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Hallmark Channel is bringing some Christmas cheer to Nashville with the premiere of the new original holiday movie, A Grand Ole Opry Christmas.
Airing Nov. 29 live on Hallmark Channel, the new film features some familiar faces from country music, while helping to celebrate the Opry’s 100th anniversary. Those stars include Opry member Brad Paisley, who also wrote the original music for A Grand Ole Opry Christmas and performs in the film. Other country singers appearing in the movie include Megan Moroney, Pam Tillis, Drew Baldridge and Mickey Guyton.
Want to watch A Grand Ole Opry Christmas? Here’s what you need to know.
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A Grand Ole Opry Christmas airs Friday, Nov. 29 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Hallmark Channel and you can watch the country-themed holiday movie on TV with any cable package that includes Hallmark Channel.
How to Watch A Grand Ole Opry Christmas Streaming Online
Don’t have cable? You can stream A Grand Ole Opry Christmas live as it airs on Hallmark Channel with DirecTV, which is a streaming service that lets you watch live TV over the internet without needing cable. All of DirecTV’s packages include a live feed of Hallmark Channel that you can stream on your computer, phone, tablet or smart TV. Even better: DirecTV has a five-day free trial that you can grab here to watch A Grand Ole Opry Christmas online free.
DirecTV lets you watch Hallmark Channel live online in addition to 90 other live TV networks. Plans start at just $49.99/month after your free trial is up.
You can also watch A Grand Ole Opry Christmas online with Fubo, which offers a seven-day free trial for 200+ channels here. Or you can try Philo, which offers a live Hallmark Channel feed in addition to 70 other channels, plus HBO Max included for just $38/month.
All of the above streaming services will let you watch A Grand Ole Opry Christmas live online when it airs on Hallmark Channel. Want to watch A Grand Ole Opry Christmas on-demand? While the movie is sure to repeat on TV, you can also watch it on-demand whenever you want through Hallmark+, Hallmark Channel’s official streaming service.
A subscription to Hallmark+ is just $2/month right now as part of a Black Friday streaming deal. Use your subscription to stream A Grand Ole Opry Christmas and hundreds of other Hallmark movies and special online.
What Is A Grand Ole Opry Christmas About?
A Grand Ole Opry Christmas followes Gentry Woods (Nikki DeLoach), the daughter of late (fictional) country music icon Jett Woods, who is invited to perform at the Opry to honor her father. But Gentry ditched her dream of a songwriting career and distanced herself from her father’s legacy following his tragic car accident, and isn’t sure she’s ready to confront her family demons. Fortunately, she reunites with lifelong friend Mac (Kristoffer Polaha) and meets a few country music superstars along the way, who convince her that there’s no better time to shine — and find love — that at the Opry’s centennial celebration at Christmas.
Of course it wouldn’t be a Hallmark movie without some holiday magic sprinkled in too, and the official film description teases a little time travel. “Gentry visits the Opry and, while seated in one of the vaunted venue’s oak church pews, is suddenly transported to 1995. Gentry’s lifelong friend Mac (Polaha) a country music talent manager, finds himself in 1995 as well. Thanks to some Christmas magic, Gentry gets precious time with her father, creative inspiration to finish the song she began decades earlier as a teen and learns surprising answers to questions about her father that have followed her for the last three decades.”
In addition to DeLoach, Polaha, Paisley and the country singers mentioned earlier, the film stars Desperate Housewives fave James Denton and features longtime Opry stars Riders in the Sky, Nashville legend Bill Anderson, Opry inductees Jamey Johnson and Dailey and Vincent, and singer Suzy Bogguss, who was officially invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry in October.
“The Hallmark Channel to me is a major part of finding the joy and the spirit of the holidays,” Paisley says in a press release. “I loved the challenge of creating that same magic with this music by letting it take you to the same place that these movies and this world Hallmark has built. Can’t wait for you to hear what all we’ve done. Also, knowing the Opry is the setting for one of these movies is very inspiring.”
The movie is part of Hallmark’s “Countdown to Christmas” event, which went viral last year for the Taylor Swift-inspired Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story.
Of course, you can also experience Christmas IRL at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. The venue’s famous “Opry Country Christmas” show is running all through December, and you can find tickets here.
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If two artists are company and three are a crowd, then some Nashville stages are threatening overpopulation.
On three successive nights, Oct. 27-29, a total of 30 artists, three speakers and a pair of comedians assembled at three multi-artist shows with three different themes. For most cities, even one of those concerts would have been a major event, but in Music City, it’s de rigueur; ho-hum; par for the course; been there, done that.
Not to say that other communities can’t produce a big, multi-act show — music capitals such as New York, Los Angeles, Austin or Atlanta certainly do it — but Nashville may have a leg up on the phenomenon, particularly for multi-artist concerts.
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“If you’re in New York, the Friars Club will give you a roast,” says Larry Gatlin, who participated in two of the three Nashville events. “In Los Angeles, they have the Academy [Awards] and stuff. But I think Nashville is unique.”
