Click for a photo gallery from the Grand Ole Opry House dedication in 1974 (photo: Frank Empson/The Tennessean)
Jeannie Seely and Bill Anderson were there the first night — March 16, 1974 — when the Grand Ole Opry House opened its doors, welcoming fans and dignitaries, including President Richard Nixon.
Seely and Anderson — along with Josh Turner, Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Diamond Rio and Clint Black — will be on hand this weekend when the Grand Ole Opry celebrates the venue’s 40th anniversary. The Opry itself turns 90 next year.
“I wouldn’t miss being here to help celebrate the Opry’s 40th,” said Shelton, a coach on NBC’s talent competition “The Voice.” “To me, the Grand Ole Opry is an artist, and I get to be one of its songs that night.”
Before the music starts, Saturday will kick off at 7:30 a.m. with the 650 AM WSM 5K Run & Walk starting at Opry Plaza. At 5 p.m., the Nashville Yo-Yo Club will launch a two-and-a-half hour Yo-Yo-A-Thon in the plaza in honor of the yo-yo lesson that country legend Roy Acuff famously gave Nixon on stage during the Opry House’s opening night.
Authors Dan Rogers and Brenda Colladay also will sign copies of their new book, “Backstage at The Grand Ole Opry,” from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the Opry Shop. The book contains photos from the Opry House’s first night, including the presidential yo-yo lesson and more than 200 exclusive additional images and stories of the Opry House backstage.
“I’m delighted that those stories are being told and that we gave a voice to these walls,” said Rogers, senior marketing manager for the Grand Ole Opry. “You always hear, ‘If these walls could speak, and it kind of feels like they are, somewhat. (The book) is the one place that it makes sense for all of these voices to come together and talk about this place that’s so important to them. I also think it’s great that people can see these photos that line our back hallways. When you look at them page by page you just see the stories they tell.”
Memories of the flood
Anderson and Seely don’t need to see the book — they’ve lived the stories. Some of Seely’s happiest memories were made at the Opry House with her best friend Dottie West. She also wrote some of her favorite songs there on an upright piano that was lost in the 2010 flood.
Click to see more photos of 2010 flood damage at the Grand Ole Opry House.
“Once you go in that building, your mind is focused on the entertainment business,” she said. “Everything else goes away. I think that’s what always inspired me to write.”
Anderson’s mind immediately goes to the 2010 flood —which is also documented in the book — when he thinks of the Opry House over the years.
“We were all devastated by that, but I think they did an incredible job putting the Opry House back together,” he said. “Particularly what they did backstage to turn it into so much more than it was. If there could have been a silver lining to having a flood come in and destroy so much, the way they’ve built it back … I think is just absolutely incredible.”
The Grand Ole Opry House’s 40th anniversary brings back fond memories of the radio show’s first night in its new home for Seely and Anderson.
Seely, now 73, said she was most worried about what to wear, settling on a crop top and hip huggers she bought in California.
“We were the ’70s, and there was one rhinestone button there between my boobs,” Seely said. “It was a fun thing. Sadly, I don’t still have that outfit. I don’t think I would look that good in it right now if I did.”
President Richard Nixon points out someone in crowd for his wife, Pat, during the dedication of the Grand Ole Opry House in 1974. (photo: Frank Empson/The Tennessean)
Anderson, now 76, wanted to make sure he got to experience the first show’s opening like a fan, from the audience. He knew Acuff was opening the show, but he didn’t know what Acuff had planned. He also knew that because they were playing in alphabetical order that night that he would be next, and after it was over he was going to have to high-tail it backstage.
Anderson watched the show kick off with a black-and-white film clip from 1940 of Acuff singing “Wabash Cannonball.” Then a scrim lifted revealing Acuff and his band singing the same song live and in the same key, but wearing updated clothes.
“I remember his band was dressed in bright yellow sport coats, and it was the most stunning thing when that scrim went up,” he said. “It was one of the most magical things I ever saw. I wouldn’t take a million dollars for having gone out there and seen it from the audience. Of course the audience just leaped to their feet and stayed on their feet the whole time he was playing.”
For the new generation of country artists, the Grand Ole Opry House is the place they most associate with the Opry. The iconic radio show has been broadcast from the building longer than Miranda Lambert, Blake Shelton and Josh Turner have been alive.
Rogers remembered a quote from Brad Paisley in the book. Paisley said: ‘You don’t understand, the Opry House is the Opry to me. When I sat down with my Grandpa and watched, we were watching it here. When I debuted, I walked out on this stage. The Ryman is beloved for all sorts of reasons, but the Opry House has 40 years of history so at least half the folks walking out on that stage, that’s the Opry they know.”
If You Go
What: Grand Ole Opry House 40th Anniversary Celebration with Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Josh Turner, Diamond Rio and Clint Black
When: 7 and 9:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: The Grand Ole Opry House, 2804 Opryland Drive in Nashville
Tickets: Shows are sold out. But the public still can join plenty of anniversary activities.
More things to do
In addition to a star-packed show on Saturday evening, the Grand Ole Opry plans celebratory activities throughout the weekend, including a 5K run, a yo-yo-a-thon and free backstage tours of the Grand Ole Opry House.
7:30 a.m. Saturday: 650 AM WSM 5K Run & Walk starting at Opry Plaza.
5 p.m. Saturday: The Nashville Yo-Yo Club will launch a two-and-a-half hour Yo-Yo-A-Thon in the Opry Plaza
5:30-6:30 p.m. Saturday: Authors Dan Rogers and Brenda Colladay will sign copies of their new book “Backstage at The Grand Ole Opry” in The Opry Shop.
11 a.m.- 4 p.m. Sunday: Free self-guided Opry House Backstage Tours, including a new backstage display in commemoration of the Opry House’s 1974 grand opening. Displayed items will include the yo-yo used by President Richard Nixon and inscribed by Acuff, a printed invitation to the grand opening show, and a program and photos from the night. The piano played by Nixon will be on display in the “Stars And Stripes” dressing room.
2–3 p.m Sunday: “Backstage at the Grand Ole Opry” book signing in The Opry Shop with Dan Rogers & Brenda Colladay
