CMT Blog: Archive

Growing up in the South -- and being brought up on country music -- made going to a show at the Grand Ole Opry House something I've always wanted to experience. On Tuesday (Oct. 27), I found out that's just what it is -- an experience, not just any old concert. I realized this during the introductory video just five minutes into the show. At 4' 11", Little Jimmy Dickens climbed a stepladder in order to stand eye-to-eye with 6' 6" Trace Adkins and invited Adkins to become an Opry member. It was obvious from Adkins' facial expression that he was elated. The audience doubled over with laughter at the first sight of Dickens on the ladder but the laughs quickly died down as Adkins' emotion apparently overwhelmed him, leaving everyone else with a warm sentiment and a big smile -- and the show hadn't even started yet.

When the night did get going, the lineup included Gloriana, Jimmy Wayne (who performed his new single, "Sara Smile"), Dickens and one of my all-time favorites, Martina McBride. The performers all interacted with the audience and expressed how excited and thankful they are every time they step out on that stage, and each sang two or three songs, told stories and cracked jokes. I couldn't have been any more satisfied with my first time at the Opry. It proved to be everything I had imagined.

The fact that country artists see the Opry stage as a road sign on their career highway that says "You've made it" makes it even more exciting, since fans like me love to see their favorite artists do well. It's not a huge, fantastical production and no one is out of their seat screaming and dancing fanatically. In fact, it's rather intimate. But, for me, it was the intimacy and the idea of how many country legends have made their mark on that stage that made it an experience instead of just a show.