The parade of large Music City productions started Oct. 27 with The Music of My Life: An All-Star Tribute to Anne Murray, with 14 performers doing one song each at the Grand Ole Opry House while Murray applauded from a floor seat. Collin Raye led with “Daydream Believer,” Shenandoah delivered “Could I Have This Dance,” Canadian Michelle Wright chipped in “Snowbird,” and k.d. lang mirrored Murray’s phrasing while performing “A Love Song” barefoot.
The next night, the Grand Ole Opry stacked six musical acts, including Warner Music Nashville signee Braxton Keith, who was surprised with his first gold record; The Forester Sisters, whose three songs included a cover of the 1950s girl group song “Mister Sandman”; and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, who ended the show with a song that’s central to country music history, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”
On Oct. 29, the annual Concert for Cumberland Heights raised money for a Middle Tennessee rehab center, with Gatlin and Christian artist Joseph Habedank kicking things off before The Warren Brothers MC’ed an eight-person songwriter round that ricocheted between comedic songs and profound material.
The camaraderie across all three nights was notable.
“This is so vibrant — you know, the sense of community,” says Dirt Band frontman Jeff Hanna, who spent time in Colorado and L.A. prior to moving to Nashville. “If you’re in the music business, you’re always going to have a competitive edge. Everybody wants to win, but you also root for your pals, and I just love that about this town.”
Not many towns could hope to pull off three straight nights of comparable multi-artist shows. They’re larger than a traditional two- or three-act concert, but smaller than a weekend music festival.
It’s not financially feasible — for the artist or the promoter — to have that many people travel long distances to play just a handful of songs. And few communities have the volume of local musical talent.
Other towns also don’t have the Grand Ole Opry. One of the side benefits of the program, which will celebrate 100 years on WSM-AM on Nov. 28, is the infrastructure it has created. The Opry is typically booked four or more nights a week. The artists who play it know ahead of time that they’re part of a big ensemble with lots of moving pieces — very different from a concert with one headliner and an opening act. And the crew has developed a routine for the quick changes that a barn-dance format requires.
“Everything has its challenges,” Opry senior vp/executive producer Dan Rogers allows, “but over the course of all those years and this many shows in a year, you begin to figure out the things that work and don’t work.”
The staff itself has a bigger impact on running a multi-artist show. If The Dirt Band is headlining a date, the group can make adjustments deep into the set by reading the audience. But it doesn’t necessarily know what the crowd is like when it pops out from backstage at the Opry, and since it only does two or three songs in that setting, there’s little opportunity to change the dynamic.
“You’re sitting around for a couple of hours,” Hanna says, “then they go, ‘You’re on in five minutes,’ and you’re plugging in these guitars.”
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Because the artist typically doesn’t have an opportunity to make adjustments, it’s up to the production team to read the room and keep the pace going.
“I’m a time person,” Cumberland Heights development events manager Lee Ann Eaton says. “Like, I’ve jerked Santa [Claus] off the stage because he was taking too long. You know what I mean? ‘Your time is over, Santa. Get up!’ ”
That doesn’t mean the artist is unable to influence a show with an adjustment or two. Rogers points to a recent Jamey Johnson Opry appearance, when an onstage mention of the late Vern Gosdin led him to play three Gosdin songs during his set. Gatlin notes that making the audience laugh can engage a sedate crowd.
“Self-deprecating humor is the secret sauce,” he says. “If you can go out there and, very quickly, make a little fun of yourself or pick on yourself a little bit, the audience immediately relaxes and they take you into their heart.”
Still, because the barn-dance format requires a large cast of performers, all of whom have plenty of downtime, there’s room for a lax production to go off the rails. Making it smooth for the talent and their teams while maintaining a sense of structure is what makes the show work.
“It requires a lot more organization on the back end,” Eaton says. “I’m dealing with eight artists and their dressing rooms and their backstage passes and their parking. But the Ryman makes it easy, too. I mean, they’re so good at what they do, I would say I could do my job from my car.”
It’s that institutional knowledge and experience that makes it possible for Nashville to handle three straight nights of multi-artist packages. The Opry has established an air of normalcy around lineups that would be a major undertaking in most other settings. The production teams know the drill, and the artists see it as part of the heritage in country music.
“This community, as much as any other community, loves to pay respect to the people who paved the way for them — and pay it forward,” Rogers says. “So somebody’s often going to say ‘yes’ when you ask, ‘Do you want to come tip your hat to an artist who you listened to growing up?’ Or ‘to come give a boost to [a young] artist who has said you did the same thing for them.’ ”
In just about any other locale, the production team would be in chaos trying to pull off a live music show with so many moving parts. But in Nashville, three straight nights of heavily populated stages — and backstages — is not such a big deal.
“They’re just so calm about it,” Eaton says of the Ryman team, “because it is commonplace.”
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The Grand Ole Opry is celebrating its centennial year, and fans can now celebrate with a new book that traces the history of the iconic country music institution.
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Released April 15, 100 Years of Grand Ole Opry quickly shot to the top of Amazon’s bestselling country music books chart. The site also has the book on sale for 46% off for a limited time.
