolk Marketing's release of a collection of his greatest hits. On the strength of the commercials, All My Best sold four million records and became the best-selling television-marketed album in history. After its success, the label released Just for You in 1980, and The Best in 1982. Between 1980 and 1984, Whitman had a small run of minor hits, highlighted by 1980's number 15 hit "When." In the late '80s, he returned to television-marketed albums, releasing Slim Whitman: Best Loved Favorites in 1989 and 20 Precious Memories in 1991. During the '90s, Whitman recorded infrequently but continued to tour successfully, particularly in Europe and Australia. His final release, Twilight on the Trail, appeared in 2010, and he died three years later of heart failure.

Here is the posted program from Saturday October 29, 1955: 

7:00: Federal Fertilizer Co. 
Jordanaires: Theme Song
George Morgan: Ain't Love Grand
Fiddle Tune: Bill Cheatham
Minnie Pearl: Comedy
Justin Tubb: Pepper-Hot Baby
Fiddle Tune: Katy Hill

7:45: American Ace
Ray Price: I Can't Go Home Like This
Chuck Reed: Love, Love, Love
Jean Shepard: Why Did You Wait
Ray Price: In The Garden
Fiddle Tune: Sally Goodin

8:00: Martha White
Flatt and Scruggs: Theme Song
Ernest Tubb: You Nearly Lose Your Mind
Hank Snow: Golden Rocket
Flatt and Scruggs: Blackeyed Susie
Slim Whitman: You Have My Heart
Possum Hunters: Sleepy Lou
Ernest Tubb: It's A Lonely World
Carlisles: Lil Liza Jane
Cowboy Copas: Blue Yesterday
Flatt and Scruggs: Some Old Day
Hank Snow: Born To Be Happy
Fiddle Tune: Leather Britches

8:30: Prince Albert
Jimmy Dickens: Sally Boogie
Rod Brasfield: Comedy
Wilburn Brothers: Mixed Up Melody
Fiddle Tune: Gray Eagle
Jimmy Dickens: If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again
Del Wood: Rocky Mountain Express
Minnie Pearl: Comedy
Wilburn Brothers: Temptation Go Away
Chet Atkins: South
Jimmy Dickens: We Could
Fiddle Tune: Soldier's Joy

9:00: Royal Crown Cola
Roy Acuff: Just A Friend
Fruit Jar Drinkers: Katy Hill
Johnny and Jack: I Get So Lonely
Hawkshaw Hawkins: I Gotta Have You
Jug Band: Thirty Days
Kitty Wells: I'm In Love with You
Roy Acuff: I'm A Pilgrim
Oswald: John Hardy
Riddle: Lost John
Howdy: Liberty

9:30: Jefferson Island Salt
Jordanaires: Theme Song
Jimmy Dickens: Blackeyed Joe
Jim Reeves: I've Lived A Lot in My Lifetime
Red Sovine: A New Love Affair
Lew Childre: Riding on the Elevated Railroad
Chet Atkins: Somebody Stole My Gal
Jimmy Dickens: Take Me As I Am
Jordanaires: Shaking Bridges
Crook Brothers: Mississippi Sawyer
Goldie Hill: Ain't Gonna Wash My Face
Jimmy Dickens: John Henry
Fiddle Tune: Old Joe Clark

10:00: Wall-Rite
George Morgan: Lonesome Record
Bill Monroe: I Used to Be
Justin Tubb: I'm Sorry I Stayed Away
George Morgan: Ever So Often
Fiddle Tune: Gray Eagle

10:15: Dr. Le Gear
Cowboy Copas: Gone and Left Me Blues
Slim Whitman: Song of the Wild
Carlisles: I Was On My Way to the Show
Cowboy Copas: The Man Upstairs
Fiddle Tune: Sleepy Lou

10:30: Hester Battery
Ernest Tubb: Let's Say Goodbye Like We Said Hello
Goldie Hill: Why Don't You Let Me Go
Paul Howard: Maybelline
Ernest Tubb: Somebody Love You
Fiddle Tune: 8th of January

10:45: D Con
Hank Snow: I Don't Hurt Anymore
Jimmy Snow: Meanest Thing in the World
Gully Jumpers: Dance All Night
Hank Snow: I'm Moving On
Fiddle Tune: Ragtime Annie

11:00: W. E. Stephens
Jimmy Dickens: A Sleeping at the Foot of the Bed
Hawkshaw Hawkins: Standing at the Edge of My World
Jim Reeves: Yonder Comes A Sucker
Jody and His Cousins: No Help Wanted
Crook Brothers: Lil Liza Jane
Jean Shepard: I Didn't Know the Gun Was Loaded
Jimmy Dickens: Conscience Set Me Free
Hawkshaw Hawkins: Car-Hoppin Mama
Jim Reeves: Jimbo Jenkins
Fiddle Tune: Devil's Dream

11:30: Delited
Ray Price: I Don't Want It on My Mind
Louvin Brothers: Love Thy Neighbor
Red Sovine: I'm Glad I Found A Place
Sam and Kirk: You Wouldn't Be Satisfied That Way
Lew Childre: Maple on the Hill
Wilburn Brothers: My Heart on My Mind
Ray Price: Sweet Little Blue Eyes
T. Tommy Cutrer: Thank You Lord
Fruit Jar Drinkers: Grey Eagle
Louvin Brothers: Pit Fall
Fiddle Tune: Billy In The Low Ground

There you have it as the Opry closes out the month of October. As always, thank for reading and commenting, and tell your friends and neighbors about the blog. I would appreciate it. 

Take care and I hope everyone enjoys the Grand Ole Opry this weekend.