97th Birthday Of Grand Ole Opry, America’s Longest-Running Radio Show

The Grand Ole Opry celebrates its 97th birthday on October 8th, (tonight).

When I was a child on many a Saturday night the radio that always rested on the wooden buffet in the dining room would not only be turned on but equally importantly physically turned in such a fashion to best be able to hear WSM radio. The Grand Ole Opry was best able to be received in the cold months in our Hancock, Wisconsin home–as anyone who understands radio signals knows. It was always getting the radio in just the right location and also using the cord placement, that worked as an antenna, which allowed the nation’s longest-running radio show to fill our home with music and laughter.

I have been pleased to post many times about the music and the stars who have played such an important part in our country and also in my life. I have commented on their triumphs and felt sadness as they left us for the biggest stage of all. I have recalled the joys of attending the Opry and also being able to see some of those same ones perform in other venues where they were always content to let anyone who wanted to get an autograph or picture to do so. After all, as I was to learn from watching Porter Wagoner, Little Jimmy Dickens, or Charlie Louvin among others, the show was not really over until everyone had a personal memory to take home. They simply do not make entertainers like that anymore. My guitar attests to the truth of that statement with many signatures.

There is a richness that I carry with me from having had Saturday nights with the often scratchy signal from Nashville coming over the radio back home. Or telling ‘Whisperin’ Bill Anderson after a show, how as a kid, I used to impersonate him by standing on our picnic table in the backyard and pretending the garden hose was the microphone. Then came puberty and my country music career ended. I still see Bill laughing at that comment.

Many memories and thoughts will flood Americans around the nation as we celebrate this slice of Americana tonight when the big red curtain goes up at the Opry House. When trying to pick one song that sums up the mood and magic of the Opry over the decades I would opt for one of my favorite entertainers and singers who stood on the famed wooden circle. Not only would Roy Acuff, “The King Of Country Music” get people to tap their feet to the music but during the commercial breaks he would do tricks for the audience at the Opry House with his fiddle bow balanced on his nose or with his famed yo-yo tricks. He felt being an entertainer meant when one is on the stage they have a role to play. He played his part at the Opry with perfection for decades.

So Happy Birthday Grand Ole Opry! I add this audio of Roy and Minnie Pearl for the feel of the radio show. Truly awesome.

Grand Ole Opry Will Air Longest-Running Radio Show (94 Years), In Spite Of Coronavirus

Long-time readers well know my deep regard and affection for the Grand Ole Opry.  As a boy on many a Saturday night in Hancock, Wisconsin the radio would be turned ‘just so’ in order to get the best reception from Nashville. My love of the fiddle, the banjo, and the magic of those airwaves carried by radio has never abated.  With the national crisis underway, and like every other place where music is made, and thousands gather, the Opry had to make some tough decisions.

The Grand Ole Opry released this statement.

The Grand Ole Opry stands by the motto of the Circle can’t be broken. Throughout the Opry’s history, various events have led Opry management to make difficult decisions about how to alter the show’s format. In an effort to maintain health and safety amid current COVID-19 concerns, the Grand Ole Opry, the world’s longest-running radio show, will pause performances that include a live audience through April 4.

During this time, the Saturday Night Grand Ole Opry Show will return to its original format as a live radio broadcast without a live audience. Fans around the world can still tune in to the Saturday night broadcasts at opry.com and wsmonline.com, Opry and WSM mobile apps, SiriusXM Satellite, and its flagship home, 650 AM-WSM.

It is widely believed that the Opry has cancelled its live Saturday night performance only once before, as on April 6, 1968 a curfew imposed by the city of Nashville following the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr’s assassination in Memphis two days earlier forced such a cancellation. For the only time in its history, that night’s Opry broadcast consisted of a previously taped performance. Opry patriarch Roy Acuff and other performers staged a makeshift show at a nearby square-dance hall for Opry fans that afternoon.

Remembering Roy Acuff

26 years ago today we lost an amazing country music singer and personality.  Roy Acuff was more than just a star who knew how to dazzle while on sate.  He was also responsible for bringing music publishing to Nashville.  This was no small event as it helped to transform the music industry so that writers and singers, including himself, could have their own voice and not be controlled by outsiders in New York and other places who most often took advantage of them.

Acuff was best known for being the face and voice of the Grand Ole Opry for the first 12 1/2 years it was on the NBC Radio Network, and even after leaving the Grand Ole Opry for a period of less than a year in 1947-1948, he came back to serve in an even larger capacity as not only the spokesperson but also the ambassador of the Opry until his death.

If you ever saw Acuff with an audience you well understand that people loved him.  As the Grand Ole Opry moved from the Ryman Auditorium from downtown Nashville into its own property in 1974 he stayed in the park meeting and greeting millions of fans.  He even built his home there in 1983 following the death of his wife Mildred.  In a great way, the public he welcomed became a permanent part of his family.

Today CP fondly recalls the man and his music.

Hats Off To Bill Malone And Tracey Laird

You know it is a good day when someone brings you a book. But it is a great day when it is a book about the history of Country Music.

A friend of mine from the statehouse days gave me Bill Malone’s book–the author of this famed work which is part of the Ken Burns upcoming documentary–lives in Madison.

I love the early years–the classic country music sounding years–and the many talented singers and musicians who made the music. By the late 1970’s the music was changing and too many were trying to make it sound like so much other music that it lost its original feel. That is why I love my old vinyl recordings so much!

