This week there are two shows on the mid-week calendar with Opry shows on Tuesday and Wednesday Night.
Who remembers Skip Ewing? Definitely a name from the past and he will be appearing on the Tuesday Night Opry. "Nashville" actor Charles Esten is back as is Sunny Sweeney, who seems to be in the rotation of guest artists. Comedian Chonda Pierce is listed as are Opry members T. Graham Brown, Gene Watson, Lauren Alaina and Steve Earle. And being that it's St. Patrick's Day, the Nashville Irish Step Dancers will be making their annual Opry appearance. Definitely some fire power in the lineup
Tuesday March 17
7:00: Nashville Irish Step Dancers, T. Graham Brown, Sunny Sweeney, Skip Ewing, Charles Esten
Intermission
8:20: Gene Watson, Chonda Pierce, Steve Earle, Lauren Alaina
Now moving on to Wednesday night, songwriter Rhett Akins is scheduled. With the Country Music Hall of Fame announcement coming later this week, I would think Rhett is a contender in the Songwriting Category, which is the rotation category this year. The Gibson Brothers are also on the schedule, and it has been a bit of time since they have appeared. Opry. Gene Watson is back to make it two nights in a row, joined by members Rhonda Vincent and Riders In The Sky. Christian artist Jason Crabb, Time Jumper member Wendy Moten and The Lone Bellow round it out.
Wednesday March 18
7:00: Rhonda Vincent, Rhett Akins, Gene Watson, Jason Crabb
Intermission
8:20: Wendy Moten, The Gibson Brothers, The Lone Bellow, Riders In The Sky
Looking at the Opry calendar for the upcoming weekend, An Evening With The Grand Ole Opry at Carnegie Hall will be taking place on Friday night, along with the normal Friday Night Opry at the Opry House. Saturday night will be Opry Honors Little Jimmy Dickens, with Brad Paisley making a return appearance to honor Jimmy and also to be recognized upon his 25th anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. And while it is not an official Opry show, on Sunday night Trisha Yearwood will be hosting "Band As One Nashville" which includes Opry members Reba McEntire and Ashley McBryde. Definitely a busy weekend coming up.
Nat Hill IV
ReplyDeleteI'll figure out how to post here someday. Maybe. :)
ReplyDeleteJust trying to say the shows on Tuesday and Wednesday feature FANTASTIC lineups ! Country Music!!!!
Love The Gibson Brothers, great music, great guys.
ReplyDeleteAs Byron said the CMA HOF honorees are to be announced Friday. Nothing official and I have no inside info, but have picked up some “buzz” that the two artist honorees are Clint Black and the Gatlins. I hope that is correct as Clint is well overdue and the Gatlins are embarking on a final farewell tour. As for the songwriter, I’ll take a guess and say Dallas Frazier. Marty Stuart is hosting and we all know that Dallas wrote many, many songs for Connie.
ReplyDeleteI agree with those that say a catch-up class is needed.
I would love those choices. However I have heard it would be Tim McGraw and possibly Crystal Gayle or The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Ties would be awesome. For songwriter Paul Overstreet has been mentioned.
DeleteDavid B
Those would be logical also. McGraw definitely is worthy but that would signal (combined with Cheney) that the CMA has moved into a new generation and is bypassing all those prior to them. From a marketing standpoint they probably want to appeal to younger fans at the expense of honoring those who have been waiting.
DeleteCrystal is overdue. Paul Overstreet wrote or co-wrote so many legendary hits, and I doubt anyone will begrudge his induction.
If there is going to be ties, we need a 10 way tie per category to put a dent into the backlog (hard to do when there are only 5 finalists).
Let me say at the start that both Clint Black and Crystal Gayle deserve to be in the Hall of Fame and should be. There is no debate about that. However, I don't think it is going to happen this year. In fact, I would be surprised if either is a finalist.
DeleteCrystal Gayle has had an outstanding career. But one question which I think has hurt her cause is "Who else has she influenced?" To a lot of voters, that is an important question. You could say the same about Clint. He was another in the long line of male singers, but what stood him apart? I think the biggest liability against Clint is that he faded away pretty quickly and there were years where not much was heard from him. That doesn't make him any less Hall of Fame worthy, it just pushes him back.
