June 27: Grand Old Opry

The Opry House is all that I thought it would be. I found out that we weren't at the Grand Ole Opry House. We weren't even at the Grand Ole Opry. We were at the Opry House for the Friday Night Opry. The Grand Ole Opry is only on Saturday night. Before the doors are opened at 7:00, there is a small band outside that perform some songs to keep hundreds of us entertained until they do open. They were good too. There were greeters outside talking to everyone - that's a gig I want. You get to dress in a long fringed skirt, cowboy shirt with lots of embroidery, boots and a hat. You get to visit with everyone outside and get your picture taken with them. We met Texas Ruby but I wasn't bright enough to take a photo with her until it was too late.


Inside we walked upstairs and around to the far end. We were close to the stage but clear around on the side. I took the picture of Larry so you could see where we were. That black hole in front of him is the stage. Note the space in front of the stage that's empty. When Trace Adkins came out, that space completely filled in with people (mostly women) wanting a close up photo. I was too lazy to walk that far. I took the next photo so you could see that the seats filled up - 4400 people.

You might be able to see the special circle of wood in the middle of the stage. This was taken from the Ryman Auditorium where the Grand Old Opry was held from 1925 until 1974. Loretta Lynn says she won't stand on it - she crosses it as quick as she can - because she knows the really famous people who have stood there and she doesn't think she comes up to that level of famous. Riders in the Sky came out for the first half hour (each half hour is sponsored by a different company) and they sang Back In The Saddle Again, Cool Water and Happy Trails. I couldn't have asked for a better selection of my favorite cowboy songs. Next half hour was Little Jimmy Dickens. At 87 he's still going strong and still tells corny, funny jokes. Marty Stewart had the 3rd half hour and Trace Adkins MC'd the last half hour.



Other entertainers that evening were Jimmy C. Newman with his great Cajun music, Darryl Worley, Connie Smith, two blue grass groups and T.G. Sheppard. He is doing a new album with Engelberg Humperdinck and invited him out on stage just for an introduction. I didn't get the camera out fast enough to get a photo of him. During one song, "Rocky Top", the band told everyone that we could sing and jump in the isles if we wanted to. This is the University of Tennessee fight song. One guy got up with a beer in his hand and ran around the whole center section and I'm guessing he - "Didn't spill a drop".

Larry is now listening to WSM AM on the truck radio which is the home of the Grand Ole Opry. In 1925, the National Life and Accident Insurance Company built a radio station as a public service to the local community. The reasonably new media would advertise their policies. The station's call letters, WSM, stood for the company's motto, "We Shield Millions". This program was originally called the WSM Barn Dance. In 1927 it became the Grand Ole Opry. In 1932 the radio station went to 50,000 watts and can still be heard over much of the country and into Canada. It's also broadcast on channel 11 on XM radio and on the internet.