Remember When Trace Adkins Was Inducted Into the Grand Ole Opry in 2003?

On August 23, 2003, Trace Adkins became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Adkins’ induction came almost seven years after he made his Opry debut on November 23, 1996. The singer became a member shortly before his fifth studio album, Comin’ On Strong, was released.

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Adkins’ invitation came from Little Jimmy Dickens. Standing only 4’11”, Adkins had just performed his big hit, “Then They Do”, when Dickens carried out a stepladder so he could personally invite Adkins, who is 6’6”, to become a Grand Ole Opry member.

“Mr. Adkins, I hope you’ll accept my humble apology for interrupting,” Dickens said at the time. “I’m just following orders. Our manager, Pete Fisher, asked me to come out here and ask you a very, very serious question: Just how badly would you like to become a member of our Grand Ole Opry family?”

Adkins, full of emotion, said, “I want it bad.”

Ahead of his induction, Adkins admitted that being a Grand Ole Opry member was one of his biggest dreams.

“I was hoping someday that I might become a member,” he later told Billboard. “But only in the last couple of years have I allowed myself to start thinking that it might actually happen.”

Trace Adkins Shares the Importance of Being a Grand Ole Opry Member

Ronnie Milsap inducted Adkins into the Grand Ole Opry. For Adkins, nothing will likely ever be as important to him as being part of the Opry family.

“For me, it means that I’m a better man than I would have been had I not been a member of the Grand Ole Opry because I take it very seriously,” Adkins said when celebrating his 20th anniversary as an Opry member. “And I try to conduct myself every day, keeping in mind that I’m a member of the Grand Ole Opry and I represent this institution, and I don’t want to do anything that might disrespect my family at the Grand Ole Opry. It probably kept me out of jail more times than I would have gone.”

Adkins is rightfully proud to be part of such a historical institution in country music.

“The Grand Ole Opry really put country music on the map,” Adkins tells CNN. “And virtually every artist that’s ever had a record deal, that’s had any measurable success, has played on the Grand Ole Opry.

In 2010, Adkins invited Blake Shelton to become a Grand Ole Opry member via Twitter. And in 2018, Adkins invited Dustin Lynch to join the Grand Ole Opry.

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