I do agree that the Hall voters are moving into the next generation of artists, which is why I think the chances are very good for Tim McGraw this year. Sadly, that probably means a lot of names right on the edge of categories will have to wait until they are in the Veterans, which will create a further backlog.
In my mind, I am still pushing for, and thinking that The Stanley Brothers, Ralph and Carter, deserve to be in the Hall, are way overdue, and perhaps, this is their year.
Paul Overstreet would definitely be a solid pick in the Songwriter category; however, my pick would be Dallas Frazier.
I absolutely always enjoy the Hall of Fame discussion.
Just continuing that last thought: The Stanley' were very influential in the bluegrass community and helped to lay the groundwork in the early days. Ralph continued on with the legacy.
DeleteAlso, don't discount Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers. If the voters go in that direction, they could get a "2 for 1" deal by knocking out someone who could be considered for two different categories. Much like Tony Brown last year, and Jim Ed Brown and The Browns several years ago. A case could be made for Larry in the Veterans and Songwriter categories.
Again, just some thoughts
And they are great thoughts. Thanks.
DeleteI have had the feeling that the Country Music Hall of Fame people look at the Bluegrass Hall of Fame and think, they've got that covered. That may be hurting the Stanleys. And as much as I love them, I'm still on board for Archie Campbell and the Wilburns. My dark horses are two people rarely mentioned: George Hamilton IV and Jimmy C. Newman, both important internationally, IV for bridging between pop and country, Newman for doing that with Cajun and country but also having influence as the music publisher who helped Tom T. Hall become Tom T. Hall.
Byron knows this story but Larry was the first person to put me on stage when I was 18 months old. He stayed in very close contact with my mother for several years and even invited us to his home in Nashville. He was extremely interested in my professional career, even as a child and was a huge influence and very good friend in my formative years. I haven’t seen him in decades and I don’t even know if he remembers me, but I would like to think that he does. I hope very much that I get to see him and thank him for starting this journey for me. Before I was 10 I had gotten to work with some of the biggest names in the country music industry at the time including Clint. Now I teach music full-time as a career and it all started with Larry. I hope he goes in this year. Ez
ReplyDeleteWHAT a show tonight (Tuesday)!
ReplyDeleteI was only able to hear the end, but it didn't get over until about 9:45 Nashville time.
Gretchen Wilson made a surprise appearance (Opry moment!) and Lauren Alaina absolutely brought the house down.
I just bought my ticket for tomorrow night's show. I'll be happy if it's half as good as tonight's show was. Old man one person Spring break to Music City USA!
Good discussion here. Byron mentioned the school of thought around “who has X influenced”. My perspective is that this is not as important as before because of the change in the industry. In an earlier era artists would name a wide variety of artists who inspired them. You would hear names like ETC, Milsap, Gosdin etc. in addition to the greats. Now it seems like there were no other male artists other than Johnny Cash , George Strait and maybe George Jones. Female singers pay tribute to Dolly, Loretta and maybe Tammy.
ReplyDeleteConway doesn’t get mentioned and even Merle Haggard seems to be fading from consciousness. Forget about Faron, Ray Price or anyone pre 70s. On the female side, do the newer artists even know who Kitty Wells was much less Sammi Smith, Dottie West, or Lynn Anderson?
Maybe some of this is industry politics or a desire to have newer stars be associated with “hip” people like Cash or Dolly that have high name recognition vs paying tribute to the people who paved the way for so many others. The passage of time of course plays a role. We’re getting to the point where current hit makers were born in the 1990s or later and we all know country radio had put veterans to pasture after 1990 so unless the person is a Mandy Barnett type who respected and took the time to learn the history of the music they may truly don’t have a clue.
I really hope Clint gets in while he can enjoy it. It was heartbreaking to read he may not have been a finalist. Both the Gatlins and Crystal are very overdue and they are all well past 70. Please don’t make them wait. I’m a NGDB fan but wouldn’t put them ahead of various others. Their radio career was relatively short but they will benefit from the original seminal Circle album.
Also, this is beating a dead horse, but until there is more transparency into the election process it will continue to be criticized and second guessed.