WEBVTT - The Grand Ole Opry Cast 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:04.280 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of I 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:13.920 Heart Radio, how D and welcome to the podcast. I'm 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:17.279 Josh Clark. There's Charles W Chuck Bryan over there, there's 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:25.200 Jerry Jerome Roland, and this is Stuff you should Know, folks. Yeah. Uh, 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:27.000 Can I do a little plug right off the beginning 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:30.080 to sort of explain why I got this idea? Yeah? Yeah, sure, 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:33.879 because this episode is on the Grand Old Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, 0:00:33.920 --> 0:00:37.520 the longest running radio broadcast in US history, and they 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:43.560 sent you a check. No, I gotta an email, Jesus. 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:46.000 I feel like a long time ago from a Stuff 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:49.040 you Should Know listener in a movie Crusher named Joseph 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:51.600 I'm gonna pronounce it tin l t I n n 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:55.000 e l L And he is the content and programming 0:00:55.080 --> 0:01:01.720 director of WSM Radio, which you'll learn all about that here. Uh. 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:04.520 And he runs the show and he started at staying 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:06.120 we kind of had some back and forth over the 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:10.640 years about um me coming to the Rieman to see 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:12.800 a show, and he's like, I could I haven't mentioned 0:01:12.800 --> 0:01:14.600 on Movie Crush. He said, I can get you backstage 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:16.120 if you ever want to come to Nashville and go 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:18.240 to a show with the Ryman, and so we've been 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:21.120 communicating for a long time. And then this past year 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:25.720 he started, uh, what's called the WSM Playlist, which is 0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:29.319 they turned the radio station over to someone for an 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.399 hour and let them DJ and program. And he offered 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:35.160 that to me and I did it? Wow? And when 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:37.600 did you tell everybody about it? On stuff I'm doing 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:40.920 right now? Oh, when is it gonna play? It is? 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:42.959 It's you know, you record it so they can release 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:46.120 it whenever. So you you did covers of all the 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:50.640 songs that you wanted on the playliss I, I just DJ. Basically, 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:55.760 It's gonna air five pm Central time, July one at 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:58.160 five pm Central on ws M Radio Home in the 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:00.720 Grand ol Opry. You can find it online at w 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:03.720 s M radio dot com. Just hit the listen live button. 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:06.400 On July one at five pm Central, we'll hear me 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:11.440 spinning records from Uncle Tupelo and Bonnie Prince Billy and 0:02:11.480 --> 0:02:15.680 Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash. I can't remember who. Well, 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:18.080 it's a lot of a lot of great stuff that's awesome. 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:19.680 Did you do that thing where you like you just 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:23.440 held the one uh like can up to your ear 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:27.079 from the headphones. Now, I was a little nervous though, 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.480 and I felt that was a little stiff and loosened 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:32.320 up and then send it to him and I was like, hey, 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:34.079 I feel like I didn't do great at first. And 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:36.839 he said, yeah, you were a little stiff. And he said, 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:39.480 why don't you redo the first We call him all 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:42.320 these radio lingoes like ins and outs and you know, 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:45.040 raps and things like that, because you gotta talk about 0:02:45.040 --> 0:02:46.960 the last song and then the next song. And so 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:49.040 he let me redo the first kind of set of 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:54.040 those and hopefully I'm a little more loose. It's always 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:57.040 better the second take. It is. Willie Nelson's in there. 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:01.040 I got some good stuff. That's really cool. Man, can gratulations, Chuck. 0:03:01.080 --> 0:03:02.760 I feel like you finally made it. You're a member 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:04.880 of the Grand Old Operation. No, no, no, we'll talk 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:07.960 all about that. That's the old deal. So um we 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:10.960 are talking Grand Old opry. Uh. And now I'm nervous 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:15.000 about it because the station manager is going to be listening. 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:17.919 And by the way, this episode, what was his name, 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:27.880 Joseph Tinnell. Joseph prepared to be disappointed criticisms. He's a 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:30.520 stuff you should know listener and the movie Crusher two. 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:33.639 Of course he's a nice guy. So we're talking Grand 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:37.280 Old Opry today, and you said something that I find 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:40.200 just fascinating that it is I don't know if you 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:43.520 said in the world, but it is the oldest, longest 0:03:43.640 --> 0:03:49.200 running live radio broadcast program in the entire world. It's 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:52.520 been broadcasting The Grand Old Opry, which is a radio show. 