Grand Ole Opry 5/2 & 5/3

After the excitement of last weekend, with a new artist being invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry, the Opry rolls into May with a couple of very nice shows on the schedule, once again being led by member Vince Gill, who is scheduled for both Friday and Saturday night. We don't have many weekends with Vince left on the schedule as his upcoming solo tour gets underway on May 8 in Rochester, New York, and continues into August, with many of the shows taking place on weekend nights. 

Joining Vince on both nights this weekend are Opry members Old Crow Medicine Show and Don Schlitz. Additionally, the Friday night schedule includes Riders In The Sky, while Connie Smith and Mandy Barnett are scheduled to appear on Saturday night. 

Rodney Crowell will be guesting on Friday night and I am sure that he and Vince may team up on a song. Also on the schedule are Stephanie Urbina Jones, Jedd Hughes and John Morgan. Saturday night's lineup includes Amanda Shires and Christian Lopez. 

Friday May 2
7:00: Riders In The Sky, Stephanie Urbina Jones, John Morgan, Old Crow Medicine Show
Intermission
8:15: Don Schlitz, Jed Hughes, Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill

Saturday May 3
7:00: Opry Square Dancers, Connie Smith, Christian Lopez, Don Schlitz, 
Intermission
8:20: Amanda Shires, Opry Square Dancers, Vince Gill. Old Crow Medicine Show

With Riders In The Sky appearing on the Friday Night Opry, this news was posted on their Facebook page this week: 

The wait is over, Saddlepals!

Riders In The Sky: Romancing the West with Music and Humor will be released May 15!

This long-anticipated Bobbie and Bill Malone official biography – two years and more than 100 interviews in the making – is here at last.

Cue the herd, cue the yodeling, cue the fiddle and accordion! It’s time to celebrate!

Too Slim says “When I read the first draft of Bill and Bobbie’s introduction mapping the development of western music and our place in its history, I just about cried. They got it. They got what we’ve been doing for 47 years and why it’s worthy of appreciation and respect.

I thought ’These are the perfect historians to write our story.' And buddy, they wrote it!"

If you’re interested in how this amazing quartet found each other, took on the mission of reviving a musical and entertainment tradition which was fading into obscurity, and generated well over a million laughs, a few tears, and a legion of fans along the way, this book is for you.

Riders In The Sky: Romancing the West with Music and Humor on the Texas A&M University Press. 248 pages, photographs, and the real story.

For those who live in Nashville, we will be at Parnassus Books on May 27 in conversation with authors Bobbie and Bill C. Malone. Get your tickets today and see you there!

While I can't guarantee this book will be a best seller, I can guarantee that this book will be a lot of fun to read with some wonderful stories. I will be getting my copy as soon as it is released.  

In many ways, the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, and the Midnite Jamboree have always been associated with the Grand Ole Opry. Over the years, the Jamboree followed the Saturday night Opry on WSM and more often than not, if Ernest or Justin Tubb were not hosting the show, and Opry member was. 

On May 3, 1997, the Midnite Jamboree celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special show. 

From the Tennessean, May 5, 1997: 

"If you don't like Ernest Tubb, you don't like country music." Ronnie McDowell's sentiment summed up the attitude of the evening as a number of country artists celebrated the 50th anniversary of Ernest Tubb Record Shops with a live broadcast of The Midnite Jamboree, staged in front of the store at 417 Broadway.

An estimated 1,000-1,500 fans were on hand when the show cranked up around 12:20 a.m. yesterday morning, most compressed into one-third of the block between Fourth and Fifth avenues. Only a few hundred fans remained by the time the last note was played after 2:00 a.m. in unseasonable cold temperatures. Tubb, who died in September 1984, started the record ship May 3, 1947, after many fans complained that they couldn't find his records in stores where they lived. The Midnite Jamboree also started in 1947, now airs on Saturday nights from the Texas Troubadour on Music Valley Drive, near the Grand Ole Opry House. Yesterday morning's Jamboree aired from in front of the Broadway store, because that's the site where the Jamboree enjoyed its greatest prominence. 

Bill Anderson played host to the anniversary show. The sounds ran the gamut from old country to new. WSM-AM spun such Tubb originals as "Walkin' The Floor Over You", "Waltz Across Texas" and "Rainbow at Midnight" as well as Jimmie Rodger's "Waitin' For a Train." Opry veteran Stonewall Jackson sang "Waterloo" and one-time Tubb drummer Jack Greene trotted out his classics "There Goes My Everything" and "Statue Of a Fool." McDowell offered a reworking of Conway Twitty's "It's Only Make Believe" and his own 1981 hit "Older Women." Current country star Travis Tritt did four songs, including covers of Merle Haggard's "The Bottle Let Me Down" and Buck Owens' "Together Again." Tritt also dedicated his own "Anymore" to Loretta Lynn, who canceled her appearance. Letters were read from Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, Lorianne Crook and Charlie Chase, Crystal Gayle, and Marty Stuart. And a proclamation from Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen cited May 3 as Ernest Tubb Record Ship Day; the proclamation was read, ironically at 1:48 a.m. on May 4. 

"What we would wish most," Greene said, "is that Ernest could be here with us." 

