Bluegrass picking, soulful singing, and clever comedy complemented a night of contemporary country music as two of America’s longest-running institutions reunited in New York City on Friday, March 21, 2026 when the Grand Ole Opry returned to Carnegie Hall.
Amidst the elegant surroundings, the evening offered a prestigious Carnegie Hall debut for all six performers: Opry members Kelsea Ballerini, Henry Cho, Scotty McCreery and Rhonda Vincent, and special guests Wyatt Flores and The War and Treaty. Although there wasn’t a barn backdrop or a velvet curtain, the ivory walls were often lit up in red reminiscent of the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville throughout the night.
Kelsea Ballerini performs with a gorgeous and iconic Carnegie Hall backdrop.
If you poke around long enough, there are hints of Carnegie Hall’s connection to country music – an autographed photo of Emmylou Harris in an upper tier, a souvenir program on display from Johnny Cash’s 1962 debut, and a collage of albums recorded at the venue, including the iconic one from Buck Owens & The Buckaroos in 1966. Of course, bluegrass fans also know that the Country Gentlemen and Flatt & Scruggs recorded landmark live albums from the fabled stage, too.
Scotty McCreery joins Rhonda Vincent & the Rage on stage at Carnegie Hall for “Blue Moon of Kentucky.”
Rhonda Vincent & The Rage carried on that bluegrass tradition by opening the show with a rendition of Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” McCreery also stepped onstage to give an Elvis Presley-inspired performance of the classic song, which Monroe wrote. After some welcoming remarks from Opry host Charlie Mattos, Vincent resumed her energetic performance with “Kentucky Borderline,” a bluegrass cover of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” and a pleasant sing-along version of John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Keeping with bluegrass tradition, Vincent also introduced her beaming band members: Aaron McDaris on banjo, Adam Haynes on fiddle, Zack Arnold on guitar and vocals, and Mickey Harris on bass.
Wyatt Flores made his Carnegie Hall debut.
Wyatt Flores, a fast-rising, 24-year-old newcomer, admitted he was nervous to play Carnegie Hall since many of his favorite live albums were recorded there. However, the raspy-voiced Oklahoma native confidently delivered a well-received set of new songs, including “Runnin’ on E,” “Half the Man,” and “South Dakota.” Flores told the audience he was sharing this career achievement with his parents (on their first-ever trip to New York City) and his girlfriend (the inspiration for “South Dakota”).
The War and Treaty’s Michael and Tanya Trotter lifted up the crowd with “Five More Minutes,” then slowed things back down with an emotional interpretation of Otis Redding’s “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay.” Michael Trotter took a few moments to speak about the duo’s musical influences and the artists who inspired them, including Ray Charles, Rissi Palmer, and John Prine. They concluded the first half of the show with strong performances of “Yesterday’s Burn” and “You Can’t Hurt Me Anymore.”
Grand Ole Opry member, comedian Henry Cho performs during the show.
New York City is obviously a comedy town and Henry Cho rose to the occasion with a mix of signature quips and amusing stories about his wife, kids, and friends. Fresh off a European tour, the good-natured Scotty McCreery worked the stage as he sang some of his best-known radio hits, including “It Matters to Her,” “Damn Strait,” “Five More Minutes,” and “Bottle Rockets.” East Tennessee native Kelsea Ballerini closed the evening with conversational banter, an announcement that she’s now living in New York City, and a country-tinged selection of fan favorites, such as “Baggage,” “I Sit in Parks,” and “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too).”
‘American Idol’ winner and Grand Ole Opry member Scotty McCreery delighted the NYC audience.
Among the night’s performers, Ballerini has surprisingly been an Opry member the longest. Prior to joining the roster in 2019, she would often sing a country classic during her guest appearances. At Carnegie Hall, she revived “Make the World Go Away,” which she learned from Martina McBride’s 1995 album of country classics, Timeless. She also shared her belief that country music is for everyone, a fitting comment on a night that explored the breadth of the genre. Many of the Opry’s special nights conclude with an all-sing finale of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” and this performance was no exception.
The star-studded cast of the Grand Ole Opry at Carnegie Hall sing “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” together to conclude the evening.
During his hosting duties, Mattos mentioned that Carnegie Hall opened in 1891, just one year before the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, the Opry’s former (and still occasional) home. Yet this is only the show’s fourth time at Carnegie Hall, following visits in 1947, 1961, and 2005. The fortuitous timing for this event is part of Carnegie Hall’s United in Sound: America at 250 series and coincides with the Opry’s 100th year. (The world’s longest-running radio reached that milestone on November 28, 2025.) With country now reaching more listeners than ever before, here’s hoping for a New York City encore as the Opry’s new century begins.
All photos shot by Fadi Khelr, courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry. Lead Image: The entire cast of the evening return to the Carnegie Hall Stage to perform “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” together.
Last month, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry as our Artist of the Month. We dove into the history of the world’s longest running radio show, we celebrated the music made on its hallowed stages, and we spoke to author Craig Shelburne about undertaking the gargantuan task of squeezing all of that rich history into a book, 100 Years of Grand Ole Opry. That coffee-table-ready tome is 350+ pages of photos, stories, interviews, and Opry lore.
Now, imagine the same task for Opry employee, archivist and content manager Emily Frans – but squeezed into a children’s book. The new title, Howdy! Welcome to the Grand Ole Opry!does just that. One hundred years of history, illustrated gorgeously and fantastically by Susanna Chapman alongside words and story by Frans, it distills the magic of the Grand Ole Opry for its tiniest audience members and fans. With a foreword by Lainey Wilson and stories from Dolly Parton, Lauren Alaina, and more, it’s an Opry 100 celebration that can be appreciated by country music fans of any/all ages.
Whether a gift for the holidays, an everyday present for the youngsters in your life, or pro-country-music propaganda (which we can always get behind), the new kids’ book is certain to inspire oncoming generations of would-be stars, pickers, and songwriters, seeding dreams of someday stepping into that hallowed circle on the Opry House stage. We spoke to author Emily Frans about the project and the special balance of telling a complete Opry history that engages, inspires, and stokes the imagination of children all around the world.
It must have been a difficult enough task for your colleagues to write the 350+ page 100 Years of Grand Ole Opry book that distills the immense history of the Opry into a single volume — it’s hard to imagine condensing all of that history, all of those stories, and all of that music into an even smaller space, a kids’ book! How did you go about it?
