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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.’”
The 4,300-capacity Grand Ole Opry crowd gave Mexican singer-songwriter Carin León a superstar’s welcome as he made his debut at the Nashville venue on Friday night (Feb. 23).
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León had one of Billboard’s top 10 Highest-Grossing Latin Tours of 2023 with his Colmillo de Leche Tour, which played Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena and Houston’s Toyota Center, among other venues. He was one Billboard’s Top Latin Artists on the 2023 year-end chart (based on song and album performance, as well as touring). Last year, Leon notched some of his biggest Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart hits, including “Primera Cita,” and the Grupo Frontera collaboration “Que Vuelvas.” León and Maluma joined forces for “Según Quien,” which topped both Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart and Regional Mexican Airplay chart in December. This past year, he won a Latin Grammy for best Norteño album (Colmillo de Leche)
Screams of adulation and a sea of cell phone lights greeted the León as he took the stage before a crowd that was on their feet and singing along with every (primarily Spanish) lyric he sang. Leon played his 2022 hit “No Es Por Aca,” followed with a solo version of “The One (Pero No Como Yo),” his duet with Kane Brown, which the pair debuted earlier in the week at the 2024 Premio Lo Nuestro. He closed with “Primera Cita,” a song which marked a milestone moment of experimentation for León, who blended Mexican and the soulful sounds of Memphis and New Orleans.
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At one point, as León stood on the Opry’s famed circle of wood, part of the Opry stage that had originally been in the floor of the Opry’s previous location at the Ryman Auditorium, he knelt down and placed a kiss on the floor.
“This moment is a dream come true,” he said later from the stage. “This moment is important for my music, for my country. Having all the family here and having country music accepting us, for us to be here, this place is magical. I hope to come back here a thousand times more. Thank you so much for this moment.”
He exited the stage, but only momentarily — as the screams and chants of the crowd quickly demanded that he return to the stage for another song. León obliged with an encore, and in the process, became one of the rare artists making their debut Opry performance to make an encore performance — joining a lineage of artists whose debut Opry performances included encores, including Josh Turner’s 2001 Opry debut, the 2016 Opry debut of rock legend John Fogerty (who had joined Brad Paisley on the Opry stage), and of course, Hank Williams, Sr.’s 1949 debut, when he was brought back onstage for six encores.
Just offstage, his “The One” collaborator Brown and singer-songwriter Leon Bridges stood among a throng of other supporters witnessing León’s Opry debut.
Earlier in the evening, seated backstage in the Little Jimmy Dickens-themed dressing room 3 at the Grand Ole Opry, León was filled with gratitude — and maybe a slight bit of nervousness — as he spoke of achieving his dream of playing on the Grand Ole Opry.
“Being here at the Grand Ole Opry, for every artist, it’s more than realizing a dream,” he told Billboard. “For me as a Mexican, for me coming from another genre, they are living the dream. We never realized that we would be here, even as an audience member, but now being here playing, it makes me so proud.
“I was walking around earlier, looking at the photos and the [artist] quotes that are on the walls. I cried four times reading what they said, because they felt like I do. It made me feel so humble and reminded me why I started doing music. This place is magical for every musician. The history, it’s a love letter to music and you feel like you’ve entered a sacred place.”
Since releasing a slate of live albums in 2018, followed by his full-length debut, El Malo, in 2019, León’s music has increasingly enveloped an array of sounds, among them folk, flamenco and country. He previously covered songs by Johnny Cash and Chris Stapleton and teamed with Walker Hayes for an Amazon Music collaboration.
Of his new collaboration with Brown, León says, “One of the first names in country music to collaborate with that somebody put on the table was Kane Brown. It was 2018 or so when I started hearing his music. He’s like the link for our genre and country music to happen. I met him and his team, and he’s such a humble person and good guy and one of my friends in this game that is music. I’m very happy that he believed in our music and it is the perfect time for this to happen.”
On April 26, León will make his debut performance at country music festival Stagecoach, performing on a bill that also includes Eric Church and Jelly Roll. He will be the first Spanish-language act to perform at both Stagecoach and Coachella.
“It’s unbelievable for me,” he says of those upcoming performances. “I’m kind of nervous about that show because it’s a different audience, but we’re going to enjoy it so much and I’ll get to see some of my idols, too. It’s a place where I’m going to celebrate what’s happening with our music and this musical revival. You can see less limits on every music. People are hungry for good music and artists don’t want to fit in a box. If you have a great song, you can upload it with just a guitar and video and you cannot deny what’s good.”
