Before getting into the Grand Ole Opry lineups for this weekend, I wanted to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone who has taken the time to read and/or comment on the blog over the past year. I have been very fortunate to have made many new acquaintances over the years and I value each and every one of you. While some may not believe in Santa, I do. Thus, after I listen to the Opry on Saturday night, I will be up and on the lookout for Santa. The weather here in Ohio is going to be nasty and I want to make sure he doesn't miss our house.
Speaking of the Opry, the Christmas weekend shows were something special. I think, if my memory is correct, it was Wilma Lee Cooper who commented that most of the members would be at the Opry that weekend, exchanging cards and gifts. She said it was always a special time and, in many cases, the Opry members would stay around after the shows ended, visiting and catching up. I know when I go back and look at some of the past lineups from Christmas weekend, the number of acts who appeared was amazing. While the shows this weekend probably don't fall into that "special" category, both nights offer solid lineups.
Looking at the Friday Night Opry, Opry member Emmylou Harris is back again. This will make the third appearance in the last month for an Opry member who has been missing a lot since she joined. Wonderful to see. Also listed are Jeannie Seely, Riders In The Sky and Charlie McCoy.
Jeannie Seely is back on Saturday night, which is Christmas Eve, joined by members Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press and Don Schlitz.
T. Graham Brown is listed among the non-members for Friday night. Many of us have hoped that T. Graham would be asked at some point to become an Opry member, and it would make for a nice Christmas gift to T. Graham if the invitation took place this weekend. As much as he has appeared on the Opry over the past several decades, it would be well deserved.
Also, on the schedule are The Cleverlys, who I highly recommend, along with Steve Earle, who will be performing with Emmylou, comedian Henry Cho and Jessica Willis Fisher. As an FYI regarding Jessica, she is the daughter-in-law of former Grand Ole Opry Vice President/General Manager Pete Fisher, and Pete has taken a much more active role in directing her career.
Looking at Saturday night, Steve Earle returns, along with Erin Enderlin, The McCrary Sisters, T.G. Sheppard and Sirius/XM Willie's Roadhouse morning host Sunny Sweeney.
(As if this point, the final running order has not been posted).
Now, from 50 years ago, Saturday December 23, 1972:
7:00: Roy Drusky (host); Ernie Ashworth; Bill Carlisle; Stu Phillips
7:30: Bill Monroe (host); Billy Grammer; George Morgan; Stoney Cooper
8:00: Lester Flatt (host); Grandpa Jones; Stonewall Jackson; Jim Ed Brown; Marty Stuart and Roland White; Crook Brothers; Ramona Jones
8:30: Roy Acuff (host); Del Reeves; Charlie Louvin; Stringbean; Ray Pillow
9:00: Ernest Tubb (host); Jack Greene; Jeannie Seely; Charlie Walker; Fruit Jar Drinkers
9:30: Hank Snow (host); Willis Brothers; Bobby Bare; The 4 Guys; Del Wood
10:00: Bill Monroe (host); Stu Phillips; Bill Carlisle; Ernie Ashworth
10:15: Roy Acuff (host); George Morgan; Stoney and Carol Lee Cooper
10:30: Lester Flatt (host); Jim Ed Brown; Stonewall Jackson; Ray Pillow; Roland White
10:45: Ernest Tubb (host); Jack Greene; Jeannie Seely; Stringbean; Crook Brothers
11:00: Hank Snow (host); Charlie Walker; Willis Brothers; Fruit Jar Drinkers; Del Wood; Sam McGee
11:30: Bobby Bare (host); The 4 Guys; Charlie Louvin; Justin Tubb
(Dottie West was scheduled but canceled, while Roy Drusky and Billy Grammer were scheduled only one spot. Del Reeves was scheduled for two spots but cancelled his last one).
On October 14, 1939, the Grand Ole Opry went on the NBC Red network. The deal was set through William Esty and Company, a major New York advertising agency acting on behalf of a client, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. The product to be sold was Prince Albert smoking tobacco and the thirty minutes of the Opry was to be called "The Prince Albert Show."
That first show was broadcast was carried on a regional network of 26 stations. According to George D. Hay, "Representatives from NBC in New York came to Nashville. The Opry House was crowded. Heretofore we had not made any attempt to produce the show, in the accepted sense of the word. We had to be snatched off the air at the end of our thirty minutes, but with that exception the half hour went over pretty well. Before the next week rolled around, we had timed our opening and closing and had no further difficulty in that direction."