Emily Frans: You’re right! After pouring so much time into artist interviews, research, and trying to cover 100 years of history in as much detail and photography that a 350+ page book will allow, shifting gears into a children’s book was a completely different challenge. The biggest task was figuring out what not to include.
With kids, it’s all about clarity, pacing, and imagination, so I asked myself: What moments spark imagination? Which people feel larger than life? What stories can light a fire in a young mind? I tried to frame the story as kind of an adventure that kids could really imagine themselves experiencing while still including historical facts and details that they could learn from.
What do you see as the essential “nuts and bolts” of the Opry story that could – or should – be translated to country fans of all ages? What is the central idea or mission here, as far as putting this incredible, respected show in front of its youngest audience?
As a parent to young daughters, I realize how important it is for the youngest generation to understand not just what the Opry is, but why it matters. This book was written to bridge that gap and to spark wonder, inspiration, and to continue cultivating the tradition that we all cherish. In an age where attention spans are short and kids can choose their entertainment with a swipe of a screen, creating a book to share the Opry with children felt more important than ever.
The Opry is different than any other stage because of the way it connects people – artists to fans, parents to kids, and one generation of country music to the next. That emotional connection is the heartbeat of the Opry, and why, at 100 years old, it continues to thrive. I wrote this book with the goal of sparking that connection with our youngest generation.
The book has a foreword by Lainey Wilson and includes Opry stories from folks like Lauren Alaina, Dolly Parton, Kelsea Ballerini, and more. Country artists often have very special, down-to-earth relationships with their younger fans — these artists especially. Can you talk about curating the artist stories for the book and what Lainey Wilson brought to it with her foreword?
The artists featured in the book all share a genuine connection to the Opry and a real heart for their younger fans. I wanted to include messages that would almost feel like a little spark of mentorship coming straight from the stage, conveying the gravity of being asked to perform on the Opry while also making it sound achievable.
Lainey Wilson embodies that spirit so naturally. Her message is all about believing in yourself and honoring the roots that helped shape you. When she talks about stepping into the circle, she makes it sound magical, but also achievable. That tone set the stage for the rest of the book beautifully.
The book was illustrated by Susanna Chapman — the Grand Ole Opry and its history, especially its visuals, branding, costumes, and pageantry, are simply perfect for a children’s book like this, aren’t they?
Absolutely. The Opry has always been visually rich – from stage lights to rhinestone suits to the red barn set, it was practically begging to be illustrated! Susanna Chapman did an incredible job and brought a wonderful balance of authenticity and imagination. She captured the physical space of the Opry and infused her illustrations with movement, color, and emotion.
In fact, she spent time with one of my daughters during an Opry show trying to understand which elements of the sights, sounds, and even smells stood out to her so that she could create illustrations that really make the reader feel like they were there. The words are important, but it is the visuals that really draw kids to a book and Susanna knocked it out of the park.
So many kids have made appearances on the Grand Ole Opry — Sierra Hull, Wyatt Ellis, Charlie Worsham, Vassar McCoury, and many others — do you think this book will birth a new generation of youngsters itching to step into the circle?
I really hope so. One of my goals with this book was to show kids that the circle isn’t just for legends, it’s for dreamers, too. The Opry encompasses the past and present of country music, but also its future. If even one child reads this book and thinks, “Maybe that could be me someday,” whether they imagine themselves on stage or in a seat, then it’s done its job.
Why do you think the Grand Ole Opry has such broad appeal — across identities, geography, genres, communities, and age groups?
I think the Opry continues to thrive because it offers authenticity, tradition, and genuine connection all while continuing to evolve. On any given night, you can see legends, today’s hitmakers, and up-and-coming artists sharing the same stage. That blend of past, present, and future gives the Opry a real uniqueness and, unlike a typical concert, provides a platform for guests to discover music they may have otherwise missed out on. And the emotional connection is what brings both artists and fans back night after night. When an artist steps into the circle for the first time, guests can feel it. They can sense the history, the honor, and the gratitude and that the artists are there because it matters to them. That kind of sincerity creates a powerful bond between the stage and the seats.
All images courtesy of Ryman Hospitality Properties, illustrations by Susanna Chapman.
The sheer variety and singularity of the Grand Ole Opry – whether in just one of its shows or in just one of its many eras – would be paralyzing enough, if tasked with telling its complete, unabridged story to a broad audience. The assignment of taking the entire century-long history of the world’s longest running radio show and condensing it between the covers of a book would have to be heart-stopping. How could one ever take such a complex story full of twists, turns – and plenty of the idiosyncrasies found in human beings who make and love country music – put it down in 350+ pages?
It’s hard to imagine, but that’s exactly what writer Craig Shelburne, historian Brenda Colladay, and a host of Opry members have done with the brand new book, 100 Years of Grand Ole Opry. Shelburne – a BGS contributor and former managing editor for our website – worked with Colladay to penetrate the vast, lush archives of the Grand Ole Opry to posit its history decade by decade, chapter by chapter in the new hefty, coffee-table-ready tome. They completed dozens and dozens of interviews with Opry members, artists, musicians, employees, executives, and broadcasters and, as a result, the history book feels remarkably alive and vibrant – just like the show itself.
The book, released in April of 2025, demonstrates and reiterates time and again that the Grand Ole Opry isn’t a relic – nor has it ever been. It’s a living, breathing, adaptive being that’s enacted by a strong community of stakeholders not only from across the company that owns the brand, Ryman Hospitality, but the music industry as a whole, too. 100 Years of Grand Ole Opry showcases a country and cultural icon not waning or winding down after a century of triumphs (and trials and bumps and scrapes, too). No, instead, this book finds the Opry, beloved by all of us, merely at its next transition point, moving purposefully from the last 100 years to the next 100 years.
We sat down with Craig Shelburne on the phone to chat about the immense undertaking of writing this book, the surprises found and lessons learned along the way, and what makes the Grand Ole Opry so special, all for our Artist of the Month celebration of Opry 100.
This is such a gargantuan task, staring down the entire 100-year history of the Opry and being asked to turn it into a book. Where do you even begin? How did you take that first bite? What did it feel like to you to enter this process of creating a book?
Craig Shelburne: Yeah, 100 years is a massive undertaking and we – my co-writer Brenda Colladay and I – spent some time at Frothy Monkey in East Nashville sketching out some of the important Opry milestones in those eras when things really seemed to be shifting. As we did that, we realized that we could probably have each chapter be roughly a decade. At one point, we realized we wanted to have some breakout sections, but we didn’t know how to do that.