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100 Years of Grand Ole Opry: A Celebration of the Artists, the Fans, and the Home of Country Music
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Written by country music journalist Craig Shelburne, as well as some of the 75 currently active Opry members, 100 Years of Grand Ole Opry offers a behind-the-scenes look at one of music’s most influential radio shows, with personal anecdotes, timelines, vintage concert bills and never-before-seen photos. Everyone from Johnny Cash to Dolly Parton credit their success to the Opry, and their stories are documented here, along with later acts like Carrie Underwood, Luke Combs and Keith Urban. Legendary artists like The Everly Brothers, Sam McGee and The Oak Ridges Boys are also profiled, with the book recalling how each of them got their call to join the Opry. As the author writes, “Receiving an invitation to join the Grand Ole Opry is almost like a marriage proposal.”
Of course, the Opry also opened a live performance venue in 1974, and this new book features photos and stories from many of the artists that have performed there on stage. The Grand Ole Opry House continues to hosts performances weekly to this day.
Pick up 100 Years of Grand Ole Opry on hardcover today. It’s a great coffee table book for display and a great gift for country music fans too. Get the book here.
You can also watch the recent special, Opry 100: A Live Celebration, featuring performances from Amy Grant, Eric Church, Jelly Roll, The War and Treaty, Luke Combs, Kelsea Ballerini, Lainey Wilson, Brad Paisley and more. While it originally aired on NBC, you can now stream it on Peacock.
In July, when Ricky Skaggs surprised Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) artist Steven Curtis Chapman with an invitation to become an official member of the Grand Ole Opry, it marked a full-circle moment for the Paducah, Kentucky native. Chapman grew up listening to the sounds of the Grand Ole Opry each week on his father’s radio. Chapman’s father ran a small music store in Kentucky and on the weekends, he would play music with friends including dobro player Jack Martin, who played with bluegrass pioneer Lester Flatt and performed on the Opry.
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After receiving his invitation, one of the first things Chapman did was call his parents back home in Kentucky to tell them the news.
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“I said, ‘You’ll never believe what happened tonight.’ And [my father] said, ‘I know exactly what happened–I’m still crying. I was listening.’ He was so proud and excited,” Chapman recalls. “They are going to make plans to be there and [I’ll have] my whole family to celebrate the moment. It’s going to be very special.”
When Chapman is officially inducted as the 239th member of the Grand Ole Opry on Friday (Nov. 1), he will be the first CCM artist to receive that honor.
Chapman made his Grand Ole Opry debut at 18, as a performer at Opryland USA theme park, singing Skaggs and George Jones songs during a matinee. He estimates he’s appeared at the Opry 50 times in the last four decades.
Over the last 40 years, Chapman has become one of CCM’s foremost architects, thanks to songs including “The Great Adventure,” “For the Sake of the Call,” “Dive” and “Love Take Me Over.” He’s had nine projects reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart and earned five Grammys and nearly 60 GMA Dove Awards.
“We felt it was time for Steven to become an Opry member, looking at his incredible career and his connection to the Opry since he was a teenager. He loves every style of music that’s played out here and can play that style of music,” the Grand Ole Opry’s senior VP/executive producer Dan Rogers tells Billboard. “He brings his own genre to the show, and his credentials are impeccable, but we often say when someone’s inducted, that at its core Opry membership is about relationships — relationships with fans of the Opry, between members and the between artists and the ideal of the Opry.”
Chapman’s induction also acknowledges the deep shared history of faith-based songs and country music. Over the decades, country artists have recorded gospel albums or included gospel songs in their sets—an approach that counterbalances country music’s songs of alcohol, broken relationships and cheating, highlighting the duality of Saturday nights are for sinning and Sunday mornings are for redemption that the genre is known for.
Hank Williams, Sr.’s “I Saw the Light” traces a spiritual conversion story, while Kris Kristofferson’s “Why Me” is a plea to a higher power for grace and mercy. The country music anthem “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” looks at death through a spiritual lens. Dolly Parton’s “Silver and Gold” and “He’s Alive,” the Brad Paisley/Parton collaboration “When I Get Where I’m Going,” Johnny Cash’s “Jesus Was a Carpenter,” George Strait’s “Love Without End, Amen,” Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel” and “Something in the Water,” Garth Brooks’s “Unanswered Prayers,” Morgan Wallen’s “Don’t Think Jesus,” and Jelly Roll’s “Need a Favor” all weave in sentiments of faith.
“One of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar was [Cash’s] ‘Folsom Prison Blues,’” Chapman notes. “Songs [with lyrics about] ‘I was on my way to prison… but I saw the light,’ you have to have both of those. And that is the Grand Ole Opry in a nutshell, those songs are so baked into the DNA. You listen to Bill Monroe and all these songs… ‘Will The Circle Be Unbroken.’ ‘I Saw the Light,’ ‘I’ll Fly Away,’ those songs are synonymous with the Opry.”
One of the Grand Ole Opry’s earliest homes-from 1943 to 1974- was the church-turned-music venue the Ryman Auditorium. The building, originally known as the Union Gospel Tabernacle, was built by riverboat captain Thomas Green Ryman and opened its doors in 1892, seven years after Ryman attended a tent revival in Nashville led by evangelist Samuel Porter Jones. Ryman was inspired to build the Union Gospel Tabernacle as a place people could join in worship (the building was later renamed the Ryman Auditorium).