León, as well as his fellow artists including Bad Bunny, Maluma, Karol G and Grupo Frontera, are leading Latin music’s current global success. Latin and country were two of the genres with the most percentage gains in 2023, according to Luminate’s 2023 Year-End report, with Latin up 21.9% to 75.26 million units in 2023 and country rising 21.8% to 92.19 million units in 2023.
The crux of León’s country music-focused moments — the Opry debut, Stagecoach, the collaboration with Brown — is León’s in-the-works, full-fledged country album.
“This is one of my wishes of my life, to do this project,” he says. “I think this is the correct time to do it, and we are working on it. We are on the song selection process, but there are a lot of names we’re looking at.”
Similar themes are woven through the lyrics of both Regional Mexican and country — tales of love, family, and cowboy/vaquero culture. Leon’s upcoming country project could prove a key moment in further uniting the two genres. Historically, country has seen occasional moments of Latin artists finding successes on the country charts, with Johnny Rodriguez and Freddy Fender both earning No. 1 country hits in the 1970s, while in the 1990s, Tejano music star Emilio Navaira, band The Mavericks and Rick Trevino saw country radio successes.
More recently, artists including Frank Ray, Leah Turner, Valerie Ponzio and Veronique Medrano are making their own fusions of Latin and country sounds. Additionally, León’s collaboration with Brown extends a lineage of Latin artists collaborating with country artists, from Julio Iglesias and Willie Nelson earning a Country Music Association Award for collaborating and earning a country hit with “To All the Girls I Loved Before” (they would later also record “Spanish Eyes” in 1989). David Bisbal, Enrique Iglesias and Becky G are among other Latin artists who have collaborated with country artists in recent years.
“Everybody wants to be a cowboy right now, everybody wants to do country right now,” León says. “People are doing rap they are getting rap touched by Mexican music or touched by country music. They are wearing the hats, the boots. Louis Vuitton’s last collection, it’s all cowboy stuff. We as Americans, as Mexicans, we want to feel proud of what we are for. We don’t want to emulate what everybody’s doing — these are our roots. Our hat is what we are, our boots are what we are. I’m very happy that people are looking to our culture in such a big way that is happening right now.”
The Grand Ole Opry apologized to offended fans over the weekend after singer Elle King unleashed a profanity-laced rant during a Dolly Parton tribute concert at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Friday celebrating the iconic singer’s 78th birthday. The mea culpa came after King, who described herself onstage as “f–king hammered,” was attempting a cover of Parton’s 2001 song “Marry Me,” during which the “Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” singer admitted she could not remember the lyrics.
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In video clips of the incident, King appears to fumble for the lines to the song, singing instead “I don’t give a s–t” and “I don’t know the lyrics to these things in this f–king town… Don’t tell Dolly ’cause it’s her birthday,” holding the last word for an extended beat before rolling her eyes exaggeratedly.
The singer then turned her attention to the surprised crowd, telling them, “I’m not even gonna lie. That’s a b-side for ya. I’m not even gonna f–kin’ lie. Y’all bought tickets for this s–t? you ain’t getting your money back… I’ll tell you one thing more. Hi, my name is Elle King and I’m f–king hammered.” When a member of King’s band suggested she sing one of her own songs instead of trying another Parton cover, King responded, “I can barely play another person’s song, let me see if I can play one of mine.”
King’s uneven performance drew the ire of many country music fans and resulted in an apology from the Opry, which tweeted “We deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night’s second Opry performance.” The tweet came in response to a message from a disgruntled attendee, who’d written, “It was such a disappointment to spend $300 on tickets for a show where one of the artists ruined an entire night. I mean it’s The Opry, the greatest country venue in the world. That performance was like lackluster karaoke performer wasted out of their minds. Awful.”
In a follow-up, the person added, “I wish she would’ve been there because Elle King ruined the night with her horrible, drunk, and profane performance. Dolly Parton would’ve been mortified. For our first time at The Opry, it was a shame we all had to witness that.” The show also featured tributes from Ashley Monroe, Terri Clark, Tigirlily Gold and Dailey and Vincent.
Parton’s younger sister, singer Stella Parton, was also disappointed with King’s performance, tweeting, “I didn’t see nor hear the Grand Ole Opry birthday tribute to my big sister Dolly over the weekend. But some lil girl by the name of Elle King apparently cussed and insulted some of Dolly’s fans by not knowing a song. She did admit to being ‘hammered’ her word not mine.”