I wanted the book to be very readable, [without] a whole bunch of sidebars. So instead of designing sidebars, we have these pages that are interludes in between the decades, in between the chapters. You have the history of bluegrass, or the ways that the Opry has been on television, or what the Opry looked like when it went into the 21st century and a new era of technology. [That] was our chance to expand on one particular theme, rather than try to weave [those themes] into the narrative or take away from the narrative. It could be distracting if you dropped [a sidebar] into the manuscript every time the Opry was on television. Those interludes also gave us a chance to use some of these magnificent color photos [from the Opry archives] just because they’re beautiful photos. We didn’t have to necessarily set them up within the text. …
It was intimidating for a while until one night, late at night, I was writing and I realized that the main character of the story is the Opry itself. There are so many people that have passed across the stage, from Roy Acuff and Minnie Pearl up to the modern era. I wanted the artists and the cast members to be represented well, but really the main figure throughout this 100 years is the show itself. And it’s a show. It’s not a stage, it’s not a building. It’s a show.
Once I could get my head around the fact that this was the leading character in a 100-year story, the narrative started to fall into place. That was a breakthrough for me.
I also love how that format parallels the structure of the show itself. That you have segments, sets of artists performing, you have commercials and announcers and little games with sponsors, and you have talk-back sessions from artists. When you go to a show, it’s not just one thing from start to finish, it’s a bunch of different things – and there are obviously lots of interludes built in. So there’s something about the structure of the book that parallels the show in a nice way.
And telling the story of how the segmented portions of the Opry came to be was one of my favorite parts of writing the book. Basically, the Opry hired their music librarian – who was a very organized individual – to try to reign in some of the chaos from when the Opry was at what is now the Belcourt Theater [in the 1930s]. I think back then it was called the Hillsboro Theater. His name was Vito Pellettieri and he realized if he could wrangle three or four artists within the same timeframe, then these performers would now have a rough idea of when they needed to be standing side stage, instead of disappearing as musicians might have been wont to do.
Then of course, being the Opry, owned by an insurance company, the business people sensed an opportunity there and thought, “Let’s sell those segments to sponsors and advertisers.” And so that’s how the 30-minute segments came to be. Whether it was dog food or condensed milk or tobacco, if there was a sponsor for each segment, the Opry made more money that way, too. The Opry has been pretty creative in how it positions itself and how it can take advantage of good ideas quickly.
I know you spoke to dozens of artists, stakeholders, musicians, executives, broadcasters, and announcers. You and your co-writer Brenda Colladay must have done hours and hours of interviews for this book. Can you tell us a bit about that process and who you most enjoyed or were most excited to sit down with?
On one hand, the general narrative crafting you’re talking about sounds like really grueling work, but on the other hand, it sounds like doing that through these interviews was probably the most fun part of this process.
I would say the interviews were the most fun. I agree with you on that. I have the Opry show schedule as a shortcut on my smartphone now, because I would always try to figure out who was playing and who we needed to talk to.
As it should be, we started our interview series with the one and only Jeannie Seely. We felt like she needed to be first, and she deserved that. She only got about halfway through what she wanted to say [during our first meeting], so we set up another interview. It was wonderful to talk to her. Both of those afternoons were great, because with Jeannie, she’ll tell you the way it actually was. Some of it was very positive and some of it was critical, but it’s her perspective. And she was there! I didn’t get to see the Opry in the ‘60s or ‘70s, and she did. Getting to hear it directly from her was fantastic. She was also hilarious, when you got to sit down and joke around with her a little bit.
It was really important to talk to people firsthand and to go deeper than just, “Hey, what do you think of the Opry? Why is it important?” So the Opry opened up its entire archive to me, which was videos, books, newspaper clippings – pretty much anything that I wanted to look at, read, or watch. When I knew I had an interview coming up, I would spend several hours reading clippings and reading stories in order to come up with questions specific to their Opry experience. Rather than just, “Tell me about when you moved to Nashville. Tell me about this. Tell me about that.” Those aren’t questions, those are just prompts. When the people came in to talk to us, we were usually in pretty much a supply closet for camera equipment. It was a really small room. We didn’t have any cameras. We wanted everybody to be casual and comfortable and not worry about makeup and hair.
Then it became a very comfortable conversation. We started every interview with the same question, which was, “What is going through your mind in those moments before the curtain comes up?” Everybody had a different answer. That put them in the frame of mind of talking about the Opry, I think, more than talking about themselves. They went pretty deep, back in their memories, of how they discovered the Opry and what it’s meant to them. Quite a few of those artists went to the Opry as kids. So then they started talking about their family and what the Opry meant to their family, there were a lot of emotions.
I think some of those artists expected it to be like a 10 or 15 minute interview to grab that [sound] bite that says, “I sure do love the Opry.” But we went really deep and spent more than an hour talking with some of these artists. You don’t get to put everything like that into the book, but suddenly now we have an oral history from these modern contemporary performers that will live forever. When somebody writes about the Opry in 50 years from now, they have it straight from the artists, [speaking] about their path to that stage.
I think that’s one of the best accomplishments of this book, that it tells the story in such a rich, full way that isn’t just the mythology and isn’t just the good parts and the glitzy parts. It sounds like part of how you were able to accomplish that is by having these interviews set up in such a way that you could build trust with folks, so they didn’t feel like they were just giving you that marketing sound bite. They could really tell you those full stories.
I think a lot of that came from the Opry headquarters. They wanted us to tell [it] the way it happened. A woman named Jenn Tressler, she handles a lot of the talent requests there and I think she primed most of these artists about what the interviews would be like and what the goal was. Just [so they would] be comfortable and [know] no topic is off limits. Artists were asked some pretty sensitive questions sometimes about the relationship with the entertainment industry in general, including the Opry and the artists rose to the occasion.
We wanted to tell the actual story. I’ve often felt that nobody wants to read a book where everybody’s happy and there’s no conflict. There’s conflict in this one.
From your interviews or from writing this book, what was a story or two about the Opry that stuck out to you or surprised you? Or, that brought you to learning something new that maybe you wouldn’t have tripped over into if you hadn’t done this book? Is there a story or two that stand out to you?