In 1994 came the first incarnation of the Ryman’s “Sam’s Place—Music For the Spirit,” (named after Jones), which welcomed some of the top names in Christian, gospel, bluegrass and country. Two decades later, Chapman helped revive the series at the Ryman.
In 2008, the Grand Ole Opry released How Great Thou Art: Gospel Favorites From the Grand Ole Opry, a collection of country artists’ Grand Ole Opry performances of gospel standards. For the past four decades, the Opry House has also hosted the annual Sunday Mornin’ Country, with country artists expressing their faith in song.
In recent years, several CCM and Gospel artists have made their Grand Ole Opry debuts as the Opry continues welcoming a breadth of genres to its stage, including Wilson, for King & Country, We the Kingdom, CAIN, Blessing Offor and Naomi Raine. Opry inductees in recent years have included bluegrass/southern gospel group The Isaacs, bluegrass icon Rhonda Vincent and comedians Henry Cho and Gary Mule Deer.
“Half of our crowd is here because they love country music and the other half is in Nashville and they know the Opry is a microcosm of the music of this town,” Rogers says. “We try to program the best country music show we possibly can, but also give them a real taste of the different styles under the country music umbrella.”
Lady A’s Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood will induct Chapman, while Friday’s performance lineup will also feature Skaggs, Carly Pearce, Russell Dickerson and alternative rock band Colony House, which includes Chapman’s sons Caleb and Will.
One of the songs Chapman will perform is “The Grand Ole Opry Stage,” a song he crafted for the induction, which chronicles his journey.
“The song ends with the lyrics, ‘We’ve all been invited to the unbroken circle of the Grand Ole Opry stage,’ and I’ll go into ‘Will the Circle Be Unbroken,’ and my family and Ricky Skaggs and any artists that are there that will join me and finish out my induction by singing that song,” Chapman says, adding, “Of course, I’ll be a blubbering mess by the end of it, just taking it all in.”
Scott Stapp acknowledges that the 99-year-old Grand Ole Opry, whose storied membership includes Johnny Cash, George Strait and Tanya Tucker, is not the natural setting for “outliers like me.” But as the singer known for bombastic hard-rock Creed hits like “One Last Breath” and “Higher” prepares for his Opry debut Wednesday night (Oct. 23), he suggests he may be more country than people expect. “When I was young and poor, my grandparents were huge fans of country music and bluegrass. They would watch The Opry on TV in Florida. I can remember laying down on the floor with my hands under my chin with my grandparents behind me,” Stapp tells Billboard. “That’s why it’s a tremendous honor, and I want to do my best to bring my A-game.”
In the past six years, the Opry, which began in 1925 with Uncle Jimmy Thompson playing his fiddle at Nashville radio station WSM, has been more aggressive about opening its stage to non-traditional country performers. Post Malone, the pop and hip-hop star who this year released a chart-topping country album, performed in August; retired Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, a singer-songwriter who put out an album this year titled Hey Y’All, made his debut in March; jam band Leftover Salmon and Andrew Farriss of INXS are scheduled for dates later this year. In 2018, 53 artists made their Opry debuts; last year, that number increased to 131, plus another 101 so far in 2024. For its 100th anniversary in 2025, the Opry is planning 100 debuts, beginning Jan. 18 with Shaboozey, whose “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” this year became the first song in history to reach the Top 10 of the Country, Pop, Adult Pop and Rhythmic Airplay charts.
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“It’s a great thing. It’s important, because it expands what country music is,” says Jared Cotter, Shaboozey’s co-manager, adding that the singer accepted the Opry invitation “in about two seconds.” “It needs to evolve. We’re really excited to be what I think is at the forefront of it.”
Shaboozey
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Dan Rogers, the show’s senior vp and executive producer, says his artist-relations team has emphasized “artists you might not normally expect to see at the Opry” — whether that’s African-American stars, like Shaboozey, who have historically been largely absent from the Opry stage, or performers who’ve built their music careers outside country, like Stapp. This is part of the broadcast’s tradition, Rogers adds — James Brown and Stevie Wonder, not known for their country inclinations, performed in 1979, as did rocker Peter Frampton in 2013. Similarly, in a throwback to Hee Haw, Jerry Clower, David “Stringbean” Akeman and others, the Opry inducted comedians Gary Mule Deer and Henry Cho as members last year. Until that point, the Opry had not inducted a comedian since 1973.
“It’s no secret we have opened our doors more broadly since the pandemic,” Rogers adds. “We’re always working to be steadfast in our programming philosophy, which is [to] present the past, present and future of country music every time that big red curtain goes up.” The strategy has worked so far — although he declines to provide attendance numbers, Rogers says “visitation” and “demand for Opry performances” has increased yearly since 2020 in terms of increased numbers of the 4,400-capacity shows.
