April 21st - Grand Ol' Opry Museum

We got a late start today, because we are going to the Tribute to the King tonight, and thought we would take it easy today. We went to do the tour of the new Grand Ol' Opry (GOO) building, but found that we couldn't do it because they were getting the building ready for the Dove Awards ceremony tomorrow night. They would have taken our money, but told us that they had no idea what would be included in the tour....probably just the lobby! Sheesh! So we passed on that one, and went over to the Grand Ol' Opry Museum. Surprise!!! It's free!

While we were walking past the big gold GOO sign, a lady asked me if I would take a picture of her and her husband. She offered to do the same for us, and got a really nice picture! As usual, we exchanged details... like... where are you from? and it turned out that they were from SURREY, BC!!!! Weird, huh? Anyway, we had a nice conversation with them for a little while and then went on to the museum.
Beautiful Dogwood Tree on the Opry Grounds.
Minnie Pearl. I so remember her on TV and how we laughed at her antics!!!! She was born Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon (October 25, 1912 and passed away March 4th, 1996 at age 83). She was a country comedienne who, along with friend Roy Acuff, was an institution at the Grand Ole Opry, and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991 . She was known for wearing a big hat with a price tag that read "$1.98" hanging off the side.
Her family, relatively affluent by the standards of the area and the day, was scandalized by her entry into show business. Her first professional position was with the Wayne P. Sewell Production Company, producing and directing plays and musicals for local organizations in small towns throughout the Southeast.
While producing an amateur musical comedy in Baileyton, Alabama, she met a young mountain woman on whom she based her onstage persona, "Cousin Minnie Pearl". Her first performance onstage as Minnie Pearl was in 1939 in Aiken, South Carolina.
Her catch phrase was always, "Howdeeee! I'm jest so proud to be here!" delivered at what seemed to have been the top of her lungs. Once she was an established star, her audience almost invariably shouted "Howdeeee!" back to her.
Pearl's monologues almost always involved her comical relatives, notably "Uncle Nabob" and "Brother", who was simultaneously both slow-witted and wise. Her frequent exit line to applause was "I love you so much it hurts!" She also sang comic novelty songs, some of which were released as singles, such as "How To Catch A Man."
As a performer, Pearl's comedy was always a gentle and loving satire of her hometown of Centerville, which, in her act she called Grinder's Switch, a real location just outside of Centerville that consisted of little more than the railroad switch. Those who knew her recognized that the characters were largely based on real residents of Centerville. So much traffic resulted from fans and tourists looking for the hometown she described that the Hickman County Highway Department was finally motivated to change the designation on the "Grinder's Switch" road sign to "Hickman Springs Road".
Her character was always presented as a man-hungry spinster willing to settle for almost anything in the way of male companionship. In real life, she was happily married for many years to Henry Cannon. They had no children.
Some of her dresses, hats and other things.
A photo of a photo of a very young Minnie Pearl.
They have a model of Minnie sitting on a bench at the end of the museum tour.
Little Jimmy Dickens. His bio can be found at this link:
http://www.opry.com/MeetTheOpry/Members.aspx?id=66

I put him in here, because he is the opening artist at the Grand Ole Opry performance that we are going to tomorrow night. He's 87 years old, and still performing!!!!!

Some Little Jimmy Dickens memorabilia
Some of his costumes. He is famous for his flamboyant costumes.
We aren't seeing Alan Jackson perform, but we really love his singing, so I put his picture in here!!! His bio can be seen at: http://www.opry.com/MeetTheOpry/Members.aspx?id=76

Terri Clark is also performing tomorrow night. I'm sure everyone knows that she is Canadian. Her bio can be found at : http://www.opry.com/MeetTheOpry/Members.aspx?id=63

The tribute to George Jones. His bio can be found at: http://www.opry.com/MeetTheOpry/Members.aspx?id=56
Elvis Presley only made one appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, and apparently it didn't go over all that well, with one of the Opry officials reportedly suggesting that Elvis should go back to driving a truck. The Opry was very important in a singer's career at that time, so it was a big disappointment to the young Elvis. He was, however, inducted posthumously into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998. Certainly took them long enough!!!!
Photo of Trace Adkins getting a standing ovation at the Grand Ole Opry. We didn't get to see inside the new Opry House, so I put this picture in here to show the inside of the GOO.
The Great Marty Robbins. A mini-bio of him can be found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0730419/bio
He was famous for his flamboyant outfits. The museum has several of them on display. The workmanship is incredible!

He always had everything matching...shirt, pants, belt, hat and boots!!

A short video clip of one of his performances. You can see in this clip how much fun he is having with his audience.