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:54.600 A lot of people think it's it's a music venue, 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.360 and it is, but really the music venue kind of 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:00.440 grew out of the radio show. It all. It began 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:02.840 as a radio show, um, all the way back in 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:08.760 so it's coming pretty close to its hundredth the anniversary. 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:13.640 And in all that time, it's only missed one Saturday 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:17.960 night broadcast, one live Saturday night broadcast. Every other Saturday 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:21.279 night all the way back to you could tune into 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:26.000 WUSM Nashville AM six fifty and here the Grand Old 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:30.240 Opry radio program, which is I mean, hats off to that. 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:33.720 I don't care if you think country Western music is 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:39.040 as bad as experimental smooth jazz, doesn't matter. You still 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:43.920 have to tip your hat to that. Yeah, tip that stetson. Uh, 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:46.479 we should tell them why that they missed that one broadcast. 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:50.120 It was after the assassination of Martin Luther King. The 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:53.240 city of Nashville, I think most of Tennessee probably was 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:56.560 under curfew, so they had to rerun a program, and 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.640 I think they did a live show the next day 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:02.640 or or something during the day earlier that day before, 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:05.120 I believe they tried to show. So they still did 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:07.640 a show that day. They just missed the live broadcast 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:11.080 that night, but all the other ones dating back, they 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:15.279 made pretty neat. Yeah. I actually went um when I 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:17.719 was a kid. We went to it was an amusement 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:22.360 park called opry Land, USA, which is now I think 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:25.479 sort of a shopping center mall kind of thing, but 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:27.480 back then it was an amusement park like a country. 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:32.200 It was pretty Dollywood. Oh you went to the opry Land, USA? 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:35.599 Oh wow? Okay, Yeah, And so we also went to 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:38.280 the Grand ol opry House. And I don't know if 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:40.919 it was a Saturday show. I know they do shows 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:45.080 on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, but um, I don't remember 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:47.720 much about it, do But I do remember being in 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:54.240 that building and seeing the sort of barn shaped motif stage, 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:56.599 and that's kind of all I remember. I was probably 0:05:56.640 --> 0:05:59.200 no more than six or seven. I don't know what 0:05:59.279 --> 0:06:02.080 it is, but they're nothing more cozy than a building 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:08.560 within a building. Yeah, you know, I definitely loved the 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:12.800 stage for the Grand Old Opry for sure. Alright, So 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:17.920 the Grand Old Opry started out out of indirectly out 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:20.679 of Chicago. That was something called the National Barn Dance, 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:24.359 which was a radio broadcast out of Chicago playing country music, 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:28.120 uh way back in the day, and it had a 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.960 really big following, but it didn't reach Nashville. So the 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.440 former UM, a former DJ from there named George Hay 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:40.800 went to Nashville became the station manager at WSM and 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:46.360 pitched what he called, um the Barn Dance, Yeah, which 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:49.159 was a lot like National Barn Dance. But He's like, 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.320 but here's the difference. We dropped the National. Yeah. It 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:55.800 was kind of like a proto heehaw and that they had. 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.160 It was a variety show. They had music, they had dancers, 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:01.560 they had comedy bits and sketches, um, all with that 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:05.080 sort of country fide flavor. I almost wonder if he 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:08.200 Hall was influenced by the Grand Old Operation, think a 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.520 little bit, but it was. So it was on WSM, 0:07:11.560 --> 0:07:13.960 as you were saying that the barn Dance is what 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.120 you know Grand old Opry radio program was originally called 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.480 for the first couple of years, and that guy George 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:22.640 Hay who pitched it and hosted it, had had been 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.200 at that radio station in Chicago, but now he worked 0:07:25.240 --> 0:07:29.880 for WSM, which was actually an insurance company's radio station. 