If the walls of The Grand Ole Opry could talk, imagine the stories they would tell. It’s hard to think of a legend who hasn’t performed on the hallowed stage, from timeless legends like Merle Haggard to modern staples like Lainey Wilson. This year, the live country-music radio broadcast (taking its name from the iconic Nashville venue) celebrates 100 years. And last week, the Grand Ole Opry enlisted some of its biggest names to kick off its next 100 years of broadcasting.
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Bill Anderson, Connie Smith, and More Usher in The Grand Ole Opry’s 100th Year
Last Friday (Jan. 3,) the Grand Ole Opry’s longest-tenured member, “Whisperin’” Bill Anderson, took the stage at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to kick off the storied program’s next century of broadcasting.
Anderson, a 1961 inductee, joined a host of other Opry cast members during the three-hour event. Charlie McCoy, Connie Smith, Mandy Barnett and Craig Morgan also performed, along with The Travelin’ McCourys and Charlie Worsham.
Worsham, the reigning CMA Musician of the Year, put his own spin on Keith Urban’s 2003 hit “Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me.” Other songs featured included Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “One More Last Chance” by Vince Gill.
Founded by George D. Hay, the Grand Ole Opry began as the WSM Barn Dance in the new fifth-floor radio studio of the National Life and Accident Insurance Company in downtown Nashville on Nov. 28, 1925.
Two years later, audiences first heard the phrase “Grand Ole Opry.” Nearly a century later, those words are synonymous with country music.
More On “Whisperin’” Bill Anderson
Bill Anderson is modest about his 63 years as a member of The Grand Ole Opry. “When you think back to the Roy Acuffs, the Ernest Tubbs, Minnie Pearl, and so many of the great legends that were here, it’s amazing to think I’m even on the same stage with them,” he said in a July 2024 interview.
The singer-songwriter was still a journalism student at the University of Georgia when he penned “City Lights,” which Ray Price took to the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1958. That led to his first recording contract with Decca Records.
Fast forward more than six decades, and Anderson is a six-time Songwriter of the Year and a Country Music Hall of Fame member.
Featured image by AFF-USA/Shutterstock
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