I would call this a pretty quiet weekend at the Grand Ole Opry as both the Friday Night Opry and Saturday's Grand Ole Opry, while having solid lineups, have no real newsworthy events taking place either night.
Taking a look at the Friday Night Opry, members T. Graham Brown, Don Schlitz and Mark Wills head up the lineup. The very talented Sierra Hull returns, as does the husband/wife duo of John Carter Cash and Ana Cristina Cash. Frank Ray and Grupo Frontera, who are making their Opry debut, round out the schedule.
Don Schlitz, who has made more Opry appearances than any other Opry member thus far in 2025, is back on Saturday night, joined by Bill Anderson. Also scheduled is John Berry, Caroline Jones, Opry NextStage act Tigirlily Gold and Charlie Worsham. Rounding out Saturday night is comedian/storyteller Quinn XCII, who will be making his Opry debut.
Friday November 7
7:00: T. Graham Brown, Frank Ray, Sierra Hull, Mark Wills
Intermission
8:20: Grupo Frontera, John Carter & Ana Cristina Cash, Don Schlitz
Saturday November 8
7:00: Opry Square Dancers, John Berry, Bill Anderson, Grand Master Fiddle Champions, Tigirlily Gold
Intermission
8:20: Caroline Jones, Quinn XCII, Opry Square Dancers, Charlie Worsham, Don Schlitz
Just a couple of quick observations: usually when Mark Wills is on the Opry he opens the show. On Friday he is scheduled in the final slot prior to intermission. On Saturday night, John Berry opens the show. Personally, I think that every Opry show should have an Opry member as the first act.
Finally, it is always a treat and a special night when the Grand Master Fiddle Champions appear. For those interested, the 54th Annual Grand Master Fiddler Championship will be held on Saturday and Sunday November 8 and 9, 2025 at the Mockingbird Theater and the Turner Theater in the Factory at Franklin. Contestants from all over the world will be competing for the Champion titles in Youth and Open categories. The contest is Free to attend. There is no entry fee and parking is free.
Grupo Frontera, who is making their Opry debut on Friday night, is an American regional Mexican band from Edinburg, Texas. Grupo Frontera was formed in 2019, originally performing at weddings and parties, which lead them to releasing their debut EP in March 2022, En Vivo, Vol. 1. Their release includes covers of songs such as Vicente Fernández's "Estos Celos" and Diego Verdaguer's "La Ladrona". A month later, they released their second EP, containing a cover of Morat's "No Se Va" which eventually went viral on TikTok and would chart at the end of the year. In December 2022, a second collaboration with Fuerza Regida, after "911 (En Vivo)", titled "Bebé Dame" reached number one on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs charts and peaked at number 25 on Billboard Hot 100, becoming their first top 40 hit.
Quinn XCII (pronounced Ninety-Two), who is debuting on Saturday night, has carved out a distinctive lane with his infectious blend of pop, alternative, and genre-bending storytelling—delivered with heart, humor, and unmistakable charm. To date, Quinn XCII has amassed over 4 billion global streams, earned multiple Platinum singles including “Straightjacket,” “Kings of Summer,” and “Love Me Less,” and Gold-certified hits such as “Stay Next To Me,” “Flare Guns,” “Another Day In Paradise,” “Stacy,” and “Always Been You.”
It was a special night 27 years ago, as on Saturday November 7, 1998, Grand Ole Opry member was honored upon his 50th anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Actually, it was the 50th anniversary of when Jimmy first joined the Opry, as we all know he left for a pretty long period of time, 17 years to be exact.