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:32.880 It's a very strange story, it is, but they they 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:36.920 were there were the headquarters in the National Life and 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:42.640 Accident Insurance Company, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. And I apparently 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:46.239 one of the executives there was really into this new 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:49.960 technology radio and I was high enough up in the 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:53.240 company that he got the company to start broadcasting from 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:56.520 the fifth floor UM. And so that's where that first 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:01.200 early program was broadcast from. Was this insurance company UM 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:05.640 headquarters like office building on Saturday nights. Yeah. And if 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:08.240 you're wondering what w O s M stands for, because 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:10.280 it was from the insurance company, it stands for We 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:15.400 Shield Millions, still known as w s M. It's really funny. 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:17.160 I tried to find out who this executive was, but 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:22.400 I couldn't. I couldn't look at it. Yeah, that's you know, 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:25.080 it's crazy how people can become lost to history, even 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:28.120 though their story is just so wrapped up in something 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:31.520 that's everywhere. All it takes is for them just getting 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:34.480 knocked out of one, you know, one popular article and 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:37.280 everybody else who picks up on that after that, Yeah, 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:39.480 they're not coming back, you know. All right. So the 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:44.720 Barn Dance, they had their first broadcast on November had 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:49.160 uncle Jimmy Thompson, who was a Tennessee musician and won 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:52.600 a fiddling competition in Texas, was a big, big hit, 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:56.400 and within just a few months there were people literally 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:59.680 coming down to this insurance building to watch live through 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:04.160 the US the glass walls of the studio very cool. Yeah, 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:07.360 all this reminds me of um oh brother or art 0:09:07.400 --> 0:09:09.600 that when they go into the recording studio. I think 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.800 it's very similar to that kind of thing, right, So 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:15.400 like they kind of knew, like, no, this is this 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:17.440 might be a thing, like this is kind of a 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.720 people are showing up, you know, in person on Saturday 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:25.559 night at an insurance company's offices to watch this stuff. 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:29.120 And it kind of started to take off pretty quickly. 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:34.040 And it was I think when George Hay famously said, 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:39.319 um about this preceding like radio or classical music Appreciation 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:43.440 Hour that we've been listening to music largely from the 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.559 Grand Opera. From now on we will present the Grand 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:50.840 Old Opry. And apparently everybody thought that was hysterical, and 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:53.360 that became the name of the show from that time on. 0:09:53.559 --> 0:09:58.480 I think in December of it is pretty cool, yeah, 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:02.559 And so there were these weekly performances every Saturday, UM 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:06.480 at the National Life and Accident Insurance Company's headquarters. But 0:10:06.800 --> 0:10:09.480 more and more people started to show up, and I 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:12.120 saw somewhere, Chuck, I love this. It's like a full 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:17.760 circle irony. But at the time, the leaders the of Nashville, 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.520 the heads of business and UM, a lot of the 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:23.400 other you know, the politicians, the wealthy people who are 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:26.559 running the show in Nashville, were trying to move the 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:30.719 city's image in the exact opposite direction of what they 0:10:30.720 --> 0:10:35.199 were doing every Saturday night at the insurance company's headquarters. 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:37.840 Like they were trying to basically say, Nashville is not 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:42.559 no mountain folk here, no holdowns going on here. Just 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:45.400 we're just like every were like New York, where the 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:48.640 New York of the middle of America. I kind of thing. 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:51.880 And they really resented the Grand Old Opery because it 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:55.280 was getting more and more popular. And then finally the 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:59.400 Grand Old Opry became so powerful and such an institution 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:03.160 in nash Fille that it in large part became the 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:06.960 leaders of the city and it shaped Nashville. Like Nashville 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:10.400 wasn't music city until the Grand Ole Opry came along 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:12.439 and they were trying to take it in a different direction. 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:15.360 The Grand ol Opry took it in that that direction 0:11:15.400 --> 0:11:20.400 of basically establishing like the headquarters of country western music. 