Stella Parton continued with a history lesson about the Opry, as well as a friendly bit of advice for performers who don’t do their homework. “But let me just say this, it wouldn’t be the first time a Hillbilly went on the stage of the Opry ‘hammered’ but I guess it’s ok if you’re a male but good lord don’t ever let a girl behave that way folks! Double f–king standard if ya ask me. So the Opry is apologizing! Lol,” Stella wrote, adding, “To any lil ego thinking they can learn the lyrics correctly with a half assed listen to one of Dolly’s song. Surprise! You’ll end up looking as silly as that lil girl. Do your homework people. Memorize the lyrics to ‘Jolene’ or ‘COMC.’ My sister loves words. A brilliant word smith.”
At press time a spokesperson for King had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment and it did not appear as if King had commented on the incident on her socials.
Parton celebrated her birthday last week by releasing a deluxe edition of her debut rock album, Rockstar, featuring nine bonus tracks.
Hi Judas, we deeply regret and apologize for the language that was used during last night’s second Opry performance.— Grand Ole Opry (@opry) January 20, 2024
Wynonna Judd is set to host ‘Christmas at the Opry,’ airing from Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House on NBC on Thursday, Dec. 7, beginning at 8 p.m. ET, and airing on Peacock the following day.
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Joining Judd is a stellar slate of performers, including Brenda Lee, Kelly Clarkson, Mickey Guyton, Lauren Alaina, BRELAND, Trace Adkins, Chris Janson, Chrissy Metz, Meghan Patrick, Mitchell Tenpenny and Adam Doleac.
The two-hour music special will feature several top artists performing an array of holiday classics alongside some of today’s most impactful music. The show will be taped on Tuesday, Oct. 3 at the Grand Ole Opry House, beginning at 7 p.m. CT.
Earlier this week, Judd was honored during the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards with the country champion award.
“Wynonna is one of the most recognized and lauded performers in country music,” said Cassandra Tryon, senior vp, Live Events, NBCUniversal Entertainment, in a statement. “Not only is she incredibly talented, her selflessness and passion for putting the needs of others in the spotlight is unmatched. We can’t think of a better person to honor as our inaugural ‘Country Champion’ and to celebrate the holidays with across these two major country music events.”
Christmas at the Opry is executive produced by Jesse Ignjatovic, Evan Prager and Barb Bialkowski for Den of Thieves along with RAC Clark and Jen Jones.
Both Christmas at the Opry and People’s Choice Country Awards reflect collaborations following NBCUniversal’s equity investment in Opry Entertainment Group alongside Atairos.
Tickets to the Oct. 3 taping are available at opry.com.
The Grand Ole Opry has revealed eight artists chosen to take part in this year’s Opry NextStage program, marking the largest class in the program’s history.
The 2023 class members are Ashley Cooke, ERNEST, Jackson Dean, Chapel Hart, Corey Kent, Kameron Marlowe, Megan Moroney and Ian Munsick.
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ERNEST released the deluxe version of his Flower Shops album earlier this year, and earned a top 20 Billboard Country Airplay hit with the Morgan Wallen-featured title track. Jackson Dean’s debut single, “Don’t Come Lookin’,” reached the top five on the Country Airplay chart, while Moroney‘s “Tennessee Orange” currently sits at No. 17 on the same chart. Kent’s single “Wild as Her” resides at No. 8 on the Country Airplay chart.
Familial trio Chapel Hart, known for its performances on America’s Got Talent, will release its debut album Glory Days on May 19. Meanwhile, Munsick just released his new album, White Buffalo, which includes collaborations with Cody Johnson, Vince Gill and Marty Stuart.
The Grand Ole Opry will officially introduce the new NextStage class with an Opry NextStage Live concert at Lava Cantina in Colony, Texas, on May 10 at 2:30 p.m., leading up to the 58th annual Academy of Country Music Awards on May 11. The Opry NextStage Live concert will air live on Circle Network. Following the show, the artists in the Opry NextStage program will be featured throughout the year, with original Opry content, performances on the Grand Ole Opry and support across the Opry Entertainment platforms, including WSM Radio and Circle Network.
“Opry NextStage is a testament to the Grand Ole Opry’s longstanding reputation as a trusted curator in Country music and its commitment to nurturing and showcasing exceptional new talent, as it has done for almost a century” said Jordan Pettit, director of artist relations and programming strategy of Opry Entertainment Group. “This year’s new artist class, much like previous classes, showcases exceptional creativity across various musical styles, and we are excited to carry on the Opry tradition by introducing this exciting group of rising artists to fans.”
Tickets will be available through an exclusive pre-sale beginning Thursday, April 13, at 10 a.m. CT. General public on-sale will begin Friday, April 14, at 10 a.m. CT via Eventbrite.