The Opry’s inclusive definition of “country” in recent years reflects pop music in general, according to Brian Mansfield, a Nashville writer, historian and managing editor of radio-industry trade publication Country Insider. “You don’t really think of Post Malone as a country artist, but if you talk to him, he grew up knowing that stuff,” he says, then cites Beyoncé‘s Cowboy Carter album, even though the pop superstar has never performed at the Opry. “She wanted to show how the country music she grew up with in Houston, which has this unique blend of country and R&B and everything in its DNA, was part of what she was.”
Stapp, by contrast, did not set out to make a country song when he and his Nashville songwriting collaborators came up with “If These Walls Could Talk,” even though he spent his childhood watching Hee Haw on TV when it was recorded on the Opry stage throughout the ’80s. “The song was just born and created as-is,” says Stapp, who has lived in Nashville since 2016. “I don’t have any intent to try to change it into some kind of more country-leaning song just because I’m playing it at the Opry.” For his debut, Stapp plans to perform the song for the first time with Dorothy, the hard-rock singer who duets with him on the recording.
In emphasizing new and unexpected performers, the Opry is being savvy about expanding its audience. “Our research shows that 50% of the audience in the seats love country music, and that’s why they came to the Grand Ole Opry. And the other 50% are in Nashville, and they know they’re supposed to see the Grand Ole Opry,” Rogers says. “Both of those halves will appreciate when someone they wouldn’t expect shows up at the Opry.”
Post Malone at his Grand Ole Opry debut on Aug. 14, 2024.
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NBCUniversal and a private-equity firm, Atairos Group, invested $296 million for a 30% stake in the Opry’s parent company, Opry Entertainment Group, in 2022. (The group also owns the Ryman Auditorium, which hosts numerous Opry shows, and Blake Shelton‘s Ole Red brand of country bars.) It makes sense that investors are happy to see the lineup expand as widely as possible — in the first half of this year, Creed’s catalog streamed 263 million times, and its 2024 reunion tour is headlining arenas, including Madison Square Garden next month. Of Stapp, Rogers says, “I’ve read two or three times now, people saying to him, ‘This sounds country, were you influenced by country artists?’ So that made sense. And the fact that he is so passionate about songwriting feels really authentic. It turns out, as it often does, he fits really interestingly with the show.”
Another recent unexpected Opry debut was Katharine McPhee, the former American Idol runner-up who is best known as a pop singer, although she starred on 2021’s Netflix series Country Comfort. In her Oct. 12 debut, McPhee performed two songs, “She Used to Be Mine” and Gretchen Wilson‘s “Redneck Woman,” and dueted with fellow performer Riley Green on “Don’t Mind If I Do.” Unlike Stapp, McPhee didn’t grow up watching country music on TV, although she was a fan of Martina McBride, Shania Twain and Faith Hill.
“I didn’t know [Opry attendees] would be so attentive and friendly. They’re just music lovers. They just want to be there and root for whoever’s up on that stage,” McPhee tells Billboard. “I walked out to an audience full of smiling, warm faces, and that was really delightful.”
Over the past year, Post Malone has been integrating himself into Nashville’s country music circles, co-writing and recording songs with numerous country artists, writers, producers and musicians in Music City for his upcoming debut country album, F-1 Trillion, out on Friday (Aug. 16).
But on Wednesday night (Aug. 14), he was welcomed into the most prestigious of those circles — the six-foot circle of hardwood, originally part of the stage of the Ryman Auditorium, and which now resides in the middle of the stage at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House, as Post Malone made his Grand Ole Opry debut — and yes, he had some help.
Quite a lot of it, actually.
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Post Malone’s 18-song F-1 Trillion project brims with collaborations with artists including Tim McGraw, Luke Combs, Dolly Parton, Jelly Roll, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, Morgan Wallen, ERNEST and Lainey Wilson.
Triple threat singer-songwriter-guitarist Paisley, a Grand Ole Opry member since 2001, took to the stage first with a warm introduction.
“He has a country heart and he is someone who immersed himself in the Nashville way,” Paisley said, while also laying down a challenge: “But you aren’t a country singer until you’ve played this,” Paisley said. He then welcomed Posty, who garnered an instant standing ovation as he walked onstage and stepped into the famous circle, in the process becoming part of the ongoing legacy of the longest-running radio broadcast in history.
“What’s going on Nashville? My name is Austin Richard Post and I’m here to play some songs tonight with some really amazing folks and I’m honored to call them friends,” six-time Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper Malone told the crowd as he joined Paisley.
“I’m terrified and honored to be standing right in this spot. My mom’s here tonight. Brad I remember going to see you [perform] when I was like six. I wanted to say how amazingly grateful and floored I am to have you bring me out tonight and I appreciate you.”
From there, the evening — hosted by WSM Radio’s Kelly Sutton — was a heart-warming mix of music and friendship. It was another Opry member, Vince Gill, who joined Posty for the first song, a rendition of Gill’s 1993 hit “One More Last Chance,” with Paisley also offering up some smooth guitar riffs.
Post Malone, clad in jeans, a white shirt, a blue blazer and cowboy hat, displayed a self-depreciating sense of humor, quipping early in the evening, “I was going for like a K-Mart George Strait [look],” drawing laughs from the audience.
He also noted, “how cool it is to rock out to people that I’ve listened to my whole entire life,” before welcoming John Michael Montgomery to join him on Montgomery’s 1994 hit “Be My Baby Tonight,” trading off high-octane verses and intertwining their voices on the chorus.