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:23.040 Uh and put Nashville on the map in that very 0:11:23.120 --> 0:11:27.480 legitimate way. It had three consecutive mayors killed it did 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:32.200 to accomplish this feed that's all poisoned. Oh no, that's 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:36.320 not true at all. People who run the Grand ol 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:38.960 Opry that are listening right now, we wei, yeah, I 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:41.959 do feel like someone's looking over our shoulder. All right, 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:44.320 So you know what, let's take a break and then 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:46.920 we'll talk about kind of the change in venues over 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:48.839 the years and how that represents the rise of the 0:11:48.880 --> 0:12:16.240 Grand ol Opry in prominence. Right after this, all right, 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:20.560 so you're you're throwing these hoe downs in an insurance building. 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:24.720 It's going well, people are showing up, mayors are dropping 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.760 like flies, trying to fight this thing to be big city, 0:12:28.120 --> 0:12:31.520 New York City in Tennessee. Uh. And so they said 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:33.160 we gotta move. So they said, all right, first thing 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.480 we'll do is we'll move into an actual auditorium space 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:38.080 here in the same building. That worked for a little while. 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:41.280 Then in thirty four they moved to the Hillsborough Theater 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:46.679 Community Playhouse now called the Bellcourt Theater um started selling 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.520 some ads, making a little dough. I think two years 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:53.080 later they outgrew that moved to the Dixie Tabernacle, which 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:56.000 was a religious hall um, sort of an old timmy 0:12:56.120 --> 0:12:59.160 sort of revival house, and they were there for a 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:01.360 few years before they said, you know what, I don't 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:05.280 like this wild audience coming in here on the drink 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:08.480 and acting all crazy and dancing in the aisle. So 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:11.680 get out of the Dixie Tabernacle and they moved to 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:16.360 the War Memorial Auditorium, which is when they started selling 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:20.959 tickets for a quarter apiece in n nine and started 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:24.280 I think they even got um a spot on NBC. 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.320 They were in a movie. Things started happening in a 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:30.080 big way. Yeah, it was a big deal. In thirty 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:33.679 nine when NBC started broadcasting them on the radio, uh, 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:36.760 to a national audience. I mean, first of all, it's 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:40.160 it's now it's national, and that certainly legitimizes it. But 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:42.760 the fact that one of the big broadcasters at the 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:45.840 time thought it was an important enough show to to 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:49.200 pick it up and you know, send it out to 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:52.040 everybody else, that's a that's a huge And this is 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.720 you know, less than twenty years after it's about fifteen 0:13:55.800 --> 0:13:58.400 years after the Grand Old Opry first went on the air. 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.679 That's pretty impressive stuff. Um. And then they moved on 0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:06.800 i think nineteen forty three to the Rhyman Theater, which 0:14:06.840 --> 0:14:09.280 is one of the places that the Grand Old Opery 0:14:09.360 --> 0:14:12.679 is synonymous with. Right, yeah, and that's I'm dying to 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:14.199 go to a show there. I'll make it there at 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:16.920 some point, hopefully get that backstage tour from Joseph. But 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:20.600 it was it's a legendary theater. It was there for 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:26.640 thirty years. Umye hundred seats. It's the mother Church of 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:29.640 country music. And I think they raised the price to 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:32.280 eighty cents there. Um. We'll talk a little bit more 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.640 about how the Rymans still figures in today, but it 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:38.480 was that's when things really I mean, if you're in 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:41.920 the seat venue, filling it up a few times a week, 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:43.880 that's your your big time. At that point, I think 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:47.080 they um the regular cast what played Carnegie Hall in 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:50.320 the forties went on tour in Europe and they were 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:54.200 starting to birth some real sort of superstars like roy 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:57.920 A Cuff. Yeah, and Mini Pearl came along in Yo. 0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:01.280 And she's just as closely linked to that period of 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:04.520 the um the Grand Old Opry as roy Acuff is 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:07.800 for sure. Um. I was reading about her, did you 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:09.720 know that whole thing was just a total put on? 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:12.360 That she was like a college educated woman from a 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:14.960 well to do family. It was, it was a character. 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:17.840 I mean, I fell for a Hooklein and sinker. She 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:21.800 was Larry the Cable Guy. Yes, exactly, she was. She 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:24.280 was Larry the Cable Guy prior to Larry the Cable Guy. 