The first one would be just how young everybody was when they got involved with the Opry. George D. Hay was a young man; Harry Stone, who was one of the early program directors, had just turned 30 when he took on that role. The artists were [in their] 20s and 30s. You had a very young Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, coming on the stage and changing the game for country music.
Sometimes the Opry is perceived as the elder statesman of country music – and that’s true and they’ll always have a place there, it’s wonderful. But a lot of the shake-ups at the Opry and a lot of the progress that’s been made was because of these young, innovative perspectives. That happened over and over. I think without that viewpoint from people who were younger, the Opry would’ve struggled through the last hundred years. There would’ve been times somebody might’ve said, “I want it to stay the same way, ’cause this is how we’ve always done it.” It’s never the right answer, to do it just because it’s always been done that way. I think that was pretty fascinating to me.
The other thing I didn’t realize was that it was not until I believe 1978 that the Opry was ever aired on television. It was a PBS special. If you wanted to see the Opry, you had to come to Nashville for the first 53 years. After that one night on the PBS special, it didn’t happen again until the following year. Being able to see the Opry, you had to come to Nashville, and I think executives at that time feared that if you put it on television, people would stay away from the show and they wouldn’t sell tickets anymore. But time has proven just the opposite. People saw it on television, how exciting it was and they felt like they needed to be there, myself included. I watched it growing up in Nebraska as a teenager and I just was fascinated by it. By that time, of course, it was on TNN.
I watched it many a Saturday night with my grandparents and I didn’t always know who those legendary figures were that were sharing the stage with Alan Jackson or Clint Black or Alison Krauss. But because of the Opry, I got a country music education as a teenager before I moved to Nashville in 1994. By the time I got here, I feel like I had a leg up on other people who wanted to write about country music that were my age.
You’re pointing out another fact that we often forget about country music, hillbilly music, these traditions that made these musics. It’s that all of them are constantly changing and growing, morphing and adapting to the future – and responding to the present.
Like, the reason the Opry became what it is today was because of technology, because of the “Air Castle of the South.” Because of radio, because there wasn’t a lot of competition on the literal bandwidth, and because the tower was so tall it could reach so many people all across the country. To think that, nowadays, when we view “tradition” in 2025, we think that means not changing something.
Wrong!
But the Opry has always been changing and always been using cutting edge technology to do that. And country wouldn’t exist without technology, without the railroad, without industrialization, without radio, without recording technology becoming portable and handheld.
Oh, absolutely. Well said. It has to change, and the Opry does figure out a way to reach new listeners and engage with people that have never been there. Obviously, when you go to the Grand Ole Opry House for a show now, the emcee will say, “Who’s never been to the Opry before?” And a lot of hands go up. They’re constantly marketing the show – as they should be. They want people to have a seat in the Ryman or the Opry House to see how special the world’s longest running radio show is. I give them a lot of credit for always trying to reach new people and not just looking for what they’ve done already in the past. They take a lot of pride in the fact that no two shows have ever been the same.
I was just listening the other night [on the radio] and I was able to catch the Opry debut of Grupo Frontera. I thought it was such a perfect example of what you’re talking about, that a Spanish-speaking, Spanish first language group that makes country. Of course, it’s Mexican folk and Tejano and Latin folk and all these other things as well – but it’s certainly country & western. [They were] making their debut and you could hear the building shaking through the radio. It felt like one of those iconic ovations we hear about from the old days, with everybody stamping their feet in the balcony of the Ryman. The Opry is still doing that. And not only are they doing it, but this year for Opry 100, they’re doing it over and over again where they’re having these shows with these special moments, reaching new audiences.
And it was a brilliant move, because those fans now have a general idea of what the Grand Ole Opry is, how it is performed, and they got to hear some music from people they maybe hadn’t heard of. I know Frank Ray was on the show that night, he might’ve gained some fans from those who came to see Grupo Frontera. It’s a win for everybody when an artist of that caliber plays the Opry.
There was a great moment, after doing some digging, where I found the full performance of when Porter Wagoner invited James Brown to come play the Opry. It was like a 20-minute segment – there are some things online where you hear bits and pieces of it. But the Opry archive had it from start to finish, so I just sat there and listened to it. There was some screaming and hollering going on that night, too. It was exhilarating to listen to it. Then I found an oral history from Porter Wagoner – I quoted it in the book – that said, when you bring someone of world-renowned stature to the Opry, it benefits the Opry. You want the Opry to be in the news, because it draws attention to the show.
We’ve already talked about Jeannie Seely, but I wrote my concluding question with her in mind, as well. She passed in August of this year and when she did she had performed on the Opry almost 5,400 times. (The number is 5,390-something.) That longevity is incredible. So thinking about longevity, we’re standing here at the milestone of a hundred years of the Grand Ole Opry, looking at potentially another 100 years of the Grand Ole Opry coming up.
Do you see this modern era of the Opry as its golden age? Do you think the golden age of the show is yet to come? And who are you seeing that’s just getting their start “in the circle” nowadays that is gonna be like Jeannie Seely in a few decades, thousands of appearances into their Opry career?
Yeah [the future] looks strong to me, too. Something I never put into context until I wrote the book was that in the 1990s the Opry lost Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Grandpa Jones, Bill Monroe, and Dottie West. And you just think, “How do you recover from that?” They did. They figured out a way to press on.
There were definitely growing pains and bumps, but some of those figures that they picked out in the early 2000s have become advocates for the Opry, champions for the Opry. The ‘90s country stars that I love, like Lorrie Morgan, Pam Tillis, Vince Gill, Steve Wariner, and Marty Stuart are still out there. They still play the Opry – and they’re the elder statesmen now. I do think the cast members that joined in the ‘90s and 2000s are gonna become a foundation for the show.
I think you’ll be seeing Trisha Yearwood out there quite a bit as she settles into the “twilight years” of her career. I sense that she will be out there singing alongside Kathy Mattea and Suzy Bogguss. I think Opry is in really good hands with the young women that they’ve invited to be part of the cast. More than once, without any prompting, artists like Carly Pearce and Lauren Alaina have said they feel the responsibility to be here. And I think Lauren Alaina is very likely to inherit the comic routines of Jeannie Seely – she’s pretty much already there. She had us rolling in laughter in her interviews. She’s got the natural timing of a comedian, but she’s got hit songs, too.
