How Lainey Wilson’s Opry Induction Led the Grand Ole Opry to Make History in England

The Grand Opry is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year by making country music history across the pond.

For the first time, the Opry will broadcast from England. The Opry is the longest-running radio program in U.S. history and will bring a star-studded lineup including Opry members Luke Combs, Ashley McBryde, Carly Pearce, Darius Rucker, and Marty Stuart to headline the iconic Royal Albert Hall, marking its first live international broadcast. The curtain will go up on Friday, September 26. Tickets are already sold out, but fans can tune in on WSM.

BBC Radio 2 presenter Vernon Kay and WSM radio host Kelly Sutton will serve as co-hosts for “Grand Ole Opry: Live in London.”The Opry is the longest-running radio program in U.S. history and will bring a star-studded lineup, including Opry members Luke Combs, Ashley McBryde, Carly Pearce, Darius Rucker, and Marty Stuart, to headline the iconic Royal Albert Hall, marking its first live international broadcast.

“Being a member of the Grand Ole Opry is a great honor,” said Rucker, who has been living in London while working on new music. “It’s always felt like the Opry was my home away from home. To have the opportunity to bring such a big part of my musical roots to Royal Albert Hall is a full-circle moment for me. I can’t think of a better way to honor the Opry’s global impact on country music as we share its magic with a new generation of fans.”

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U.K. Artists to Join American Country Artists

U.K.-based artists will join the Opry members during the broadcast. That lineup will be revealed later this year. The show will follow the same format as it does in Nashville, featuring collaborations and the singers performing two to four songs each.

Dan Rogers, SVP and Executive Producer of the Grand Ole Opry, had pondered taking the Opry to London for years but wasn’t convinced the time was right until he watched the international media’s passionate response to Lainey Wilson’s Opry induction in 2024, which fell during CMA Fest. Because Wilson’s induction was scheduled during the festival, many members of the international media were able to attend. Rogers heard an assortment of accents at Wilson’s reception and noted that the global news media weren’t asking questions about the Opry because they already knew the answers.

“They’re the same sort of media outlet as someone at the Tennesseean or someone who works for CMT,” he explained. “They know their stuff, and they’re here to cover it just like everybody else. After that night, I thought, ‘Wow, the world’s getting smaller, and country music is taking advantage of that fact, just like so many other brands and styles are.”

With a plan in place, Rogers started thinking about which Opry members to take to London for the radio show. He knew the trip came with the opportunity for the singers to make history, and that made his job even harder. He had to get the lineup exactly right. The process was different than planning the Opry’s other 240 shows this year. He talked to people in England about which artists they’d like to see, and who they thought their listeners would love to hear. What didn’t change was Rogers’ desire to showcase the past, present, and future of country music.

“I Trust Those Five Opry Members”

“I trusted those five Opry members collectively to do an incredible job with that,” Rogers said of Combs, Rucker, Pearce, McBryde, and Stuart. “They have been supportive of country music internationally in the past, in particular, in Great Britain.”

Rogers got Combs’ commitment early in the process and built the rest of the show from there. He said he knows other Opry members would have loved to make the trip but promised this international jaunt would be the first of many for the Opry. More artists will have the opportunity to travel with the Opry and represent the brand overseas in the coming years.

“When someone puts together a book celebrating 200 years of the Grand Ole Opry, I think there will be this incredible photo of five Opry members and other guests standing, linking arms on stage at Royal Albert Hall in London,” Rogers said. “People will look back, they’ll look at that photo and say, ‘Oh, that was the start of something really, really special for the Opry. That’s the first time the show broadcast from outside the United States of America.’”

Fans who can’t attend the show in person can listen to a live broadcast on WSM radio and Opry.com. UK-based fans can also hear a full broadcast replay on BBC Radio 2 at a later date.

(Featured Image by Chris Hollo/Getty Images)