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:26.480 But I was like, I know she was in a 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:29.240 commercial that I loved when I was a kid. I 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:31.240 was like, I think it was Spick and Span, and 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:33.960 I looked it up and sure enough, thank you Internet, 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:37.360 there's a two Spick and Span commercial where she shows 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:40.320 up and shows this this lady that she can get 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:43.520 her Linoleum floors back to looking new with spick and span. 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:46.680 It was great. That's funny what hangs in the memory, right, 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:49.760 it really does that. And then my other association with 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:53.000 Mini Pearl is UM that Dead Milkman song Punk Rock 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:58.240 Girl where they'll name their their daughter Mini Pearl. That's 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:02.160 the other, the other Mini Pearl thing. UM. So there's 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:04.120 a couple of ways you can get on stage and 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:07.280 play at the Grand Old Opry Um. Most people are 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:10.560 invited to play as a guest just on a random 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:13.760 individual show, and that's a great, great honor. Uh. Then 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:17.040 they have there I mentioned the cast earlier, they have 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.960 what's what's called members. They're the cast. They're these regular 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:28.280 performers who are invited to become a member UM. I 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:32.480 think publicly. Once you're invited, an existing member will ask 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:35.080 you to join them live on the air during a broadcast. 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:40.080 Kind of is the big coming out party, I guess UM. 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:45.040 And being a member is UM it's a really big deal. Like, uh, 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:47.840 they take a lot of time to add members. They 0:16:47.880 --> 0:16:52.360 only add maybe a couple of year. There's there's I 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:58.000 think sixty five current active members I'm sorry, sixty total, 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:02.800 uh nine of which no longer perform or officially retired, okay, 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:05.800 but they're still they're still considered members of their considered 0:17:05.840 --> 0:17:08.159 I think you kind of have to pass away to 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:11.240 officially be taken off, unless you run a foul, which 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:15.320 we'll talk about that as well. I got you. Um So, yeah, 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:20.080 there's uh, the there's basically, I mean, to become a 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:23.199 member of the Grand Old Opry is an enormous honor, 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.680 Like it's a really big deal. There are people who, 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:31.520 um are just huge country superstars that are not members 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:33.720 of the Grand Old Operate. They might be invited to 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:36.240 come play a show or something like that, but they're 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:38.719 not members of the Grand Old Operation if you remember 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:41.520 the Grand Old Opry. Basically, the impression I have is 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:46.200 that you're considered the the uh the guard of country 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.920 music is one way to put it in a really 0:17:49.920 --> 0:17:53.439 confusing way. Yeah, I mean, there are a lot of 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:55.560 things that go into it, and I mean it sounds 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:58.679 like it's you know, they talk about you being successful 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:01.320 and you being connected it and you being committed. That's 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:02.760 a big part of it, and we'll get to that 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:06.000 in a second. But it sounds like there's not just 0:18:07.600 --> 0:18:10.479 sort of one set of criteria where like, hey, if 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:11.960 you have so many number one hits or so much 0:18:12.000 --> 0:18:17.360 music sales, it's like a bunch of stuff decided by people. Yeah, 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:21.879 subjectively and objectively, right. I think also in some cases 0:18:21.920 --> 0:18:25.199 it's a it's a judgment that's passed on your style 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:27.280 of country music. Like they might not like it at 0:18:27.280 --> 0:18:29.640 a time. Maybe I think it sounds too poppy back 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:31.639 in the day, they might have thought it sounded to 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:34.920 rock and roll. Um. Like there's a there's a definite like, 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:39.080 like you said, subjectivity to it as well as objectivity. Um. 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:42.440 But if you if you do get that that um, 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:46.639 that invitation, um, you're expected to come play twelve shows 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:51.120 a year, twelve Saturday nights, I should say a year, um, 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:56.560 to maintain your your membership. Uh. And I think also 0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:01.720 you have to sell cookies in the February to help 0:19:01.760 --> 0:19:06.080 raise funds. Is that true? No, it wouldn't surprise me. Man, 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:09.359 that's the girls Scouts. No, it would not surprise me 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:13.560 because they they do expect a lot of participation, and 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:15.480 not just on show nights. They expect you to go 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:18.040 to a lot of shows. They expect you just to 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:20.639 kind of be there a lot. Um. I think in 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:24.440 the fifties and sixties. Uh, they were at I mean 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:27.720 