“I’m having the freakin’ best time of my life,” Malone said, clearly taking in the experience. He added, “We’ve been here in Nashville for a couple of months, like six or seven months, and I have made so many beautiful friends along the way. I’m so honored to be able to work with my friends.” He then welcomed reigning ACM and CMA entertainer of the year Wilson, who was inducted as an Opry member in June.
“Her heart is bigger than her hat,” he quipped, as she added, “What a special night.”
They debuted a song from F-1 Trillion called “Nosedive” about finding the beauty in the painful moments. The heartfelt ballad elicited cheers from the crowd and marked one of the evening’s more tender moments.
“Welcome to country music, Post Malone. We’re glad to have you!” Wilson said before exiting the stage. Paisley then returned to debut another new F-1 Trillion track, their collaboration “Goes Without Saying.”
“I’m honored to be on your album. This is one of my favorite records I’ve ever cut,” Paisley said, before deadpanning, “We’re going to mess this up. We’ve played this once.”
“Watching Brad growing up, I was always just mind-blown by someone who could play guitar like that,” Posty told the crowd, before telling Paisley, “You are the best living guitar player on the planet and I’m so honored to call you my friend, sir.”
From there, Malone delved into a slice of country-meets-’70s soul with “California Sober” — a song from the new album that features Chris Stapleton. Stapleton wasn’t at the Opry, but Posty welcomed two other stellar vocalists — The War and Treaty’s Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter — to perform the song, their voices soaring and swooping, marking one of the evening’s most musically-rousing moments.
“It’s unreal how y’all sound,” Malone told them.
Post Malone is known to drop a few curse words during his shows, but given that the Grand Ole Opry is also a radio broadcast, he did his best to keep things clean. In introducing The War and Treaty, he said, “I recently made some friends and I’m so honored to know these people and they can sing their a–es off,” before quickly asking, “That’s not a cuss, right? It’s in the Bible, right?”
He then closed by performing a solo version of his multi-week Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper, the Morgan Wallen collab “I Had Some Help,” before ending his set with a countrified, fiddle-laden version of his 2019 hit “Sunflower.”
The audience members swiftly rose to their feet to cheer and applaud, making it all but certain that given the audience’s approving reception, this could be but the first of many Opry performances for Texas native Malone.
Asher HaVon didn’t have the only big surprise during Tuesday night’s (May 21) finale of The Voice season 25.
Lainey Wilson‘s lifelong dream came true when The Voice mentor Reba McEntire invited her to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
“Lainey, I’m so proud of you,” McEntire remarked, after Wilson, Billboard’s recent cover star, performed her new single “Hang Tight Honey”. “You did a wonderful job. And I have heard that I have inspired you and what you’ve done so far. I’m thrilled that I have had anything to do you with your career because you are blowing it up.”
And with that, McEntire made it official. Wilson will be inducted into the Opry.
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Hailing from Baskin, LA, Wilson kicked off the recent 2024 ACM Awards with a mini-medley performance (including a sweet taste of “Hang Tight Honey”) and won for female artist of the year, one of her five nominations on the evening.
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“I was so proud of you at the ACMs the other night,” McEntire continued, “and I couldn’t be more proud to be the one that helps you continue to bridge the gap between our generations, and keep them all going.” Wilson will be elevated into the Opry during a ceremony in Nashville on June 7.
Somebody pinch me…I’m going to become a member of the @opry on June 7! 🥹😭 This is the moment little Lainey dreamed about ever since her first trip to Nashville. Thank you @reba & @NBCTheVoice for the surprise of a lifetime. https://t.co/MxNNvfjqA5— Lainey Wilson (@laineywilson) May 22, 2024
The 32-year old recounted visiting the Opry with her family at age 9. “I knew that I wanted to play there. I wanted to do it. It’s so crazy that you’re asking me to be a member because I look up to you so much.”
Watch the moment below on NBC’s The Voice.
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Wilson, a Record Breaker Award at Billboard‘s Country Power Players, has been carving out her own path in country music in recent years.
“Save Me,” her duet with Jelly Roll, reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart in December, soon after her coming-of-age song “Watermelon Moonshine” had summited the list — for the shortest stint between No. 1s for a female artist in the chart’s 34-year history.
“Watermelon Moonshine” nabbed both the Academy of Country Music (ACM) and Country Music Association Awards for album of the year, as well as the Grammy for best country album — only the ninth record ever to complete that trifecta. And at November’s CMA Awards, Wilson became the first woman to win entertainer of the year since Taylor Swift in 2011 and the first artist since Garth Brooks in 1991 to win best new artist one year and entertainer of the year the next.
The good times keep on rolling when Wilson opens her Bell Bottoms Up Bar, located at 120 South 3rd Ave., on May 31. The same day, the rising star launches her Country’s Cool Again Tour with two headlining shows at Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater.
On Tuesday evening (April 9), as Belmont University’s Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business celebrated a special “Belmont at the Opry” program, the program also revealed a $58 million lead gift from music industry executive and philanthropist Mike Curb and the Mike Curb Foundation, which will fuel a further expansion of the program’s presence on Nashville’s Music Row, with the renovation of existing buildings and the construction of a new state-of-the-art facility.