Ernest Tubb opened the original shop at 720 Commerce Street on May 3, 1947. The Jamboree moved to the 417 Broadway location, along with the original record store, in 1951 and emanated from that location until 1979, when the show moved to the Ernest Tubb store at 2416 Music Valley Drive, near the Opry House. On Jan. 1, 1995, the show moved to the nearby Texas Troubadour Theater. Saturday's broadcast was the 2,610th in a row, marking it as the longest running radio show in history, trailing only the Grand Ole Opry in longevity.


While not officially affiliated with the Midnite Jamboree, the Grand Ole Opry that night featured Porter Wagoner hosting the televised segment which featured Waylon Jennings, Travis Tritt, Joe Diffie and Steve Wariner. They repeated the segment on the second show, minus Waylon. 

Here is the running order from that night 28 years ago, May 3, 1997: 

1st show
6:30: GHS Strings
Del Reeves (host): Good Time Charlie's
Jean Shepard: I Thought Of You/It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels/You Win Again/A Dear John Letter
Del Reeves: The Only Girl I Can't Forget

6:45: Joggin' In A Jug
Grandpa Jones (host): Banjo Sam
Bill Carlisle: Little Liza Jane
Grandpa Jones: Any Old Time

7:00: Shoney's
Mike Snider (host): Lonesome Road Blues
Charlie Louvin: Must You Throw Dirt In My Face
Billy Walker: Adam's Side
Jeanne Pruett: Satin Sheets
The Whites: I Don't Care
Mike Snider: Foggy Mountain Breakdown

7:30: Standard Candy
Porter Wagoner (host)
Travis Tritt: Here's A Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares
Waylon Jennings: Good Old Boys
Joe Diffie: John Deere Green
Steve Wariner: Tips Of My Fingers
Travis Tritt, Waylon Jennings & Joe Diffie: Where Corn Don't Grow
Travis Tritt, Waylon Jennings, Joe Diffie & Steve Wariner: She Thinks I Still Care
Travis Tritt, Waylon Jennings, Joe Diffie & Steve Wariner: Good-Hearted Woman
Travis Tritt: I Walk The Line
Steve Wariner: Kansas City Lights
Waylon Jennings: Luckenbach Texas
Porter Wagoner, Travis Tritt, Waylon Jennings, Joe Diffie & Steve Wariner: Cindy

8:00: Martha White
Bill Anderson (host): Southern Fried
Jimmy C Newman: Diggy Liggy Lo
Brother Oswald: Born To Lose
Connie Smith: It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels
Opry Square Dance Band & The Melvin Sloan Dancers: Liberty
Bill Anderson: Still

8:30: Clifty Farms
Jimmy Dickens (host): Geraldine
Jack Greene: There Goes My Everything/He Is My Everything
Justin Tubb: Sing Blue Eyed Elaine Again
Hal Ketchum: Maybe You Would Stay Forever/I Know Where True Love Lives
Jimmy Dickens: Life Turned Her That Way

2nd show
9:30: Dollar General
Porter Wagoner (host)
Travis Tritt: Here's A Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares
Joe Diffie: John Deere Green
Steve Wariner: Tips Of My Fingers
Travis Tritt, Joe Diffie & Steve Wariner: Working Man Blues
Joe Diffie: I'll Just Walk Away If You Want Me To
Steve Wariner: Kansas City Lights
Travis Tritt: Anymore
Travis Tritt & Joe Diffie: Where Corn Don't Grow
Porter Wagoner, Travis Tritt, Joe Diffie & Steve Wariner: Cindy

10:00: Massey Ferguson
Grandpa Jones (host): Kitty Klyde/Apple Jack
Steve Wariner: I'm Already Taken

10:15: La Quinta Inn
Jimmy Dickens (host): Take An Old Cold Tater
The Whites: The Violet & A Rose
Jimmy Dickens: We Could

10:30: Purnell's
Bill Anderson (host): Po' Folks
Jean Shepard: I'd Rather Die Young
Bill Anderson: A World Of Make Believe

10:45: White By MTD
Mike Snider (host): Tennessee Rapsody/Cotton Eyed Joe
Jeanne Pruett: Temporarily Yours
Opry Square Dance Band & The Melvin Sloan Dancers: Acorn Hill

11:00: Coca Cola
The 4 Guys (host): River Of Dreams
George Hamilton IV: Break My Mind
Jimmy C Newman: Cochon De Lait
Del Reeves: Lover's Question
Ray Pillow: I'll Break Out Again Tonight
The 4 Guys: Amazing Grace

11:30: Loreal
Johnny Russell (host): Folsom Prison Blues
Stu Phillips: A Castle; A Cabin
Charlie Walker: Smoke; Smoke; Smoke
Connie Smith: You've Got Me Right Where You Want Me/Sing, Sing, Sing
David Wilkins: Butter Beans

Loretta Lynn, who was also scheduled for the Midnite Jamboree, canceled for both shows. And it should be noted that Justin Tubb, who appeared on the first show that night, was no longer affiliated with the Midnite Jamboree, thus he did not appear. Jan Howard and Leona Williams, who were not scheduled on the Opry that night, did appear on the Jamboree. 

While it appears that the Ernest Tubb Record Shop will, in some form, be reopening soon, there appears to be no more live Midnite Jamboree shows on the horizon, we have these wonderful memories to remind us what a great show it was. And it was free!!!

There you have it for this week as Opry 100 continues to roll on. As always, thanks for reading and commenting and I hope everyone enjoys the Grand Ole Opry this weekend.