 

 

Video: Opening Of Grand Ole Opry House With President Nixon

This is a video I found today and it fits with this blog.

Happy 90th Birthday To The Grand Ole Opry

When I was a child on many a Saturday night the radio that always rested on the wooden buffet in the dining room would not only be turned on but equally important physically turned in such a fashion to best be able to hear WSM radio.  The Grand Ole Opry was best able to be received in the cold months in our Hancock, Wisconsin home–as anyone who understands radio signals knows.  It was always getting the radio in just the right location and also using the cord placement that worked as an antenna effect which allowed the nation’s longest running radio show to fill our home with music and laughter.

Today the Opry celebrates its 90th birthday. In an era when new and improved is just expected there is a real charm to the idea that this radio show continues to endure.

Over the years this blog has operated I have been pleased to post many times about the music and the stars who have played such an important part in our country and also in my life.   I have commented on their triumphs and felt sadness as they left us for the biggest stage of all.  I have recalled the joys of attending the Opry and also being able to see some of those same ones perform in other venues where they were always content to let anyone who wanted to get an autograph or picture to do so.  After all, as I was to learn from watching Porter Wagoner, Little Jimmy Dickens or Charlie Louvin among others, the show was not really over until everyone had a personal memory to take home.  They simply do not make entertainers like that anymore.

There is a richness that I carry with me from having had Saturday nights with the often scratchy signal from Nashville coming over the radio back home.  Or telling Whispering  Bill Anderson after a show how as a kid I used to impersonate him by standing on our  picnic table in the back yard and pretend the garden hose was the microphone.  Then came puberty and my country music career ended.   I still see Bill laughing at that comment.

Many memories and thoughts will flood Americans around the nation as we celebrate this slice of Americana tonight when the big red curtain goes up at the Opry House.   When trying to pick one song that sums up the mood and magic of the Opry from over the decades I decided to post one of my favorite entertainers and singers who stood on the famed wooden circle.  Not only would Roy Acuff, “The King Of Country Music” get people to tap their feet to the music but during the commercial breaks he would do tricks for the audience at the Opry House with his fiddle bow balanced on his nose or with his famed yo-yo tricks.  He felt being an entertainer meant when one is on the stage they have a role to play.    He played his part at the Opry with perfection for decades.

So Happy Birthday Grand Ole Opry!

Orange Blossom Special Train Made The News

Long-time readers and those who know me well will understand why this line from an article in today’s newspaper leapt off the page and onto my blog.

Mr. Campos’s scheme began several years after Mrs. Bush died in 1992, when he told the Bushes that he had come up with a novel way of honoring her — with a small museum, in her name, within the train station here, where she had once arrived on the passenger train the Orange Blossom Special. For funding, he turned to the new Republican administration in Tallahassee, headed by Jeb Bush, Mrs. Bush’s grandson.

The larger story relates to a less-than-honest person who used the Bush family for his own underhanded purposes.

But the purpose of this post is to highlight what is one of the classic trains that made for not only American history but also a most memorable song that still resonates among fans of classic country music.  I am not at all sure how long ago it has been since the mention of this train made for mainstream media attention.    I did not know until today that Dorothy Bush, mother of President Bush (41), rode the train.

This is after all the song that is often referred to as “the fiddle player’s national anthem”.

 

Grand Ole Opry Celebrates 89th Birthday This Weekend

The Grand Ole Opry is celebrating its 89th birthday this weekend in high style, with four weekend shows in which country favorites will share the stage with the Opry’s birthday cake.  The longest running radio show on WSM (We Shield Millions and also known as the Air Castle of the South) radio has been a staple of Friday and Saturday nights for many a generation.  The tingle in the air can still be felt when the big red curtains rises and the first sound of the fiddle wafts out over the audience in the Opry house.

The legends still recall with deep fondness the first time they sang on the famed stage and how it felt to be a part of the Opry family.

It’s been 52 years since Loretta Lynn became a member of the Grand Ole Opry, but she can still vividly recall her first performance on the hallowed stage.

“The first memory I have of the Grand Ole Opry was, when I went out to sing, I remember patting my foot, and that’s it,” she recalls to Nashville’s Tennessean. “I don’t remember even singing. Now I was so excited, I don’t remember singing, but I remember patting my foot.

“I went off stage and thought, ‘I forgot to listen to myself sing!’” she adds with a laugh.

Lynn made her debut appearance on the Opry stage as her first single, ‘I’m a Honky Tonk Girl,’ was climbing the charts. Accustomed to driving all over the country, performing and visiting radio stations, she and her husband, Oliver ‘Doolittle’ Lynn, spent their first night in Nashville sleeping in their car in front of the Opry.

“He’d parked it in front of the Grand Ole Opry, and I didn’t know he’d done that,” she says. “I woke up and seen the Grand Ole Opry, so I could not believe I was sleeping over from the Grand Ole Opry, but that’s where we were, sleeping in the car.”

The songstress’ first performance was on Oct. 15, 1960. It’s a memory she still cherishes.

There are countless reasons to turn on the radio to WSM and let the music and fun roll over the airwaves from Nashville to your home.

What makes the Opry so special is all that has come before–the singers and inspirations for others through the decades.   Perhaps no other song speaks to that truth than Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes. 

There would be no way to end this post noting and honoring the Grand Ole Opry at age 89 without adding the following performer and legend with one of his classics.   Happy Birthday Grand Ole Opry and thanks for all the memories!