The Opry NextStage program launched in 2019 and has featured artists including Lainey Wilson, Morgan Wade, Elvie Shane, Yola, Breland, Parker McCollum and Riley Green.
The Grand Ole Opry has made strides in offering its platform to highlight a range of new artists, from welcoming more than 100 artists to make their Grand Ole Opry debut performances in 2022, to making a minority investment with country music website Whiskey Riff and playing a role in the inaugural People’s Choice Country Awards, slated to air Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. ET/PT across NBC and Peacock, live from the Grand Ole Opry stage.
On Tuesday evening (Feb. 7), singer, songwriter and trailblazer Frankie Staton celebrated a career highlight more than four decades in the making: her Grand Ole Opry debut performance.
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“I never thought this moment would happen, but it did,” Staton told Billboard prior to her debut. Since moving to Nashville from her native North Carolina in 1981, Staton has been a champion for Black country artists and songwriters, in addition to forging her own career, and was instrumental in launching the Black Country Music Association alongside Cleve Francis in the 1990s.
As she has done for decades, Staton used her Opry moment to once again uplift those around her, welcoming longtime friends and artists Valierie Ellis Hawkins and Jonell Mosser, as their voices intertwined in superb harmonies during Staton’s brief set.
“To God be the glory,” Staton told the audience in the Opry House Tuesday evening, standing in the spotlight of country music’s most venerable stage.
As part of her Opry debut, singer-songwriter Staton performed her own music: “Your Dream” and “Forever Loretta,” the latter a tribute to the late Country Music Hall of Famer Loretta Lynn. For that song, she asked the audience to hold their cell phone lights high in the air. “We are going to light up the Opry House up for Loretta,” she told the audience, as the Opry House was quickly lit aglow.
Prior to her Opry debut, Staton told Billboard, “Loretta was one of my icons. I’m excited about singing my own music and about singing a song that is very personal to me about somebody that I cared a lot about.” Staton also recalled meeting Lynn — a story she later also shared with the Opry audience.
“I was waiting tables at the Cooker by Centennial Park,” Staton told Billboard. “Crystal Gayle and Loretta Lynn came in the day that they buried Owen Bradley, who had produced Patsy Cline and Loretta. I went up to her and said, ‘Loretta, I’ve thought about you a lot…I thought if I could have anything in the world for you, I’d have your daddy know what happened to you.’ In that instant, she started crying, and then Crystal started crying. I thought, ‘Oh no, I made Loretta cry!’ Then she said, ‘Look, honey, it’s a good cry, because we love our Daddy.’”
It was Lynn’s own hardscrabble story and unflinchingly honest music that inspired Staton to chase her music dreams to Nashville in 1981, after watching the movie Coal Miner’s Daughter.
Speaking to Billboard, she recalled one of her earliest performances in Nashville: As Staton was on her way to a jam session in the Printer’s Alley area of Nashville, a police officer stopped her and questioned where she was headed. He then followed her to the venue, where Staton was one of the earliest singers to sign up to perform. Then, while other performers who signed up after she did were called onstage to sing, Staton had to wait until nearly 2:30 a.m. for her turn to perform.
“I knew when they wouldn’t let me up there, this would be a defining moment of my life,” Staton recalled. “You don’t run from this. There are times in your life where you have to stay and fight for what you want. Things that have come normally to other people, Black people have had to bend over backwards to get the opportunity. I knew if I left, they would never know the potential I had. I said, ‘I don’t care if I have to stay here all night long, I’m not leaving.’”
Her determination led to her being called back to perform the next evening, which resulted in an audition at another nearby restaurant and her first paying gig in Nashville. In 1997, after reading a newspaper story that included a record executive claiming they could not find Black country music talent, Staton was again determined to challenge the inequity she was seeing.
“I read the story over and over and thought, ‘That’s not true. There are some real talented Black country singers here.’”
In February 1997, she launched the first country music showcases for Black artists at Nashville’s Bluebird Café, the venue famous for helping to accelerate the careers of artists including Garth Brooks. “I was trying to open a door for more diversity in country music and bring to this American art form a whole new page of light that they know nothing about,” Staton told Billboard.
The group quickly swelled to over 60 artists, but Staton recalls that among those who attended that first showcase was Hawkins, who last night stood beside Staton on the Opry stage. “She had an incredible country voice and story,” Staton recalled of first meeting Hawkins. “She loved Don Williams and Vern Gosdin. She sang at Loretta Lynn’s ranch all the time, but I couldn’t get anyone on Music Row to listen.”
Ellis Hawkins had a potential artist development deal with a major label, but it soon fizzled out. “It made me sick to see that level of real country talent just be dissed and ignored,” Staton stated. “It made me sick because I knew she was the real deal. We dreamed together and we’ve been friends ever since.”
