New Opry Show Will Honor The Classics

Evening will be 'decidedly different' from the other 'Opry' performances, official says
By CINDY WATTS • Staff Writer - The Tennessean • July 25, 2008 

If the struggling economy is negatively impacting the Grand Ole Opry, the business isn't showing its bruises. The historic country music organization announced plans this week to add a fourth Opry show to its weekly agenda on Thursdays in 2009. 

Dubbed Opry Country Classics, the new program puts the spotlight on the songs Steve Buchanan, president of Gaylord Entertainment Co.'s Grand Ole Opry Group, calls the "standards" of country music. Each week the songs will be performed by the classic country stars that made them famous and many of the genre's established singers and newcomers. 

"These are the classic country hits that really have defined country music as a genre," Buchanan said. "Thursday nights will really be those songs that are truly the classics. This show allows us the opportunity to have an artist come out and do a medley of Patsy Cline songs as well as having Charley Pride or Loretta Lynn or Bill Anderson come out and sing the hits that define their career." 

John Conlee, an Opry member since 1981, said he sees no reason a show featuring country classics wouldn't be a hit among country music fans. Famous for songs like "Rose Colored Glasses" and "Common Man," the singer plays about 80 shows a year and has seen firsthand the public's desire for classic country tunes. 

"What I've found in the last few years is there is a hunger for classic country like never before," he said. "I think part of the hunger is they don't hear us as much on new country radio. So the best way for them to hear us is to come to a live show. I think this new Opry night will give yet another opportunity for that." 

Conlee said he was anxious for the start of the new show and looked forward to playing songs by Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell and Bob Wills. 

"I think this is going to bring some of those standards back into play," said the singer. "I think you'll hear a lot of us do those songs again, and that's great because when you stop to think about many of the folks who did those songs are no longer here to do them." 

That's much of what Buchanan had in mind over the past couple of months while developing the concept for the Thursday night Opry. But he also wanted to give people yet another reason to come to Nashville. 

"The Opry has an 83-year history," he said. "As Nashville's premiere attraction we want to do anything we can to enhance the destination and to drive demand for the destination. One of the things we hear from Nashville's visitors is they are looking for more options. We really feel like this gives them a new alternative, and we are hopeful it will give people a new reason to visit." 

Performances will differ

Details surrounding the Thursday night show are still being determined, but Buchanan said the end result would be an evening that's decidedly different from the Tuesday or Friday and Saturday performances, which host a mix of classic and contemporary country songs. 

Like current Opry broadcasts, Thursday night Classic Country Opry performances will be broadcast on 650 WSM-AM. 

The addition of the show, however, does impact the show's winter schedule. Traditionally Opry performances move from The Grand Ole Opry House to Ryman Auditorium in November and back at the end of February. The shows will now move back to the Opry House almost a month earlier, at the beginning of February. 

The first Opry Country Classics show is at 7 p.m. on March 26, and the shows will run through June 18 and resume Sept. 10 through Oct. 29. Tickets go on sale next month and come as singles or packaged with tickets to other Opry shows.

"We're hoping people will attend the Thursday night show and a regular Opry show on Friday or Saturday night," Buchanan said. "We want there to be differentiating elements so they'll want to experience (both). We're always reviewing our schedule and in 2000 we added Tuesday night performances … and we've continued to see the popularity of those shows grow. That's something that really made us think about looking at other nights of the week and other approaches we could take to an Opry performance."

Reach Cindy Watts at 615-664-2227 or ciwatts@tennessean.com.

                                                                               

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