Regardless, here is the running order from that night:
1st show
6:30: GHS Strings
Jimmy C Newman (host): Cajun's Dream
Skeeter Davis: Silver Threads & Golden Needles
Jimmy C Newman: Jambalaya
6:45: Kodak
Jack Greene (host): Highway To The Sky
Bill Carlisle: Too Old To Cut The Mustard
7:00: Shoney's
Porter Wagoner (host): Company's Comin'
Brother Oswald: Mansion On The Hill
The Whites: If It Ain't Love
Billy Grammer: Legend In My Time
Leroy Van Dyke: Walk On By
Christie Lynn: Chains
Porter Wagoner & Cristie Lynn: The Last Thing On My Mind
7:30: Standard Candy
Jimmy Dickens (host): Out Behind The Barn
Jeanne Pruett: Satin Sheets
Bobby Bare: Detroit City
Jimmy Dean: Drinking From My Saucer
8:00: Martha White
Bill Anderson (host): No Fair Falling In Love
Charlie Louvin: In The Cross
Del Reeves: Bells of Southern Bell
Sweet Adelines: Who Will Pay
Opry Square Dance Band & The Melvin Sloan Dancers: Cherokee Shuffle
Bill Anderson: Po' Folks
8:30: Physicians Mutual
Johnny Russell (host): Truck Driving Man
Charlie Walker: There's A Star-Spangled Banner Waving
The 4 Guys: In My Tennessee Mountain Home
Lari White: You Can't Go Home Again
Stu Phillips: Only God
Johnny Russell: Act Naturally
2nd show
9:30: Opry Book
Porter Wagoner (host): Opry Book
Billy Walker: Funny How Time Slips Away
Jan Howard: Oh, Lonesome Me
Billy Grammer: Unknown Soldier
Leroy Van Dyke: Auctioneer
Porter Wagoner: Green, Green Grass of Home
Porter Wagoner & Christie Lynn: Milwaukee, Here I Come
10:00: Lincoln Mercury
Jimmy C Newman (host): La Cajun Band
Skeeter Davis: I Can Call Jesus Anytime
Jimmy C Newman: Cochon De Lait/Tex-A-Cajun
10:15: Banquet
Jimmy Dickens (host): Take An Old Cold Tater
Bobby Bare: Marie Laveau
Jimmy Dickens: Another Bridge To Burn
10:30: Epiphone Guitar
Bill Anderson (host): Did She Mention My Name
Sweet Adelines: Who Will Buy
Bill Anderson: The Paper
10:45: Joggin In A Jug
Charlie Walker (host): San Antonio Rose
Jeanne Pruett: Temporarily Yours
Opry Square Dance Band & The Melvin Sloan Dancers: Durang's Hornpipe
Charlie Walker: There's A Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere
11:00: Coca Cola
The 4 Guys (host): Walking With My Baby By The San Francisco Bay
Lari White: Take Me/You Can't Go Home Again
Jack Greene: Over There
Stu Phillips: Great El Tigre
The 4 Guys: Amazing Grace
11:30: Opry Book
Johnny Russell (host): Folsom Prison Blues
Del Reeves: You Comb Her Hair/Hound Dog
The Whites: Doing It By The Book
The 7:30 portion, where Jimmy was honored, was televised by TNN. In addition to his good friends Bobby Bare and Jimmy Dean, who both performed on the show, Carl Smith and Waylon Jennings were both backstage and there was also a report that Garth Brooks also attended.
In addition, Grand Ole Opry members gave Jimmy a custom-made Gibson guitar and Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist proclaimed Saturday as "Little Jimmy Dickens" day in Tennessee.
I know it bugged a lot of people, including some members of the Opry, that later in Jimmy's career, that it was stated that Jimmy had been a member of the Opry for over 60 years, which was not the case. Eventually the introduction was switched to say that he first joined the Opry in 1948.
That takes nothing away from the career that Jimmy had. His most popular songs included, starting in 1949, "Take An Old Cold Tater," Country Boy," "Sleepin' at the Foot of the Bed," "Hillbilly Fever," "Out Behind the Barn," "We Could," "Family Reunion," and "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose." That last song was released in 1965 and was the only No. 1 single of his career.
Jimmy Dickens was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1983, and it was well deserved.
That takes care of it for this weekend. As always, thanks for reading and commenting and I hope everyone enjoys the Grand Ole Opry this weekend.
