Tuesday Night Opry 6/27 & Wednesday Night Opry 6/28

Starting off by remembering Jesse McReynolds. 

(From Music Row):
Robert K. Oermann

Bluegrass Hall of Fame inductee Jesse McReynolds, the oldest cast member of the Grand Ole Opry, has died at age 93.

He was noted for his revolutionary, complex “crosspicking” style of mandolin playing as well as for his years of recording and performing in the star brother duo Jim & Jesse. His guitarist-singer older brother Jim McReynolds was born in 1927 and died on New Year’s Eve in 2002.

Jesse McReynolds was born July 9, 1929, near Coburn, Virginia. Jim & Jesse’s grandfather was fiddler Charlie McReynolds, who recorded as a member of The Bull Mountain Moonshiners at the famed 1927 Bristol Sessions where Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family were discovered. Their coal-miner father, Claude, was also a fiddler. Mother Savannah played guitar, banjo and harmonica and taught them to sing gospel songs in harmony.

The brothers established their performing partnership in 1947, following Jim’s hitch in the Army. They began their broadcasting career on WNVA in Norton, Virginia. During the next few years, they held radio jobs in Johnson City, Tennessee; Lexington, Kentucky; Charleston, West Virginia; Augusta, Georgia; Waterloo, Iowa; Wichita, Kansas and other towns. During their first dozen years as professionals, Jim & Jesse performed on 14 radio stations in 10 different states. They had their first recording session in 1951.

Following radio stints in Asheville, North Carolina and Versailles, Kentucky, Jim & Jesse were signed by Capitol Records and brought to Nashville to record in 1952. The fiddler on the sessions was James Loden, later to become Country Music Hall of Fame member Sonny James. The standout tune of these recordings was one of their trademark songs, “Are You Missing Me,” penned by The Louvin Brothers.

Jesse was drafted and entered the Army to serve in the Korean War. While he was home on leave in 1953, the brothers recorded “Air Mail Special,” “A Memory of You” and other tunes for Capitol.

With Jesse’s military service completed, the duo joined the cast of WWVA’s Wheeling Jamboree in 1955. But the team truly began to prosper the following year when the brothers moved to Florida. They broadcast for several years on WNER’s Swanee River Jamboree in Live Oak and became television stars with their own shows in Tallahassee and Pensacola. By the late 1950s, their programs were also being broadcast on TV in Montgomery, Alabama; Albany, Georgia; Dothan, Alabama and Jackson, Mississippi.

Jim & Jesse recorded for Starday Records in 1958, then signed with Columbia’s Epic Records division on Music Row in 1962. This is the label where their biggest hits occurred.

Bluegrass music gained popularity on the folk circuit during this era. Jim & Jesse performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963 and 1966. On the strength of such high-profile engagements and the major-label contract, the Grand Ole Opry invited Jim & Jesse to become members of the show’s cast on March 2, 1964. Throughout their Opry tenure—and indeed, throughout their career—the McReynolds brothers were widely respected for their courtly manners and gentlemanly ways.

Four months after their Opry induction, Jim & Jesse’s first charted single was 1964’s “Cotton Mill Man,” which also became a signature song. “Better Times A-Comin’” followed it onto the charts as a top 40 hit in 1965. Their eyebrow-raising LP Berry Pickin’ in the Country was also released in 1965. It contained their bluegrass arrangements of Chuck Berry’s rock ’n’ roll classics.

This record typified their willingness to experiment. Jim & Jesse also dabbled in Latin, electric country, gospel, cowboy and other genres. In 1969, Jesse McReynolds played mandolin on The Doors rock LP The Soft Parade.

The brothers scored their biggest country hit with 1967’s “Diesel on My Tail.” Other memorable Epic recordings included versions of Robert Mitchum’s “Ballad of Thunder Road” (1967), Tom T. Hall’s “Greenwich Village Folk Song Salesman” (1968), Ray Pennington’s “Yonder Comes a Freight Train” (1968) and Hank Snow’s “Golden Rocket” (1970). They returned to Capitol and charted with Elizabeth Cotton’s folk classic “Freight Train” in 1971.

Jim & Jesse veered into a harder-edged bluegrass sound in the 1970s. Their Virginia Boys band included such stellar alumni as Vassar Clements, Allen Shelton, Bobby Thompson, Carl Jackson, Vic Jordan, Glen Duncan, Randall Franks, Chick Stripling and Jimmy Buchanan. The group was wildly popular on the bluegrass-festival circuit for three decades.

The brothers launched their own syndicated TV series, The Jim & Jesse Show, in the early 1970s, They formed their own Old Dominion and Double J record labels and released a number of LPs, cassettes and CDs on these in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s. In 1977, they created their own annual bluegrass festival and maintained it well into the 1980s.

They were nominated for a Grammy Award for the 1992 CD Music Among Friends. They were inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 1993. They received a National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1997.

The death of Jim McReynolds in 2002 marked the end of the 55-year run of the longest lasting brother duo in country history. Jim & Jesse were also notable for having the longest running fan club in the annals of country music.