Roy Acuff was selected to be the host of that first show, and for future shows. It took a while for it to grow, but by October 1943 it became a Saturday night feature of the full NBC coast-to-coast network, initially with 125 stations, with more being added each week. Without a doubt, it was through the Prince Albert shows that spearheaded the growth of the Opry into a national institution.
As everyone knows, Roy Acuff was the host until he left the Opry in 1946. Roy was replaced as the host of the Prince Albert show by Red Foley, who was new to the Opry and Nashville. Red was actually hired and approved by the advertising agency to be the host. While Roy came back to the Opry the following year, Red remained the host of the network show, bringing even more recognition and success. In 1954, after hosting the Prince Albert show for eight years, Red left Nashville and the Opry. At that time, the decision was made not to replace Red with another permanent host, but to use some of the Opry's top names on a rotating basis. That format continued until Saturday December 24, 1960, when the Prince Albert Show was broadcast for the final time.
Here is the lineup from Saturday December 24, 1960, which shows that Hank Snow hosted that final Prince Albert Show
7:30: Pet Milk
Cowboy Copas (host): Down in Nashville Tennessee
Louvin Brothers: (?)
Billy Grammer: Wabash Cannonball
Patsy Cline: Loose Talk
Cowboy Copas: Alabam'
Stonewall Jackson: Little Guy Called Joe
Carlisles: Skin Him Quick
Bobby Lord: Winter Wonderland
Cowboy Copas: The Man Upstairs
8:00: Martha White
Don Gibson (host): Far, Far, Away
Wilburn Brothers: Knoxville Girl
Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper: This Old House
Grandpa Jones: Rattler's Pup
Don Gibson: Sweet Dreams
Del Wood: Varsity Trot
Margie Bowes: Judge Not
Crook Brothers: Cotton-Eyed Joe
Wilburn Brothers: Which One is To Blame
Don Gibson: Oh, Lonesome Me
8:30: Prince Albert
Hank Snow (host): Rockin', Rollin' Ocean
Archie Campbell: Comedy
George Morgan: O Little Town of Bethlehem
Jordanaires: Silver Bells
Chet Atkins: Jolly Old St. Nicholas
Minnie Pearl: Comedy
George Morgan: Silent Night
Stringbean: Pretty Polly
Hank Snow: Christmas Roses
9:00: Jefferson Island Salt
Ernest Tubb (host): Mississippi Gal
Ferlin Husky: Wings of a Dove
Skeeter Davis: My Last Date
Cousin Jody: Lady Cop
Ernest Tubb: Half A Mind
Bill Monroe: Sally Joe
Minnie Pearl: Comedy
Glaser Brothers: The Same Old Memory
Fruit Jar Drinkers: Take Me Back to Tulsa
Ernest Tubb: Daisey Mae
9:30: Stephens
Marty Robbins (host): Ballad of the Alamo
Hawkshaw Hawkins: Much Too Well
Roy Drusky: I'd Rather Loan You Out
Lonzo and Oscar: A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea
Marty Robbins: The Hand You're Holding Now
Jean Shepard: Lonely Little World
Carl Butler: For the First Time
Billy Walker: I Wish You Love
Hawkshaw Hawkins: I Don't Apologize
Marty Robbins: I Can't Quit
10:00: Black Draught
Don Gibson (host): Just One Time
Wilburn Brothers: The Best of All My Heartaches
Del Wood: Ballin' The Jack
Don Gibson: Far, Far Away
10:15: Frosty Morn
Cowboy Copas (host): Filet On Ready
Margie Bowes: I Don't Believe You Love Me Anymore
Grandpa Jones: It Takes a Lot of Living
Cowboy Copas: Midnight in Heaven
10:30: Jamison
Ernest Tubb (host): White Silver Sands
Louvin Brothers: (?)
Billy Grammer: Big, Big Dream
Ernest Tubb: Accidently on Purpose
Fiddle Tune: Soldier's Joy
10:45: De Con
George Morgan (host): I'm In Love Again
Stonewall Jackson: Why I'm Walking
Patsy Cline: Crazy Dreams
Crook Brothers: Sally Goodin
George Morgan: White Christmas
11:00: Coca-Cola
Hank Snow (host): Miller's Cave
Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper: Heartbreak Street
Carl Butler: I'm A Prisoner of Love
Lonzo and Oscar: Pumkin Rasin
Hank Snow: The Changing of the Tide
Stringbean: 20cent Cotton; 90cent Meat
Jordanaires: (?)