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The expansion comes as Belmont’s music business program celebrated its half-century milestone last year. The program launched in 1973, founded by the late Robert E. Mulloy and with support from former University president Dr. Herbert Gabhart and music industry executive Cecil Scaife (who was part of Sun Records in Memphis before relocating to Nashville), with the intent of providing formal education and real-world career experience to young adults with aspirations of entering various sectors of the music business, including record production, label operations, songwriting, music publishing. The Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business was established in 2003 and is located at 34 Music Square East in Nashville (Belmont has contributed to preserving the historic Music Row recording studios Columbia Studio A and Owen Bradley’s Quonset Hut). The program is also a mainstay on Billboard’s annual Top Music Business Schools list.
The expansion project will be in two phases. The first, which is underway, includes the renovation of the historic Buddy Lee Attractions/Capitol Records building at 38 Music Square East. The renovation will add 17,000 square feet of space, including songwriting rooms, live sound classrooms, listening spaces and student lounges. The renovation will also include an updated space for Nashville’s Leadership Music office.
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Phase two will involve developing a 75,000-square-foot building behind the program’s current Music Row-area building, with construction of the new facility beginning over the next 24 months. The building will serve both students and the greater Music Row-area community, encompassing a performance venue that can accommodate more than 150 people, as well as networking and gathering spaces for both students and industry professionals, a coffee shop, content creation rooms and underground parking. Phase two will involve a broader fundraising campaign, which launched Tuesday night.
Curb’s gift, and renderings of the spaces, were unveiled during a reception held just prior to the “Belmont at the Opry” event, which featured prominent Belmont University alumni, including artists Trisha Yearwood, Brad Paisley, Tyler Hubbard, Hailey Whitters, Ashley Cooke and Ian Munsick, as well as songwriters Ashley Gorley, Hillary Lindsey and Nicolle Galyon.
Other Belmont alumni among Nashville’s music industry community include Steven Curtis Chapman, Josh Turner, COIN, Brian Kelley, Sony Music Nashville CEO Rusty Gaston, producer/guitarist Dann Huff, UMG Nashville chair/CEO Cindy Mabe, Spirit Music Nashville CEO/Chief Creative Frank Rogers and Warner Chappell Nashville president/CEO Ben Vaughn.
“Mike Curb’s remarkable generosity and partnership with Belmont over many years has been invaluable in advancing entertainment and music business education,” Belmont University President Dr. Greg Jones said. “This latest transformational gift solidifies Belmont’s position at the forefront of developing the next generation of music industry leaders. We are profoundly grateful to Mike and Linda for their continued investment in Belmont’s mission.”
“As Nashville’s music industry has grown and evolved into an international entertainment hub, it’s crucial that our education system keeps pace to develop skilled talent,” Curb added. “Belmont has been a fantastic partner over the years in preparing aspiring artists, songwriters, engineers, and music business leaders who go on to become invaluable employees for record companies throughout Nashville and the industry at large. With this latest investment, we’ll build upon that strong foundation to push entertainment and music business education ahead to the next level, ensuring a steady stream of well-prepared professionals for the ever-growing industry.”
“For 50 years, our faculty, stage and world-class facilities have made Belmont a top destination for future music executives, engineers, artists and songwriters. Mike’s partnership over decades has allowed Belmont to continually elevate our entertainment curriculum and facilities in lockstep with industry needs,” said Brittany Schaffer, who joined the Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business as dean in May 2023. “This lead gift allows us to deepen our integration with Music Row, creating an unprecedented immersive experience that will directly connect our students with industry leaders and opportunities while driving innovation alongside our partners in Nashville’s entertainment landscape.”
It’s been 26 years since Dan Rogers, the Grand Ole Opry’s newly promoted senior vp/executive producer, began working at the hallowed institution, and in that time, he’s seen thousands of shows. But the Opry has experienced a particularly fertile time since he became vp/executive producer in 2019, and his highlights range from the shivers he […]
As the Grand Ole Opry approaches its 100th anniversary, vp/executive producer Dan Rogers will take on expanded duties in his new role as senior vp/executive producer of the esteemed institution.
The 26-year Opry veteran will continue to oversee all aspects of the more than 225 shows at the Opry each year. “I really do take it as a pat on the back for what our entire team has been able to accomplish and what we’re in the middle of,” the self-effacing executive tells Billboard of his promotion, which is effective immediately “But there’s still so much I want to be a part of with the Opry before it’s my time to let somebody else take the reins.”
When Rogers took the reins as vp/executive producer in 2019, he couldn’t have imagined the challenges ahead. “The COVID pandemic hit seven or eight months into me being in this position. I was really thankful that I wasn’t new to the Opry when that hit,” says Rogers, who started at the Opry as an intern in 1998 and has held positions in artist relations, communication, marketing, production and tours.
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“We just assumed the flood of 2010 would be the most devastating thing and the most challenging time in our careers,” Rogers says, referencing the historic flood that devastated Nashville as the Cumberland River rose over its banks and filled the Grand Ole Opry House with 10 feet of water. “But it was truly the uncertainty and just the sadness of COVID that made it so difficult for us.”