Following his brother’s passing, Jesse McReynolds continued to tour, record and appear on the Opry. In 1990, he had been part of a recording and touring “supergroup” called The Masters that also included Josh Graves, Kenny Baker and Eddie Adcock. He created a new instrument called the mandolobro, which was tuned like a mandola and had a resonator-guitar body. It was featured on his CD Jesse McReynolds Introduces the Mandolobro.

His other solo albums included New Horizons (2004), Bending the Rules (2004), A Tribute to Brother Duets (with Charles Whitstein, 2005) and Dixie Road (2007). In 2010, he released a tribute album to the songs of The Grateful Dead.

He was variously dubbed “Mr. Mandolin” (for his innovative, virtuoso playing) and “The Ironman of Bluegrass” (for the 65+ years of his career). Solo and with his brother, Jesse McReynolds recorded more than 50 albums.

Jesse McReynolds's funeral will take place on Wednesday in Gallatin, Tennessee. 

Now a look at the mid-week Opry shows: 

The Tuesday Night Opry has Opry members Jeannie Seely, John Conlee and The Isaacs on the schedule, while Riders In The Sky, Mandy Barnett, Carly Pearce and Steve Wariner are listed for Wednesday night. 

A couple of very frequent Opry guests are back this week as Charles Esten and Maggie Rose are scheduled. There are also a couple of Opry debuts, as Duane Betts and Adeem the Artist will be appearing, along with Jelly Roll, who has been making a big name for himself of late. 

Tuesday June 27
7:00: Jeannie Seely, Kameron Marlowe, Jim Lauderdale, Charles Esten
Intermission
8:15: John Conlee, Duane Betts, Maggie Rose, The Isaacs

As mentioned, Duane Betts is making his Opry debut on Tuesday night. By the time Duane Betts began working on Wild & Precious Life — his triumphant debut solo album — he'd already spent the better part of two decades creating his own version of guitar-slinging, story-driven American rock & roll. "It felt like the right time to make something that was entirely my own vision," he says. "This is a record that guitar players will love, but at its core, it's really a song record. It's an album about who I am, where I come from, and what I believe in." 

Duane had spent 10 years playing guitar alongside his father, legendary Allman Brother Dickey Betts. He’d release an EP, Sketches of American Music and co-found Allman Betts Band. What is interesting is the fact that while this is Duane Betts Opry debut, his dad, the legendary Dicky Betts has appeared on the Opry before, appearing back in 1981. 

Wednesday June 28
7:00: Riders In The Sky, Mandy Barnett, Adeem the Artist, Bobby Bones, Steve Wariner
Intermission
8:15: Carly Pearce, Jackson Dean, Jelly Roll

(The second hour fill by filmed for a future Opry Live broadcast on Circle TV)

For those not familiar with Adeem the Artist, I think most will find the artist interesting. Adeem is from North Carolina, before moving to New York and then settling in Eastern Tennessee. The Artist performs a blend that includes music with some Appalachian influences, along with comedy. Adeem is also an accomplished songwriter. 

I have friends who will be making their first trip to the Opry on Wednesday night, and they are very excited by the lineup. 

As I mentioned, Dicky Betts has appeared on the Opry before, back on May 23, 1981. I thought I would share the running order from the first show that night: 

1st show
6:30: Mrs. Grissoms
Jimmy Dickens (host): Family Reunion
Ernie Ashworth: Wichita Woman
Jimmy Dickens: I'd Rather Sleep In Peace Than Know You're Gone

6:45: Rudy's
Jack Greene (host): Try A Little Kindness
Jeannie Seely: (?)
Jack Greene: There Goes My Everything

7:00: Shoney's
Porter Wagoner (host): Y'all Come
Jan Howard: Will The Circle Be Unbroken
Del Wood: Down Yonder
Rex Nelon Singers: (?)/Jesus Is Alive And Well
Dickie Betts: Ramblin' Man
Porter Wagoner: Everything I've Always Wanted/Ol' Slewfoot

7:30: Standard Candy
Ernest Tubb (host): Thanks A Lot
Billy Grammer: Kentucky Waltz
Vic Willis Trio: Shenandoah
Stu Phillips: The Great El Tigra
Crook Brothers: Sally Goodin
Ernest Tubb: Waltz Across Texas

8:00: Martha White
Roy Acuff (host): Wabash Cannonball
Connie Smith: I Never Once Stopped Loving You
Stonewall Jackson: Ol' Chunk of Coal
Jimmy C Newman: La Cajun Band/Alligator Man
Brother Oswald: Black Smoke
Connie Smith: Satisfied

8:30: Acme
Jim Ed Brown (host): Looking Back To See
The 4 Guys: I'm Almost Ready/My Special Angel
Duke of Paducah: Comedy
Fruit Jar Drinkers: (?)
Jim Ed Brown: Don't Bother To Knock

I have to tell you that I started chuckling when I was looking at this lineup and saw that Dickie Betts was following the Rex Nelon Singers. Only at the Opry!!

There you have it for the shows this mid-week.