Sam and Kirk McGee: You'll Come
Fruit Jar Drinkers: Bill Cheatam
Hank Snow: Walking & Talking
11:30: Phillips & Buttorff
Marty Robbins (host): I Told My Heart
Skeeter Davis: Someone I Would Like to Forget
Cousin Jody: Horses Carry Tales
Marty Robbins: El Paso
11:45: National Life
Hawkshaw Hawkins (host): I'll Get Even
Bill Monroe: Time Changes Everything
Jean Shepard: For The Children's Sake
Hawkshaw Hawkins: Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer
Fiddle Tune: Forked Deer
(By the way, for those interested, that first Prince Albert Show, along with all of those shows, are available to listen on the Country Music Hall of Fame Digital Archives Website).
The following week, December 31st, Prince Albert was no longer an Opry sponsor, with the segment listed as "Sustaining."
Well, there you have it for this week. As always, thanks for reading and commenting and I hope everyone enjoys the Opry this weekend.
Merry Christmas to all!!
Thank you Byron, Merry Christmas
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you, too, Byron, and to all the readers and commentors here.
ReplyDeleteJ from OK
It could be an interesting Friday Night Opry. Nashville received some snow and ice overnight with temperatures near zero. Mandy Barnett did not make it last night for Opry Country Christmas and was replaced by Jeannie Seely. Not sure which of those on the lineup for tonight are coming in from out of town, but I would say that if any of them are, they will have issues making it to the Opry. I know that all of the Opry members on the schedule are in Nashville. Not sure of The Cleverlys, Henry Cho or Steve Earle. I do believe that T. Graham is also living in Nashville, as is Jessica Willis Fisher.
ReplyDeleteJeannie Seely could almost walk to the 'Opry House, if it weren't so darned cold down there !
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays to everybody here, and thanks to you all. To Byron for having this site and doing such a great job, and to all of you who comment and teach us so much.
ReplyDeleteI would have loved to have been there on that night in 1960. Wow.
What Wilma Lee said also applied to meeting the attendance requirements. Many of the acts were off the road. Grant Turner said something like this: it was ironic that attendance was lower at this time of year because that's when the best shows were.
Looks like Charlie McCoy is off the schedule for Friday night.
ReplyDeleteIt's a minus 4 degrees with a wind chill of minus 25 currently here in the Chicagoland area. Never got to zero here today and the next two days we are in for more of the same.
ReplyDeleteAfter listening to the final Opry Christmas show last night, I watched the Weather Channel briefly to watch the live stream of the snow really coming down in Nashville. Unless one lives in the North ...
But the Friday Night Opry is now begining and it will make me forget the intense cold out there!
I want to mention I listened to seven of the eight Opry Christmas shows ... they were most excellent. I liked the "core" four Opry members and then the highlight artist and another guest or two.
So from my thankfully warm house to every one of yours, I want to wish you Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, however you celebrate.
Enjoy the Opry shows this weekend everyone.
(Jeanene)
Jeanene,
ReplyDeleteLOVE your positive comments. I need a dose of your outlook every now and then!
The weather in Bloomington IN has been below zero for like a day and a half with all sorts of wind. Didn't get much snow fortunately.
I enjoyed the Christmas shows, but must admit I get bored easily and I thought at times there was way too much chatter and way too little music.
Mandy Barnett is just excellent, and I swear that since they made her a member of the 'Opry she is singing with a confidence and boldness she didn't have before. So happy for her and the 'Opry!
Merry Christmas everybody, and thanks as always to Byron for all he does.
Thank you for the nice words, Nat ... in a world that is so often negative, I try to stay as positive as I can. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Living in the North all my life, minus temps and all the snow is just as much a way of life as major heat and humidity in summer but it's all relative, I would most likely be overwhelmed if I lived in Montana, the Dakota's or Buffalo, NY where they had 65/70" of lake affect snow a month or so ago. YIKES!!! But I am here to tell you, Don Schlitz would never make it up here, if he can't make it down there! hahaha! I was hoping to hear him but alas, that's not happening, drat! I really dig him.
DeleteI also totally agree with you regarding WAY too much chatter during the Christmas shows. WAY too much and WAY too many digs at Covid and how the world shut down, they couldn't tour, blah, blah and blah. Wish they would stop, I get it, they weren't the only ones that couldn't do their job, but just stop. It has gotten very old and moldy to listen to. Blech.
