Starting off this week with the press release from the Grand Ole Opry:
The Grand Ole Opry will dedicate Saturday night’s show to Country Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry Member Dolly Parton, honoring her life, legacy, and contributions to country music. Among the artists scheduled for the show is Carly Pearce, who began her career at Dollywood and who Parton surprised with an invitation to become an official Opry member in 2021. The show can be heard on the Opry’s flagship station, WSM-AM, as well as wsmonline.com, opry.com, and SiriusXM channel 58. The Opry’s marquee is set to honor Parton through Saturday evening.
"Dolly Parton was perhaps the most loved and admired artist from her home state of Tennessee," said Colin Reed, Executive Chairman of Ryman Hospitality Properties. "She was also an extraordinary member of the Grand Ole Opry, and her music and sense of humor will live on for generations to come. We are so blessed to have been a part of her incredible career. "
"Every member of the Grand Ole Opry family has a Dolly story, as does everyone around the world who was ever in her orbit,” said Dan Rogers, Senior Vice President and Executive Producer, Grand Ole Opry. “That’s just one of the things that made her so special. For more than 50 years as an Opry member, she used her talent and success to bring sheer joy to millions. To every artist, she provided inspiration beyond measure. To every fan, she connected in a way that made each of us feel like the most important person in the room. Her impact will live on forever as we all carry forward the kindness, compassion and generosity she shared throughout her life. Dolly always knew exactly what to say. I’m afraid the best I have on this terribly sad day is a genuine, heartfelt, 'Thank you for everything, Dolly. We sure do love you.'”
We have already seen Dolly Parton tributes taking place at the Opry as on Tuesday night the Opry opened with Opry member Rhonda Vincent sharing “This is for Dolly” before performing Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors.” Vincent returned to the stage later to sing Parton’s “9 to 5” and “Jolene.” Additional tributes tonight included Morgan Myles’ performance of Parton’s 1973 classic “I Will Always Love You.” The tributes continued during the Wednesday Night Opry.
First, taking a look at the Friday Night Opry, Connie Smith returns, as does Opry members Mark Wills, Riders In The Sky, and John Conlee. The Shootouts are back for another Opry appearance, as are bluegrass group Sister Sadie, Hannah McFarland, who made her Opry debut last October, and Adam Chaffins, who will be making his Opry debut on Friday night.
Saturday night will be special as previously noted, Opry member Carly Pearce will be appearing. On Friday she is scheduled to release her new album, Honest Woman, which includes a number of collaborations. Two of those are with Molly Tuttle and Dan Tyminski, who both are also on the Saturday night schedule. (For those who might not have heard the news, Molly was recently married to Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show).
Also on the Saturday schedule are members T. Graham Brown and Kathy Mattea, along with Channing Wilson, and Belle Frantz, who will be making her Opry debut.
Friday August 28
7:00: Mark Wills, Connie Smith, Adam Chaffins, Riders In The Sky
Intermission
8:20: John Conlee, Hannah McFarland, The Shootouts, Sister Sadie
Saturday August 29
7:00: Opry Square Dancers, T. Graham Brown, Channing Wilson, Belle Frantz, Kathy Mattea
Intermission
8:20: Molly Tuttle, Opry Square Dancers, Dan Tyminski, Carly Pearce
It's ironic that Carly is scheduled on Saturday night and I would expect, she will devote a portion of her segment to Dolly.
I am not sure what else to expect on Saturday night.
Adam Chaffins, who is debuting on Friday night, is from Eastern Kentucky. Moving to Nashville after graduation, he found work writing songs for acts like The Infamous Stringdusters and playing bass for artists like Billy Strings. He has recently released Trailer Trash: Doublewide and has garnered praise from The Bluegrass Situation, Holler and All Country News, with earlier singles 'Sugarcoat It,' 'Lucky Me' and 'King of Coal Dust County,' which is currently on the MusicRow Country Breakout Radio Chart. Expanding the Trailer Trash world introduced with his 5-song EP last summer, the new album showcases Chaffins' knack for blending razor-sharp wit with real-world reflections on current events, without ever cheapening the lessons that lurk beneath. It was this quality that led legendary producer Frank Rogers to offer him a publishing deal on the spot -- just the third songwriter in Rogers' career to receive such an offer, after Chris Stapleton and Josh Turner.
Belle Frantz, who will be part of Carly Pearce's fall tour, received her Opry invite recently from Carly. She has called it one of the biggest moments in her life. A native of Greenwood Springs, Mississippi, she has built a loyal following by honoring the voices that shaped her—including George Jones, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, and her lifelong hero, Reba McEntire.
Following her 2023 debut EP, Why I Sing This Way, she has shared stages with Willie Nelson, Alabama, and Tracy Lawrence, and co-wrote "Lonely's What I Do" with Vince Gill, who later recorded the song. This fall, Frantz enters a landmark chapter with the release of Hymns from a Barstool on November 6, featuring collaborations with Wynonna Judd and Reba McEntire.
