Opry Goodness

So, after cheering it out for the CMM on Saturday morning/afternoon, we had a wonderfully delicious 2.5 hour nap. It was just one of those sleeps where you sleep and sleep and sleep and it's just magical. I think the tough week and early morning wore me out as much as if we had actually run!!

And then.....it was magic time! I am SO not a fan of country music, but I have to admit it's been growing on me lately. We've watched the Apprentice the last few years, and since there's never anything on TV we had TiVod Celebrity Apprentice this winter. That was my first exposure to that tall glass of water Trace Adkins. I couldn't tell you a THING that he sings, but I just really liked the way he carried himself on the show, and how he seemed like an honest, good ole boy. So, when the show finaled and he didn't win I told Brent I really wanted to see him in concert. All it took was some Googling to see that he'd be here at the Grand Ole Opry soon (he lives here in Nashville), so I started begging Brent for tickets. One thing B knows about me is that I am NOT a country fan, so in an attempt to convince me I wouldn't enjoy his show he got me a copy of his latest Greatest Hits CD. Well, his plan totally backfired because I was even more interested in seeing his show!! I eventually wore Brent down with a lot of dancing and whining and we went online to get a couple of tickets to the show.

We live really close to the Opryland Hotel tourist magnet, but the river sort of cuts us off from quick access. We left pretty early since we had to pick up our tickets at the will call window, so we got there about an hour before showtime. And clearly we were going to be spending the evening with a lot of gray hairs because the plaza was already packed and lines were formed of people waiting to get in. It was like bad Southwest airlines deja'vu. I have no clue why they had formed lines.....seats are all assigned anyway. Gotta love the oldies....We picked up our tickets very fast and still had about 45 minutes to kill. Looking around I saw there were several people dressed up as famous Opry classics.....so of course I had to have our pic made. The first one we went up to was Minnie Pearl. We started talking to her and it turns out she had run the full marathon that morning! We talked running for a bit and then headed on to the next one....Porter Wagoner. I don't know what he looked like when he was young, so I have no clue if this was a good replica or not. The third one we weren't sure about, so I had to ask and he was Hank Williams Sr. After some pic taking we headed into the Opry store where we tried on most every hat or other item you could play with, and I got a few little souvenirs for myself and a "grow your own cowboy" for my friend S. Now we were about 20 minutes from showtime so they opened the doors and the old people started rushing in. Our ticket taker was irritated at one of them who kept wanting to go back in and out, it was SO funny. I was really reminded of our trip to Vermont a few years ago when the old people kept literally pushing me at the Ben and Jerry's tour. It was nuts, old people can be so insanely cranky and pushy.

"Hank Williams Sr."












"Porter Wagoner"













So we made our way into our seats, we were in about the third row of the balcony, so we were still very close to the stage, and we were right on the end of the pew. We've been before but I had forgotten how they're pews and not actual seats. Luckily our row was of average size people, a row near us had several oversized people that scrunched the regular size people. A lot of people were wearing their race shirts from CMM and the two girls in front of us were hobbling which was hilarious. Before showtime they played about 10 minutes of clips and told the history of the Opry, and Minnie Pearl came on for a few to warm the crowd up.

The Opry is comprised of various "segments". From 6:30-7 was the "pre-show". Little Jimmy Dickens was the host and he came out and did a couple of songs and told some pretty funny jokes. He was SO little! I swear I am probably taller than him. He was too cute. Some other people performed in his segment, I don't actually know who they are or remember! Then at 7 the show went live on one of the country tv stations and radio. In this hour section you had your main acts. Trace Adkins started the show, then Ashton Shepherd came on and sang a few, then Crystal Gaile, and back to Trace. I wish they had lost Crystal Gaile because she was so bad and her hair is just getting gross. I'm not sure if she's been hanging out on an Indian reservation or what the deal is, because her stuff had this weird flute thing in it and was just awful. Ashton was pretty good, and WOW she is Southern!! Her accent just draaaags it's so Southern. Since they have so many performers in each set each one only gets to do 3-4 songs, so there wasn't nearly enough Trace. He didn't do a lot of my fave songs, but he did close with You're Gonna Miss This which is just the best song ever.

Little Jimmy Dickens, I like to call him "Itty Bitty Jimmy Dickens"









Ashton Shepherd:









Trace Adkins:










Then it was time for Post-Show #1. This was another half hour set hosted by Ray Pillow. I don't have a clue who he was, but he was pretty funny, sang a few and had several more guests in his segment. The final half hour, Post Show #2, was hosted by The Whites, another group I don't know but the lady had crazy eyebrows. There were a few more singers and they had some square dancers. Square dancing looked so fun, I really need to look into some lessons for B & I. After square dancing he may think the swimming lessons I made us take weren't such torture. =)

All in all it was great fun. A lot of the songs the various people sang were classics that most everyone would know, and it was just a fun touristy thing to do. I'd highly recommend anyone check it out, or take visiting peeps to it. The tickets prices aren't bad at all, and the way the theatre is set up there's really not a bad seat in the house. I definitely didn't get to see enough of my man Trace, so I'll have to keep an eye out for a real concert date in town.

Here's a video of the performance:


I hope you all have a great weekend!!