THE "NEW" OPRY HOUSE

A few weeks ago, I was talking about the Grand Ole Opry with someone at the Country Radio Seminar. I don't really remember the context of the conversation, but the other person said 'You know, the Opry hasn't been the same since they moved to the "New" Opry House.' I didn't think much about that comment until I was looking at the Country Calendar this week, and saw that the Opry moved into its' new digs 36 years ago this week. I bring that up, because the Ryman was only home for the show for 31 years. It's interesting to note that the current home of the Opry is actually the longest running.

Moreover, in thinking about that fact, I thought of what the "New" Opry House has meant to me over the years. The night that I knew for sure what I wanted to do with my career was in February 1986. I had won tickets to see Hank Williams, Jr. at the "New" Opry House, and went there with my father and my brother. We walked around the Opryland Hotel for a while that evening, and I still remember walking by the Music Country Radio Network booth inside the lobby of the hotel. I was mesmerized, and though a lot has changed at WSM over the years, I still have to admit that whenever I am there...I look a little longer at that studio than anything else at the hotel.

Before that night, I went to the Opry for the first time back in 1983. Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Hank Snow, and Bill Monroe were all still alive at that time and performing at the "New" Opry House. I also remember concerts there during the summer featuring people like Loretta Lynn and Ricky Skaggs, back in the days of Opryland. Remember that place? One of the best musical memories I have of those shows was Ricky, with just a guitar, debuting a song he had written about his parents---"Thanks Again."

One of the first major interviews I ever did took place back in February 1995 at the "New" Opry House. I went backstage and talked to Bill Anderson in Dressing Room Number One. For historians, that was the room assigned to Roy Acuff until his death in 1992. I didn't have a tape recorder at the time, so I borrowed one from my friend Mickey Bunn, who programs one of the two stations I now work at. If you want to hear a twenty-one year old who was so nervous that his voice was as high as Donald Duck on acid....it would be me.

For many years, I was very honored to be able to go backstage and meet many of the people who I have long admired. Grandpa Jones, Lee Ann Womack, Tony Brown, Faith Hill...they are all in the picture book. One night, I got to meet "Dashing" Doyle Holly, one of the former members of Buck Owens' Buckaroos. I even met Gomer Pyle, Jim Nabors himself, one night there.

I wasn't even a month old when the Opry moved from the Ryman to the "New" Opry House, so I don't have any memories of Saturday nights on Fifth Avenue. I don't doubt they were classic nights, though...How could they not have been? But, for a generation like mine, don't discount the allure of the current home for the Grand Ole Opry.

Last September, my wife and I took the kids to see the Opry for the first time. For a few minutes, I walked around the hallway of the "New" Opry House, and felt just as many ghosts and spirits as people say they do at the Ryman. As a radio guy, the picture and tribute to Grant Turner is probably one of the more meaningful tributes in the whole place.

Trust me, I love the past and the heritage of Country Music as much as anyone. I often have remarked to people that I wish I could have started my career in 1961 instead of 1991, but with that said.....the "New" isn't always a bad thing, and to some of us....it's as "Classic" as can be!