Nevertheless, the Grand Ole Opry continued, and artists performed 29 Saturday nights without a live audience during the COVID pandemic, never missing a performance. Fans all over the world continued to enjoy the nearly 100-year-old show as they tuned in to the Opry Live broadcast and livestream.
Under Rogers’ leadership, the Opry welcomes a wide range of performers — both newcomers and established superstars, as well as acts who fall outside of country. For example, “American Pie” singer Don McLean made his Opry debut Mar. 9.
“Mr. Rogers, or Opry Dan, as we still lovingly call him, is so effective simply because he absolutely loves the Opry and everyone connected with it. It is his passion, and it shows,” says Jeannie Seely, a 58-year member of the Opry, who was Rogers first assignment as an intern, when he was charged with taking her and her dog, Shadpoke, to the welcome center to greet fans. “Dan is the perfect choice for this important position. He understands the broad spectrum of the Opry. He has the pulse of what’s happening in the music industry today and how it pertains to the Opry. At the same time, because of his lifelong love for this institution, he knows the history and the legendary artists who have created it. His mix of the two provides a show that can only be found at the Grand Ole Opry. The future of this country music treasure is safe in his hands.”
Trisha Yearwood, who celebrated her 25th anniversary as an Opry member on Mar. 13, agrees. “Dan has always understood the family that the Opry is, and he does everything with a smile. He even brings homemade apple pie backstage! I’m so happy to see him move up in our Opry family.”
Since Rogers took the helm as executive producer in 2019, 15 artists have been inducted as Grand Ole Opry members, and T. Graham Brown and Scotty McCreery will be inducted this spring. Last year set a record for Opry debuts, as 131 artists performed on the famed stage for the first time. During the past two years, there have been more than 200 debuts. “If you made me pick a favorite debut, it would probably be Leslie Jordan because that man brought so much love into this Opry House when he walked in,” Rogers recalls of the late actor/singer. “He had so much respect for this place and was determined to have the night of his life from the minute he walked in.”
During his tenure, the Xenia, Ill., native has executive produced Dolly Parton’s 50th Opry anniversary special, Grand Ole Opry: 95 Years of Great Country Music and Christmas at the Opry, which all aired on NBC; as well as the Opry’s 5,000th Saturday night broadcast on Oct. 30, 2022, and the 50th anniversary of the Grand Ole Opry House, which took place the weekend of Mar. 16.
“We went into the night, and I said to our programming staff, ‘One thing we should try to accomplish tonight is all of us should take time to enjoy the show, have fun and tell these artists we love them because this feels like a monumental show,’” he says of the 50th anniversary of the Opry House moving to its current building in 1974. “I loved just standing on the side of the stage and watching people from Bill Anderson, who has been here and served the Opry longer than any member in history, to relatively new Opry members all just enjoying being here and feeling like they were at home.”
Rogers’ duties include serving as executive producer for the weekly Opry Live broadcast and live-stream. He will add new executive producer roles on upcoming international and domestic broadcasts, especially those related to the Grand Ole Opry’s 100th year on the air in 2025.
There’s palpable excitement in Rogers’ voice when he talks about celebrating the Opry’s 100th anniversary. “Our goal would be to do up to 240 Opry performances next year, the network television specials and a couple of monumental shows, probably outside of Nashville,” he says. “We’re taking the Opry to some unexpected places in addition to really having a show almost any time a Nashvillian wants to come see us or anyone is coming from around the world. If you spend two nights in Nashville, [we’re] pretty sure at least one of those nights we’ll be staging the Grand Ole Opry for you.”
Though the Grand Ole Opry’s actual centennial is in November 2025, the festivities will begin long before. “We’ll begin celebrating about this time next year and will continue basically as long as people will let us,” Rogers says with a laugh. “There are so many artists we want to showcase and partners we want to partner with, it really will take several months for us to accomplish all that we want to accomplish, but we also want to give people plenty of opportunities to come see us if you are a spring traveler or summer traveler, fall, winter or what have you.”
Rogers says there are plans for special exhibits and specific tours celebrating the Opry’s 100th, which he expects will draw more than 250,000 visitors. “You will also know that it’s a really, really special year when you walk through either on a tour or as an artist walking through on a show night,” he says.
There are also plans for shows that will honor Grand Ole Opry legends who have died such as Roy Acuff and Minnie Pearl.
Rogers quarterbacks a staff that includes the Opry’s programming and artist relations team’s associate producers Nicole Judd and Gina Keltner, as well as artist relations and programming strategy director Jordan Pettit.
After all these years, Rogers says he still gets a thrill on show nights. “My favorite thing is walking to the side of the stage and watching the curtain go up and seeing 4,400 people out there and knowing for some of them it’s a bucket list moment,” he says. “There’s probably some little kid from southern Illinois who had never dreamed that they would be where I am and there are probably lots of Trisha Yearwoods, Lainey Wilsons and John Pardis out there, just taking it all in and thinking, ‘I’m going to be on that stage someday.’”