I think the Opry is in really good shape right now. They’ve done a good job of connecting to a younger audience that wants to play it. It’s a career goal now for a lot of inspiring artists. I think when I moved here in the ‘90s it was seen as living history and you had to have some history to get on that stage. But now you just have to have a good story, some musical talent, and an ability to connect with an audience. That’s easier said than done, but if you can have those three things, the Opry will take a chance.
I think they’ve found a recipe for success. They set themselves up to succeed. There are times in the music industry where it seems like things are crumbling or those pillars are not as strong as they used to be. But I think right now the Opry is as strong as it’s ever been. I don’t see it going anywhere anytime soon.
Lead image courtesy of Ryman Hospitality Properties.
In 1925, world leaders were signing the final treaties coming out of WWI; Congress authorized work on Mt. Rushmore as a national memorial; the Scopes Trial was held in Tennessee; and the first patent on radio transmission was only 28 years old.
And, in 1925, WSM first broadcast its barn dance – soon to become the Grand Ole Opry.
One hundred years later, the Grand Ole Opry is the world’s longest-running radio program. After a century that saw changes unparalleled in world history, audiences are still drawn to the Opry. Every week thousands make the pilgrimage to the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville while others tune in around the world. The show continues to inspire new generations of performers to aspire to step “into the circle” on the Opry House stage.
President Jimmy Carter on the Grand Ole Opry stage with Kelly Foxton, Hank Snow, Mel Tillis, June Carter Cash, Skeeter Davis, Bill Monroe, Jeannie C. Riley, and others on October 9, 1980. Photo courtesy of Ryman Hospitality Properties.
In The Beginning Was Insurance
In the 1920s, Edwin Craig was watching radio stations emerge across the nation – and seeing the money-making potential for sponsors and owners. He convinced Cornelius Craig, his father and founder of the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, that a radio station could sell a lot of insurance.
Soon, the fifth floor of the company’s downtown Nashville building held a radio studio. The call letters WSM stood for “We Shield Millions,” the company’s motto. A program that would become the lifeblood of country music started as a way to promote life insurance.
The hiring of George D. Hay away from Chicago’s WLS was the beginning of the WSM Barn Dance. The 30-year-old who called himself The Solemn Old Judge and started every show with a steamboat whistle would set the tone for much of the Opry’s 100 years – including its name.
Which all started with a clash of cultures.
Some upper-crust Nashville residents complained the only radio they could hear on weekends was string band programming from the dominant WSM station. In response, WSM began carrying the syndicated “Music Appreciation Hour.”
The Barn Dance slot followed the classical program, and Hay, not one to pass up a good line, said, “For the past hour, we have been listening to music largely from Grand Opera, but from now on, we will present ‘the Grand Ole Opry.”
George D. Hay is pictured at microphone with a whistle and Uncle Jimmy Thompson is seated in this 1925 photograph from when the Grand Ole Opry was still the WSM Barn Dance. Photo courtesy of Ryman Hospitality Properties.
For years, the Shield Men – door-to-door National Life and Accident insurance salesmen carrying the company’s shield logo – introduced themselves as representing the Grand Ole Opry. They would even listen outside windows to see who was tuned in to the Opry – and who would be a likely customer.
The earliest WSM shows relied on local talent, running heavily toward fiddlers and string bands. But Hay would invite whoever he thought the audience would like.
DeFord Bailey, a Black musician grounded in both the blues and old-time string band music, became a regular, wowing audiences with his harmonica. Kitty Cora Cline, the first female soloist, performed on hammered dulcimer, and Fred Shriver played the accordion. Uncle Dave Macon on his banjo with Sid Harkreader on fiddle and guitar set the stage for the comedy that would remain central to the Opry’s success, with songs like, “Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy.”
A Beacon
As the recording industry grew, the variety of musicians available to the Opry grew, as well. The show began featuring brother duets, cowboy music, Western swing and solo crooners. Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys were featured stars for decades.
Opry singers expressed the joys of new romance, the happiness of Sunday dinner on the lawn, the sorrow of lost love, and the loneliness of leaving home. Audiences across America listened – and related. The Opry became a focus of family life.
Dolly Parton, like many rural listeners, grew up without electricity. Her family faithfully listened to the Opry on a battery-powered radio. Waylon Jennings’ dad would hook their radio to the car battery. Jeannie Seely’s family would pile in the car and drive up a hill until they could get the signal. Opry history is filled with stories of musicians who listened as children – and dreamed of growing up to perform, like their idols, on the iconic stage.
Opry member Dierks Bentley, who gracefully moves between country and bluegrass, told BGS, “Being invited to join at all is the biggest honor – especially for me, personally. I grew up listening to all the Opry greats on the radio with my dad, so becoming a member is like having the ultimate backstage pass to see the best musicians in the world. And to be invited by Marty Stuart … hands down, it was one of the coolest nights of my life.”
Dan Rogers, the Opry’s senior vice president and executive producer, said the Opry has always been a place to celebrate the good times and be uplifted during the tough times. “Think about,” he said, “the folks who tuned in on Saturday nights during World War II. That was their only source of entertainment throughout the week.” Minnie Pearl, with her signature “How-dee,” and Roy Acuff gave them respite from war news.
On the first show after the 9-11 attacks in 2001, Rogers said, “Our background singers sang an a cappella version of ‘God Bless America.’ And one by one, the people in the audience stood and sang along. And I remember thinking, I bet everybody tuned in across the country is singing along to ‘God Bless America.’”
The Opry’s response to the COVID-19 crisis created desperately needed connection during a frightening time of isolation.
Just a week after deciding that live audience shows weren’t safe, Opry staff arranged a pared-down streaming production with no audience and a skeleton crew. Longtime cast members Bill Anderson, Jeannie Seely and Connie Smith held down the first night alongside Mandy Barnett, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, and Sam Williams.
For the second weekend of restrictions, veterans Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, and Brad Paisley sat on stools spread out across the stage and pulled off what Rogers called “a beautiful, beautiful show.”
Watching from his office, Rogers started reading comments from grateful listeners. For months, people marked their calendars to tune in. They wrote, “I’m in Europe. I set my alarm. It’s 2 a.m. here, but I wanted to experience this with a community.”
Marty Stuart, Vince Gill, and Brad Paisley perform for an empty Grand Ole Opry House during the COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020. Photo by Chris Hollo, courtesy of Ryman Hospitality Properties.
Kathy Mattea, the newest Opry inductee, feels those connections whenever she performs there.