One Grand Ole Opry member that doesn't get talked about any more is Jimmy C Newman, who was an Opry member for over 55 years. Jimmy was born on August 29, 1927, and I thought what would have been Jimmy's 99th birthday, it was time to look back.
Jimmy C Newman was born in High Point, La., near Big Mamou, and raised in a bilingual family with parents who delighted in the cowboy sounds of Gene Autry and the country music of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family. Newman's father died when he was a teenager, and he left school after six years of education, to work on a farm. During World War II, Newman worked in a defense plant as a welder's helper, and there he met an electrician and music aficionado named J.D. Miller. After Newman's recorded debut in 1946 for Modern Records, Miller became determined to record Newman on his own Feature label. He did so, but without commercial success.
Jimmy collaborated with Miller on Cry, Cry, Darling, and Miller took a recording of the song to Nashville in hopes of raising interest in Newman's strong, emotional singing. Newman re-recorded the song at Fred Rose's Nashville home on Woodmont Avenue, and the song provided for Newman's first introduction to a national country music audience. Cry, Cry, Darling was later recorded by Bill Monroe, Ricky Skaggs, Ronnie Milsap and others.
In 1954, he joined The Louisiana Hayride, where he performed alongside Johnny Horton, Elvis Presley and others. The Opry beckoned in 1956, though, after he notched five straight top 10 records, including the George Jones- and Darrell Edwards-penned Seasons of My Heart. And in 1957, he notched his highest-charting record with A Fallen Star, which reached No. 2 on the Billboard country chart and peaked at No. 23 on the pop chart.
He went from Dot to MGM in 1958, and to Decca in 1961. In the 1960s he recorded 16 top 40 country hits, including 1963's D.J. for A Day, the first country hit written by Tom Hall, who would later add a "T" to his stage name. Newman was a partner in publishing house Newkeys Music, and Hall began writing for Newkeys in 1963.
Some of Newman's early recordings were Cajun-shaded, most notably his 1954 take on Miller's Diggy Liggy Lo, but most of the material he recorded early on was of the honky-tonk variety. The French Arcadian-sounding Alligator Man hit the top 40 in 1962, though, and Newman recognized that a "Cajun country" blend would set him apart from the competition and honor his roots.
In 1963, he recorded Folk Songs of the Bayou Country, with fiddler Rufus Thibodeaux and accordionist Shorty LeBlanc, and he sang some of that album's lyrics in French. From that point, Newman took care to include Cajun music in his concerts, and to hold high his Louisiana heritage. In 2009, Newman was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, an honor that followed by five years his induction into the Cajun Music Hall of Fame.
Newman's final top 10 country hits came in 1965 and 1966, with two Tom T. Hall songs, Artificial Rose and Back Pocket Money. But he remained a formidable and popular presence on the Opry and on television. (He was frequently featured on The Nashville Network during that station's 1980s and '90s heyday.) His 1974 recording of Lache Pas La Patate sold more than 200,000 copies in Canada, and his 1991 Alligator Man album with his band, Cajun Country, received a Grammy nomination.
Newman, by all accounts, knew how to hold success. Never a chart dynamo, he was a steadily entertaining personality for a majority of country music's commercial life and a spice of life for more than a half-century on the Opry. He was a devoted husband to Mae Newman; their marriage lasted more than 60 years. He was a cultural ambassador for southeastern Louisiana, and a kind and gracious presence offstage.
Jimmy C Newman's final Grand Ole Opry appearance took place on Friday June 6, 2014. Here is the lineup from that night:
7:00: Riders In The Sky (host): Jimmy C Newman, One More Girl, Scotty McCreery
8:00: Ricky Skaggs (host): Mel Tillis. Lorrie Morgan, Jesse Keith Whitley
8:30: Charley Pride (host): Connie Smith, Sara Evans
9:00: Bill Anderson (host): Rascal Flatts
Jimmy was scheduled for the following Friday night but cancelled.
Jimmy C Newman, from what can be found, joined the Grand Ole Opry on August 4, 1956. For more than 50 years, Newman was a mainstay on the Opry, where he performed rollicking, Cajun-inflected songs such as Alligator Man and Bayou Talk. He added the "C" to his stage name in the early 1960s, saying that it stood for "Cajun," and he took pride in his designation as the first Cajun artist to join the Opry.
"His role became the Cajun fellow at the Opry, and that's great," said Opry member Marty Stuart. "But if you go back to his 1950s recordings of Cry, Cry, Darling and Seasons of My Heart, you'll witness a country music architect at work. He was a brilliant singer, a brilliant designer of country music."
Over a decade after the passing of Jimmy C. the Cajun sound that he was so famous for has yet to reappear on the Opry. And yes, that sound, along with Jimmy C., is missed.
One final note about Jimmy C Newman. As has been noted in numerous places, while Johnny Cash introduced Dolly Parton the first time, she appeared on the Opry at the age of 13, it was Jimmy C that gave up his spot to Dolly. She asked and he said yes. Dolly never forgot that kind jester from him and repaid it to him many times over.
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