I am in total agreement with you regarding Mandy Barnett. I have really liked her since she played Patsy Cline all those years ago at the Ryman, of which I saw that play two years in a row when I attended Fan Fair. I am happy for Mandy Barnett and the newest members of the Opry. They get it.
Merry Christmas!
(Jeanene)
For those who missed the Friday Night Opry, Mark Wills was the replacement for Charlie McCoy. Here is the running order:
ReplyDelete7:00: Riders In The Sky, Jessica Willis Fisher, T. Graham Brown, Mark Wills
Intermission
8:15: Jeannie Seely, The Cleverlys, Henry Cho, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris
Mark did just one song, which was a Christmas song, while Steve Earle did one solo song and then introduced Emmylou, who joined Steve on a couple of duets.
Looks like Don Schlitz is off the schedule for Saturday. Weather is still pretty miserable in the Nashville area. Very cold temperatures and rolling power blackouts.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to everyone here! And a special thanks to Byron for giving us all a home to share our feelings and memories about the Opry. I've said this in the past but I would not be as dedicated to listening to the Opry these days if it were not for this blog. Oh I'd still listen but I would not try to catch every act, at least on Friday and Saturday night. I've really tried to cut back on posting because I figure I was bringing everyone down with my negative thoughts. Anyway, I appreciate all who post here.
ReplyDeleteA comment about that 1960 show. I notice that Stonewall Jackson did "A Little Guy Called Joe". I had to look it up because I did not even know it was a release. However, it was on the charts 15 weeks and reached #13 debuting in April 1960. "In a war torn land across the sea, there's a little guy who waiting and he looks a lot like me. I don't know what they named him but I'm sure they call him Joe". That was on one of the first LP's we had when I was very young. It was the Columbia Harmony LP entitled The Exciting Stonewall Jackson from 1966.
One more thing. As I'm writing this we are listening to the Opry Christmas broadcast from 1956. The Jordanaires were on and they introduces Mary John(Wilkin I assume) and Millie(Kirkham). It reminds me that to me Millie Kirkham should be in the Hall of Fame!
Merry Christmas
Jim
Marijohn should be in there, too! Not only a great songwriter, but before there were the Carol Lee Singers, there were the Marijohn Singers. If you look up Connie Smith doing "Cincinnati, Ohio," on YouTube, they're backing her up.
DeleteFor those who did not listen on Saturday, here was the running order:
ReplyDelete7:00: Opry Square Dancers, Jeannie Seely, Erin Enderlin, Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-Press, T.G. Sheppard
Intermission
8:15: Sunny Sweeney, Opry Square Dancers, The McCrary Sisters, Steve Earle
Once again, thanks for the kind words and Merry Christmas to everyone.
Jeanene, the fact is most country singers are very VERY conservative and probably thought the shut downs were absolutely not needed. That's the mindset of much of the south. So that explains it a bit for you perhaps.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, of course, and yet I can't resist recalling a line from an old sportscaster, Merle Harmon, who some of you may remember. He said the first baseball broadcast he ever did was a doubleheader where the first game went extra innings, and he had a 104-degree fever. He said on the air that he apologized for any problems but he wasn't feeling well. He said he got one letter in response: A fan who said, I don't care about your problems, tell me about the ballgame.
DeleteGood morning E.Z. ... the fact is, there are a whole lot of conservatives up my way too and that is perfectly fine, people can believe/lean the way they want, just as you and I do.
DeleteA few take away's from my post:
There weren't too many people around this entire country that liked not being able to go to their jobs and their paychecks. I was off of my job for 4-1/2 months, I would have much preferred going to work but I was going nowhere because where I worked was closed. Did I "b", moan and groan? No, I watched David Muir and all the doctor's and nurses subjected to this virus and my heart went out to all those in the healthcare industry and the people who died and families that were left behind. It is my opinion, that unless someone was truly in every hospital treating the extremely sick, we have zero clue what that was about and griping about how they couldn't board their buses should have been an extremely distant second place.
It's time to stop talking mentioning it, they are back on the bus, the road and stages making ALL the money they get from singing because they are turning me off from listening to them, and I have loved their music forever and ever and have seen them in concert quite a few times.
Most importantly, it's time to look in our windshield's not our rear view mirrors because as we know and have seen these last almost three years, life is very short for each and every one of us. I sure do miss Joe Diffie, a great voice silenced way too soon.
Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year, E.Z. I enjoy reading your posts. :-)
(Jeanene)