Byron, I love how you said what I was going to say. I think it’s very interesting that Mark usually opens the show and I think it’s interesting that he’s going to be where he is on the lineup Friday. I think every show with him on, it is great as I have said countless times. I also totally understand people being slightly annoyed because Jimmy did leave and he left for a long time, and being more accurate about it I think it’s fair but, he was just amazing as we all know. A random question. When do you think the Nashville network stopped really being the Nashville network? I have said here many times that it was on basically from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed if I wasn’t in school as a child, and every single Saturday I would watch the backstage and live telecast shows. Followed in the 90s by the Statler Brothers and the Gaither Gospel hour. What year or what timeframe do you think it really stopped being that Nashville network? Ez
ReplyDeleteFor me, it really started to slip when Ralph Emery left "Nashville Now".Lorianne and Charlie were okay, but they just didn't have the gravitas of Ralph.{Funny thing. Where I live, I can get the "Heartland" channel over the air. They show "Music City Tonight" every night, but no "Nashville Now".}
DeleteThe cancellation of the Statler show coincided with the end of my interest in the network. It was academic anyway because the owners had already decided to take TNN in another direction.
ReplyDeleteThe closing of Opryland Park was the beginning of the end.
Regarding Music City Tonight: I enjoyed Lorianne & Charlie and they did a superb job. Tom Wopat and Gary Chapman were when I started losing interest. The reason MCT is still shown is that it was owned by Jim Owens Productions who also was behind Heartland. No idea who owns the rights to NN.
Looking back in hindsight one can see that all of these events (closing Opryland, putting veterans to pasture at radio, changing the focus of TNN, etc,) were all part of a coordinated effort by the industry to move country music in a new direction from solid, stable acts with good sales to more pop and youth oriented artists that could sell a boatload of records over a short time and be replaced by another act with a short career but millions in sales (now streaming). It made a lot of people ultra rich but cut the soul out of the music.
Steve, you absolutely nailed it. Especially the very last sentence.
ReplyDelete" It made a lot of people ultra rich but cut the soul out of the music."
As the song goes, "Someone committed murder down on music row."
Thanks, Nat. I was thinking of a line from that song (“cut out its heart and soul”) when I wrote that.
DeleteReal country music always had depth (heart and soul) to it. A good song would last for decades because it would have a timeless message that could be felt through the generations. Then Nashville decided that instead of “Old Dogs, Children & Watermelon Wine” they’d rather have an “Achy Breaky Heart”.
The sad thing is there are a lot of younger artists who want to keep traditional country alive but outside of “Saving Country Music” and the like they have no exposure. The beauty of TNN was that it gave exposure to artists at all stages of their careers.
Sounds like Wall Street Hedge Funds. Cut and run. Invest, suck out the life blood and move on. I'll say this, at least some of the veterans did not go quietly.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that Don Schlitz is making as many Opry appearances as he has the year ... he says it himself ... he has no record coming out, he does not tour, he goes straight home after the show and all he has to do is walk to his mailbox for his royalty checks, so he's got a lot of time on his songwriting hands!! lol ... he is just so funny, crafty and can come up with some real one-liners. Yes, Don, you ARE that good. lol
ReplyDeleteAND I was unable to listen to the two hour show on WSM Thursday morning with Don and Charlie Mattos talking about songwriting and I don't think they will broadcast it again, darn. I really wish he would have been on the line-up for the Opry Country Classics show on the 23rd or the Saturday show with Carrie Underwood on the 25th, I would have loved to have seen him. Oh well, maybe another time.
I agree with all the posters; Steve, Nat and Anonymous in all you say. I was in Nashville two weeks ago and I went downtown and walked into the new Ernest Tubb Record Shop ... the record shop is no longer on street level, you have to walk up an insane amount of stairs, there wasn't much in the line of albums or merch but I'm sure more will come in time, they were open for a bit more than a week when I went down there. The entire building had major renovations; it has a very small stage, much like the original one but there is a bar in the back and a few tables. The ET neon sign had been removed and totally redone and it was beautiful. And a bluegrass band was playing on the small stage on ground level, they were terrific. I walked upstairs and into the record shop, no one was there, I looked around at everything and I left in not even ten minutes. Totally updated and beautiful.
Enjoy the Opry tonight!
(Jeanene)
It might have been missed by some, but John Berry has cancelled for Saturday night. Sierra Hull is taking his spot, making it a two show weekend for her.
ReplyDeleteSierra is just great!
Delete