from its inception up into the fifties and sixties, they 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:31.879 required twenty six shows a year, which is a man, 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:37.320 that's like half your weekend shows basically, yea tour. Yeah, 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:39.919 if you want to go tour, that's that's a significant 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:42.840 amount of time that you have to dedicate. And they 0:19:42.920 --> 0:19:45.920 finally knocked it down to twelve, which is still pretty significant, 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:48.720 especially if you don't live in Nashville, but uh, it's 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.040 that's much more manageable than twenty six, you know. Yeah, 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:54.640 they knocked it down to twenty and nineteen sixty four 0:19:55.440 --> 0:20:00.000 after they bought at six and then sixty four. It's 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:02.359 I think in two thousand and they finally knocked it 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:04.920 down to twelve. Oh really, it took that long. Huh, 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:10.040 took a while. So over the years, the membership of 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.199 the Grand Old Opry has been you know, there's a 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:16.720 lot of people that that you would expect who were members, 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.520 like everybody from roy A Cuff, as we said earlier 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:24.399 in Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass, Um, Petty Kleine, 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:30.960 Hank Williams was for a while, Johnny Cash, Barbara Mandrell, Reba. 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:34.959 Reba's actually playing what's the date today? Do you know? 0:20:35.200 --> 0:20:38.200 Is it the twenty two? Yes, Reba's playing the Grand 0:20:38.200 --> 0:20:40.639 Old Opry tonight. Isn't that cool? I love it? And 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:43.400 listen to you going with just the one name. Oh 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:45.960 it's Reba we're talking about here. I watched your TV 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:48.720 show pretty frequently, so I'm on a first name basis 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:50.840 with her. I never saw it was a good It 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:54.359 actually was good. She was cute. Yeah, she was a good, 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:58.200 good actress for a non actor. She's a good act 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:02.000 sorry for she was a good actor for a non actor. Um, 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:04.800 and she really I think I really came to appreciate 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:07.520 Reva first and Tremors. Oh, I loved her in that. 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:09.520 And we can say that because we were bad actors 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:13.520 for non actors exactly. Yes, we know, we know what 0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:17.399 we're talking about. Who else these days Randy Travis, Allison Kraus, 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:21.480 Alan Jackson, Brad Paisley. I think Keith Urban, Darius Rucker, 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:25.680 and Blake Shelton and most recently, the most recent edition 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:30.399 is Lady A which used to be Lady Annabellum until 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:34.399 the George Floyd murder and ensuing protests. They were like no, 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:37.800 we're gonna drop in and a Bellum, which hats off 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:41.120 to them, but they went to Lady A Um, which 0:21:41.160 --> 0:21:44.040 they're probably like this coolest, sounds good, But then the 0:21:44.160 --> 0:21:47.880 Seattle Blue singer Lady A, who's been performing for thirty years, 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:51.320 is like, I'm not really okay with this, but I'm 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:53.760 not sure that they're changing their name again anytime soon. 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:59.439 That's right after you are invited to perform, now that 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:01.880 you get your aim on the wall. And I think 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:06.040 it was Blake Shelton who actually started the new tradition 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:09.040 of hanging his own plaque on the wall because he 0:22:09.080 --> 0:22:12.680 was so excited. Apparently he grabbed the plaque and went 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:16.560 and did it himself during the ceremony, which is which 0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:18.680 is fairly adorable. I think I don't know much about 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:21.640 the guy, but I like an excitable feller. Yeah he's 0:22:21.680 --> 0:22:28.320 married to Um. Yeah, that lady that's there. He's not 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:30.760 a Hall of Back girl. By the way, was that 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:33.479 was that one of their songs? Yeah, that was one 0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:37.119 of her songs. I don't know B A N A 0:22:37.480 --> 0:22:41.800 N A yes, something like that. I have a rhythm. 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:45.240 Well you sang this episode that's all I wanted, so 0:22:45.480 --> 0:22:48.240 um should we take another break? Is it time? Yeah, 0:22:48.320 --> 0:22:50.160 let's take another break and we'll talk about just how 0:22:50.200 --> 0:23:17.840 this institution has evolved over the years. Okay, Chuck, So 0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:20.800 you you mentioned how the institutions evolved over the years, 0:23:20.800 --> 0:23:25.840 and you can't really be like the the ongoing voice 0:23:26.200 --> 0:23:31.159 or foundation or home of genre of music if the 0:23:31.240 --> 0:23:33.679 genre of music keeps evolving and you don't you know, 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:37.240 but there's like kind of this tension for the Grand 0:23:37.280 --> 0:23:40.760 Old Opry as well, because it is this institution. It 0:23:41.440 --> 0:23:44.440 can't and shouldn't just go chasing every trend. It needs 0:23:44.480 --> 0:23:47.200 to kind of wait and see see if there if 0:23:47.359 --> 0:23:49.920 you know, some change that comes along is real change, 0:23:50.560 --> 0:23:54.879 um all while protecting like the musical roots of this 0:23:55.119 --> 0:23:58.760