People may have sung along to her hit “18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses” in their car or in the shower, but at the Opry, she says to BGS, “Here’s your chance to sit with an audience and sing this song that everybody knows. Nobody knows who the person next to them voted for and it doesn’t matter at that moment.”
“The Ellis Island of Country Music”
In the early days of radio, what was called hillbilly music was as limitless as the range of a 50,000 watt radio station. And the Opry remains dedicated to maintaining those wide open spaces.
Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, in their forward to the book 100 Years of the Grand Ole Opry, refer to the show as the “Ellis Island of Country Music – a place where all are welcome.”
Contemporary country often has been accused of being homogenous and limited. But despite the factors that have controlled commercial country, the Opry maintains its open-arms attitude. Rogers said, “The two core tenets of an Opry show are celebrating the past, present, and future of country music, and also showcasing multiple genres under the country music umbrella.”
In any show, he said, “You might have something that’s on the top 20 of the country charts today. And you’ll have country classics. You might have a contemporary Christian song, Americana string music, or even something from outside the genre by somebody who just happens to be a country music fan or was influenced by country music.”
In 1974, the R&B-oriented Pointer Sisters included an original country song, “Fairytale,” on their second album. The cross-over hit earned them an invitation to the Opry stage, where they became the first Black group to perform.
Ringo Starr appeared for the first time in 2025 and James Taylor’s debut on November 11 will be remembered as a big part of the 100th anniversary celebration.
And, Rogers said, “Because we can do it, it’s fun to take a chance on a new artist.”
Before his first Opry appearance in July 2022, Zach Top had no hits to his name. But Rogers remembered the programming team saying, “You don’t see an artist like that every day. It sure feels to us like our audience would absolutely eat that guy up!” Today, Top’s music is everywhere.
Bluegrass has been a staple since before it had a name and it has never lost its place on the stage. Bentley and Del McCoury played “Roll on Buddy, Roll On” when the Grand Ole Opry House first reopened after the 2010 flood closed its doors for months.
Charlie Mattos is a 10-year veteran Opry announcer and longtime co-host and producer of WSM’s morning show. He said that on any given night, a portion of the Opry House audience “may truly have never seen a bluegrass band play.”
“And when Del McCoury and the boys finish with an incredible instrumental,” Mattos continued, “or Sister Sadie blisters the stage … the enthusiasm that comes out of that crowd, the immediate standing ovation for the insane musicianship that they have just witnessed …” Mattos said, “it blows their minds.”
Mattea said, “Bluegrass is front porch jazz – the virtuoso playing and the vocals and the harmonies and the trading off of licks. That’s how I fell in love with bluegrass.” And the Opry exposes millions to that brilliance.
A Good-Natured Riot
The Opry show is a complex set of acts and sets requiring precision planning, flexibility, and good nature on the part of the announcers – and commitment on the part of the performers. Rehearsals are brief or non-existent. Timing is everything.
Borrowing a phrase from George D. Hay, the Opry is still sometimes called a “good-natured riot.”
Mattos said, “When you come to see the show live, you see it all. The set changes. The artists leaving as the announcer sends them off. You can see the stage crew out there and usually in 90 seconds they can completely swap things around.”
But while reading a commercial during set changes, Mattos may notice the stage manager giving the “stretch” signal. He might have to keep talking for as long as four minutes – a millennium in radio time.
Sometimes the commercials themselves become the entertainment.
The first time Glad Wags sponsored an Opry segment, Chuck Morgan was announcing. While he stood off-stage reading the dog food commercial, house bassist Bill Linneman came up behind him and started barking. “By my last year there, there were like 20 people behind me going at it,” Morgan said. (The consensus is that Connie Smith does a great chihuahua imitation.)
A Family
Jeannie Seely – who racked up nearly 5,400 performances on the Grand Ole Opry before her passing in August 2025 – remembered it was more than the music that fueled her desire to join the Opry: “That’s hearing these people, like Mr. Acuff and Minnie [Pearl] and Jimmy Dickens and all of them, coming together every week,” she says in 100 Years of the Grand Ole Opry. “They always sounded like they were so glad to be together. They picked on each other and joked, and I thought, that’s just like a family.”
And they were family. When the plane Jim Reeves was aboard crashed in a wooded Nashville suburb, Marty Robbins and Ernest Tubb joined the search party, as did the elegant Nashville socialite Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon – known as Minnie Pearl.
Opry star Jean Shepard was expecting her second child with husband Harold “Hawkshaw” Hawkins when Hawkins died in the plane crash that also killed Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas. After months feeling adrift, as Shepard was quoted in the 100 Years book, “I looked down my driveway one day and here come two big black limousines full of the so-called ‘higher-ups’ from the Grand Ole Opry. They said, ‘We want you to come back to the Grand Ole Opry.’ And it really meant a lot to me.”
The family feeling is no accident. In earlier years, Opry members had to perform a specified number of Saturday nights a year. While there’s no set number today, Rogers said they look for a sense of commitment in new members. “It truly is about that relationship,” he said.
Rogers quoted Mattea, upon her invitation to become a member, saying, “These people treat you like family, no matter what.”
One of Mattea’s favorite Opry memories involves a bass player who toured with her. “He was sitting on a stool, playing and singing some old Western swing chestnut, and suddenly Riders in the Sky leaned into the dressing room in full regalia and started singing harmony.
“He was gobsmacked. He felt it was the highlight of his life,” she said.
Bluegrass performer Kody Norris’ music is influenced heavily by first- and second-generation bluegrass. But the band’s preference for flashy suits dates back to a family-friendly welcome Norris received 25 years ago.
His parents took nine-year-old Kody backstage at the Opry, “and I met Bill Anderson. And he had on a red rhinestone suit. That’s the first one I ever saw up close, where I could touch it.”
Later that day, upon meeting his equally rhinestone-clad hero, Porter Wagoner, young Kody got so excited he spit out his chewing gum. Wagoner graciously grabbed two Opry-logoed napkins, one of which the little boy used for his gum. The other one the grown Norris still keeps in perfect condition.
The Circle is Unbroken
In 1974, the Opry left its revered home of decades, the Ryman Auditorium, to move to the deliciously air-conditioned 4,400-seat Grand Ole Opry House.
To honor its longtime home, the Opry crew cut a circle out of the Ryman stage and inset it in the new Opry House stage. The circle symbolizes the Opry’s continuity, respect for the past, and optimism for the future.
Mattea experienced that sense of a completed circle on the day she became an Opry member.