Staton forged ahead, writing songs, performing music and becoming a staple in Nashville’s live music scene. During her career, she has spent a decade as a performer on Ralph Emery’s morning television show and made appearances on Nashville Now. She’s spent years as a regular pianist and performer at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center. Behind the scenes, she has also spent considerable time as a champion, supporter and mentor for scores of Black artists, songwriters and other creatives within Nashville’s music community.
Her work in launching the Black Country Music Association laid the groundwork for organizations and individuals spearheading current diversity and inclusion efforts, as well as platforms highlighting Black country musicians, including the Black Opry, the Black Opry Revue, the Rosedale Collective, Rissi Palmer’s Color Me Country Radio program on Apple Music and Color Me Country artist grant fund, as well as the Country Music Association’s diversity and inclusion fellowship.
Meanwhile, a whole new generation is learning of Staton’s career journey, through Amazon Music’s documentary, For Love & Country (“Your Dream” is featured in the documentary’s playlist). Staton’s work alongside Francis with the Black Country Music Association is also featured as part of the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum’s current exhibit, American Currents: The State of Music – Unbroken Circle, which will open March 8 and run through February 2024.
“My mantra has always been to be the change I wanted to see,” Staton said.
Ryman Hospitality Properties’ country-focused entertainment business, Opry Entertainment Group, saw its revenue grow 57.3% to $77.2 million in the third quarter, the company reported Monday (Oct. 31). Through the first nine months of 2022, the entertainment segment grew 86.2% to $183.6 million.
Excluding acquisitions and investments over the last three years, Opry Entertainment Group revenue and EBITDA were 19% and 21% higher than over the same period in 2019, said CEO Colin Reed. Among its properties are Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium and Wild Horse venues, as well as the media network Circle, a three-year-old joint venture with Gray Television.
“This is the same type of growth we saw pre-pandemic,” said Reed. However, the company lowered the top end of its guidance range for full-year entertainment adjusted EBITDAre (a real estate version of EBITDA) from $80 million to $76 million (the bottom end of the range remained at $72 million).
Opry Entertainment Group is benefitting from increasingly strong tourist interest in Nashville. Outgoing CEO Reed said Nashville International Airport had a record 1.83 million travelers in June, up 9% from the same month in 2019. Nashville also set a record for hotel demand in June of 875,000 room nights, 11% greater than in June 2019.
Ultimately, Ryman wants Opry Entertainment Group to “flourish as a standalone, separate entity,” said Reed. To that end, in the second quarter, Ryman sold 30% of Opry Entertainment Group to investment firm Atairos Group and media giant NBCUniversal for a combined $300 million in a deal that closed in the second quarter. The new investors have a right to request an initial public offering four years after the deal — in 2026 — or sell their stake back to Ryman for cash or shares, said president Mark Fioravanti, who will succeed Reed as CEO on Jan. 1, 2023. Prior to the seventh anniversary in 2029, Atairos Group and NBC Universal can sell their stake back to Ryman if there has not been a sale, spin-off or IPO.
Bringing aboard new investors should help Opry Entertainment Group’s efforts to capitalize on the popularity of country music and culture. Ole Red, a chain of multi-level bar/music venues the company created in partnership with country star Blake Shelton, opened its fourth location in Orlando in 2020 and a fifth location in May at Nashville International Airport. A sixth location in Las Vegas is scheduled for 2023.
The company branched out to another fast-growing city in the second quarter by closing its acquisition of Block 21, a mixed-use property in Austin, Texas that includes ACL Live at Moody Theater, home of the television show Austin City Limits Theater, as well as the W Austin Hotel and retail and office space.
Reed is optimistic that Nashville’s growth will benefit Opry Entertainment Group without hurting its core hospitality business. There are more than 50 new hotel developments in Nashville-Davidson County, Reed said, and the city projects over 2,600 additional rooms will be available in the next two years. These hotels aren’t competitors to Ryman’s Opryland Resort and Convention Center on the outskirts of town, he noted, and they will bring additional customers to Ryman’s entertainment properties in the city.
“Many of these new visitors will end up seeing a show at the Ryman, touring the Opry House or spending an evening at Ole Red or the Wild Horse,” another downtown Nashville venue in its portfolio, said Reed. “When they leave Nashville and return home, or they go to Austin or Las Vegas for their musical pilgrimage, we’ll be there, continuing to engage with them whether through our investments in expanding the Ole Red footprint or deepening our virtual reach across linear television, digital streaming or online.”
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