I am a member of the last of the folks who witnessed devastating change at the Opry beginning in 1998. The changes included the firing of almost the entire Grand Ole Opry Staff Band, the firing of Opry members for one reason or another, the change in staff on a very wide scale never before seen in the history of the Opry, and even the cancelling of a couple of Saturday night shows, such as never happened before, during the winter season. The ticket prices were jacked up exponentially to where the average person can no longer afford to go tot he show, and even then, there will be a great number of non-members on the show while the members of the Opry are not allowed to play it with any regularity as was the norm up for the first 72 years of its existance.
The first weekend of June, 2000, the Opry stage went from a simple set to the complicated and anything-but-country set you are apt to see today. The flood of May, 2010 could very well have been avoided from hurting the Opry House as it was in 1975 when sandbags were placed around the Opry House to protect it from the floods (the Opryland Hotel was not yet buiilt then and did not open until 1977). No sandbags were ever used to protect it then - that shows the heart of the problem by itself.
But I am not here to necessarily bring out those faults (as much as they hurt Nashville and the entire area), but to remember what a wonderful place the Grand Ole Opry was for fans and for musicians and artists alike in what I term "the glory years".
I came to Nashville in the summer of 1983 and remained there for the most part throughout the 1980s, going backstage almost weekly and befriending many people i considered my heroes in country music. Many others that I did not know when I came to town became dear friends I will never forget - folks such as "Big Jim" Webb, who played steel for Del Reeves, and many others thatw ill be mentioned here in my blog as time rolls on.
I came to work for the Opryland Park (Opryland USA) in April, 1984, as a 19 year old hungry to nbe as close ot the Opry as I possibly could. I loved the music and the rural flavor of the show very much and I believed strongly in the service that it was to millions of fans through out the United States. Even by that time, the Opry was changing, and only the year before had been sold to Gaylord Entertainment. Until July, 1982, the Opry had been owned by the National Life and Accident Insurance Company, who allowed the Opry to grow from it's humble beginnings created by George D Hay. The show was strictly a country show and gave very little towards other types of music - the Opry, as a name, would nnever have fit any other kind of music and was designed to reflect rural values as well as siumple music and rural comedy. Even the artists were looked at very hard for their background to insure that they were from the country until recently.
Backstage was always full of people - and that made the Opry a warm and inviting place for fans of the music and friends of the musicians. Only people who were related to the aritsts or showed extreme interest int he show and its music was allowed backstage, although that was not always the case. There were so many shows in the open dressing rooms besides the show going on out front - you knew an artist was genuinely for his/her fans when they left their dressing room door open and played their music between their places on the Opry for the people who were honroed to be backstage. I have so many fond and wonderful memories of different artists that I loved very much, who played in dressing room number one or number three or number five, or any of the others. Very seldom weere there closed doors. Much of the time, the ones who closed their doors were visiting the open rooms anyway.
The sponsors always will live in my mind as being a huge part of the Opry with their jingles (performed on tape by Flatt and Scriggs, the Willis Brothers, or any of the other number of Opry personalities and artists), and sometimes during the commercials, you could go up front and speak to the artist sponsooring it and tell him/her how much you loved their part of the show or just to say hello. Unlike the Ryman, at the new Opry House there was a huge place on the floor in front of the stage where fans could sit and enjoy segments of the show and atke pictures. I often stood by the concession stand on the left side of the stage against the wall watching not only the Opry but enjoying the audience reaction (I could see virtuall 65% of the audience from that vantage point) and getting to speak to friends as they went in and out of the stage door (which was behind the curtain there).
I will have much to write about here as I remember the people I interacted with through my lifetime. I don't do it with pride - I look at it as a huge blessing and a wonderful thing that I got to experience in my life that anyone else could have done as well if they had made the choice to pursue it.
Be coming back for new blogs here on a periodic basis.