“Suzy [Bogguss] was there. We’ve toured together and sung on each other’s records. She’s my closest artist friend, and she was the only one at the ceremony who was not a member. And I thought how generous it was of her to be there.
“So, while I was overflowing with celebration, to get to invite my friend to the party publicly in the name of the Opry was the sweetest gift. It was a moment I’ll never forget, and I’m going to be there for her induction, too.” Bogguss will officially be inducted as an Opry member in early 2026.
Braid Paisley and Little Jimmy Dickens return the Circle to the Opry stage after the 2010 flood. Photo courtesy of Ryman Hospitality Properties.
Join The Celebration
There’s nothing low-key about the Grand Ole Opry – so in the classic Opry spirit, fans have had plenty of opportunity to celebrate the centennial all year long.
Earlier this year, NBC broadcast a three-hour anniversary special, with dozens of stars ranging from Reba McEntire to Jelly Roll to The War and Treaty. The Opry also took the show to London’s Royal Albert Hall for the very first time. You can stream clips of these and other Opry events on YouTube and social media.
With the Virgin Music Group, the Opry has produced the album Opry 100, Country’s Greatest Songs (released November 7). Among the unforgettable recordings are Vince Gill singing his heart-rending “Go Rest High on That Mountain,” Dolly Parton singing “I Will Always Love You,” and Ashley McBryde covering the classic “Your Cheatin’ Heart.” You can order the album from the Opry site.
Craig Shelburne, Brenda Colladay, and Opry members and employees collaborated on 100 Years of the Grand Ole Opry, a book filled with anecdotes and photos that vividly illustrate the Opry’s remarkable history. And to teach your children well, there’s also a new childrens’ picture book written by Emily Frans and illustrated by Susanna Chapman. Find them in your local bookstore.
And, on November 28, 2025, the official 100th anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry we all hold dear, the Opry is celebrating with two huge birthday party shows featuring country stars and Opry members like Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Trace Adkins, Dailey & Vincent, Bill Anderson, Jamey Johnson, Marty Stuart, and many, many more. Tickets are available here.
Of course, the celebrations will continue in 2026.
“The Opry is the core and soul of country music,” Bentley said. “It’s a place where the past, present and future of our genre all come together. There isn’t anywhere else like it.”
All photos courtesy of Ryman Hospitality Properties, credits and attributions as marked. Lead image: Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys and the Opry Square Dancers take the Opry stage at the Ryman Auditorium in the 1960s.
This month, BGS is celebrating 100 years of the Grand Ole Opry! It would be hard to overstate the influence of the Opry on American roots music – hell, on music in general – over the past century.
From Earl Scruggs joining Bill Monroe to create the sound of bluegrass; to DeFord Bailey becoming the first Black Opry star and the first Black musician to break into the commercial music scene in Nashville; to the legendary meeting of Johnny Cash and June Carter; the Opry has been a catalyst for so many iconic moments. Below, we kick off our “Artist of the Month” celebration with our Opry 100 Essentials Playlist, which includes some of our favorite live recordings from the Opry, songs famously debuted on that legendary stage, and some of our favorite roots songs written about the Opry and its lore, too.
Did you know that Dolly Parton made her first Grand Ole Opry appearance in 1959 at the age of 13 and received three encores? To get a sense of how young Dolly might have sounded on that stage, we’ve included one of her very first singles, “Girl Left Alone,” (the B-side of the now well-known “Puppy Love”), recorded when she was just 11 years old and released the same year as her Opry debut.
Elvis famously made his Opry debut in 1954 at the age of 19, singing “Blue Moon of Kentucky” in a style that was so poorly received a manager told him to “go back to driving a truck,” or something of that nature. You can hear his rockabilly version on our playlist.
In 1969, Linda Martell was the first solo Black woman to perform on the Opry, singing “Color Him Father” for her debut. Although she faced rampant racism throughout her career, her first performance on the Opry was met with two standing ovations and she went on to perform there 12 times over the years.
The Opry has also been fodder for songwriting, inspiring many tracks over the years. Early Opry star David “Stringbean” Akeman met Bill Monroe while playing semi-professional baseball and went on to play clawhammer-style banjo in his band from 1943 to 1945. After parting ways with Monroe’s band, Stringbean became an Opry star in his own right and penned the song “Opry Time in Tennessee.”
Stringbean and his wife were tragically murdered in 1973 by thieves who had heard of him storing cash in his home. In 2009, Sam Bush released his song, “The Ballad of Stringbean and Estelle,” co-written with Guy Clark and Verlon Thompson. “The thieves laid in wait for hours/ But things didn’t go their way/ But he wouldn’t let go of his Opry pay,” sings Bush on his album, Circles Around Me.
Shortly before the Opry was moved from downtown Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to the newly built Opry House in 1974, John Hartford released “Tear Down the Grand Ole Opry,” a scathing commentary on the commercialization of country music. “Right across from the wax museum/ They used to line up around the block/ From east Tennessee and back down home again … Broad Street will never be the same,” Hartford sings nostalgically on his legendary Aereo-Plain album.
While the Opry is known as a country music gold standard, over its 100 years as a live-broadcast radio show it has held clout across the genres and in popular culture – not just in country. This year, as part of the celebration of its 100th anniversary, the Opry has been featuring 100 Opry debuts and first-time performances. These special appearances have showcased the broad impact of the Opry, hosting the likes of pop star Sabrina Carpenter who said, “My mom raised me on the artists who have stood up here.”
Whether in country, bluegrass, Americana, or beyond, the Grand Ole Opry continues to be a musical powerhouse, 100 years after its barn dance birth. While we look ahead to the next century of Opry magic, we’re beyond excited to join the Grand Ole Opry family in celebrating Opry 100 for the entire month of November. Enjoy our Opry 100 Essentials Playlist below and relive the Opry 100: A Live Celebration television special on NBC from earlier this year here, too. You can read our primary feature on Opry 100 right here. Plus, stay tuned all month as we have brand new and archive articles, interviews, and features we’ll be sharing here and on socials all spotlighting the incredibly legacy and community of our beloved Grand Ole Opry as we countdown to November 28, 2025 – the Opry’s official 100th birthday!
Lead Image: Opening of the Grand Ole Opry House in 1974, courtesy of Ryman Hospitality Properties.
If you missed the Grand Ole Opry’s no-holds-barred 100th birthday party and live television broadcast extravaganza on NBC, we’ve got your recap right here on BGS.
Hosted by Blake Shelton at the historic Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tennessee, Opry 100 included performances by artists like Vince Gill, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Lainey Wilson, Brad Paisley, Ashley McBryde, Reba McEntire, Dierks Bentley, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, and many more. The primetime broadcast and streaming concert is just one event among an incredible, chocked-full effort by the Opry to celebrate their centennial – officially November 28, 2025 – throughout the entire calendar year.
Over the two-hour broadcast, there were dozens of show-stopping moments, from the brash, bold, and sensational to tender, intimate, and heart-wrenching performances. Good country of all varieties was on display from a wide array of artists at all levels of notoriety.
The War and Treaty sang alongside Steven Curtis Chapman and Amy Grant; Vince Gill reunited with his old pals Jeff Taylor and Ricky Skaggs; Ashley McBryde brought the house down alongside superstar country newcomer Post Malone and elsewhere in the show, ’90s stalwart Terri Clark; Lainey Wilson shared the stage with country picker and renaissance man Marty Stuart; husband-and-wife Trisha Yearwood and Garth Brooks were on hand; and Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss reunited for their 2003 smash hit duet, “Whiskey Lullaby.”
The show wrapped with a stunning full cast tribute to Dolly Parton, who greeted the Opry House audience via video and gave her sincere regrets for not being able to appear at the event. (Parton’s husband of 58 years, Carl Dean, recently passed away.) Dozens of the evening’s star artists took to the stage to pay tribute to Parton by singing her most famous hit, “I Will Always Love You,” a perfect, soaring sing along to close the momentous show.
There are truly too many once in a lifetime collaborations, songs, moments, and performances from Opry 100 to list, but we’ve collected a few of our favorite moments so you can relive this once-in-a-lifetime – or once-in-a-century – show! Get your fix by traveling through a few of our own favorite moments from Opry 100: A Live Celebration below.
Blake Shelton Hosts
Country superstar, award winner, and television personality Blake Shelton was a more than qualified host for Opry 100: A Live Celebration. Of course, he also gave a rousing performance of Joe Diffie’s “Pickup Man” to the delight of everyone in the crowd who find somethin’ they like in a pickup man. It wouldn’t be a celebration of country or the Opry without a truck mention.
Nashville’s Own, the McCrary Sisters
Nashville’s favorite, in-demand singing siblings, the McCrary Sisters were on hand for Opry 100, too. It’s certainly not their first time on the hallowed Opry stage, but in the centennial context their appearance reminds of the legacies of similar groups who blazed trails at the Opry before them – like the Pointer Sisters – and those who’ve followed in their footsteps, like the Shindellas and Chapel Hart.
Steven Curtis Chapman and the War and Treaty Share a Sacred Moment
Grand Ole Opry member and contemporary Christian singer-songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman was joined by Americana/soul/country duo the War and Treaty for his performance on Opry 100.
Lainey Wilson and Hall of Famer Marty Stuart Duet
One of the biggest names in country at the moment, former GC and BGS
Artist of the Month Lainey Wilson was joined by bluegrasser, fiery picker, and Country Music Hall of Famer Marty Stuart backing her up on mandolin. They perform “Things a Man Oughta Know” from her huge 2021 album, Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’, which many regard as her breakout release.
Ashley McBryde with Post Malone and Terri Clark
Ashley McBryde had multiple stellar moments during Opry 100, including these two prime duo performances. One with ’90s country star Terri Clark and another with a superstar newcomer to the genre, Post Malone. Her song selection with Postie was impeccable, too, taking the Opry 100 down to “Jackson” to mess around.
Trisha Yearwood with Garth Brooks and Reba McEntire
Country has boasted many amazing artist couples, but who better to take the Opry 100 stage than Trisha and Garth? Trisha also appeared with Reba McEntire to perform “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” a track that has been a huge generation-spanning hit for McEntire.
Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss Reunite
An iconoclastic example of a tear-jerker country story song, Paisley and Krauss’s recording of “Whiskey Lullaby” was released in the 2000s, but has had immense staying power. It shines from the Opry 100 stage in its simple and stripped-down styling. Is anyone a better duet partner and harmonizer than Alison Krauss? Perhaps not. Certainly a highlight among all of the many highlights of the broadcast
Alison Krauss & Union Station Perform, Too
On the precipice of their first album release in over 14 years, Alison Krauss also brought her band Union Station – including newest member,
– to the Opry 100 stage. Introduced by the Queen of Bluegrass, Rhonda Vincent, AKUS performed a hit from a prior era, “Let Me Touch You for Awhile” off 2001’s New Favorite. Their brand new project, Arcadia, releases March 28.
Country Music Hall of Fame Inductee, Vince Gill
It wouldn’t have been a complete lineup for Opry 100 without Vince Gill! The Country Music Hall of Famer was joined by his old friends Jeff Taylor on accordion, Sonya Isaacs, and fellow inductee Ricky Skaggs, to sing perhaps his most famous song, “Go Rest High on that Mountain.” An impactful and inspiring number, the original has been a comfort to thousands of fans and listeners experiencing their own losses and grief. Of his deep-and-wide catalog of music, there’s not a better choice for an evening like Opry 100.
Ketch, Dierks, and Jamey
An Opry member trifecta, Dierks Bentley, Jamey Johnson, and old-time and bluegrass fiddler Ketch Secor (of Old Crow Medicine Show) paid tribute to the Charlie Daniels Band with a perfectly honky-tonkin’ medley of “Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye” and, of course, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.” From the sidewalks of Lower Broadway to the Grand Ole Opry stage, Charlie Daniel’s impact on country is indelible.
Luke Combs’ Mother Church Moment
From the hallowed stage of the Ryman Auditorium, the most famous former home of the Grand Ole Opry, one of the most popular singers in all of country, Luke Combs, performed George Jones’ “The Grand Tour,” as well as “Hurricane,” for Opry 100. With more than 800 million streams (on Spotify alone), “Hurricane” is one of his biggest hits from his 2017 album, This One’s For You, which has been certified double platinum by RIAA.
This long list of our favorite Opry 100 moments is still, somehow, merely the tip of the country iceberg. Stay tuned as the Grand Ole Opry continues their 100th birthday celebration all year long.
All photos courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry; credit Getty/Jason Kempin.
Lead image: Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss perform “Whiskey Lullaby” live at Opry 100.
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