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For 100 years, one of the greatest threats to the Grand Ole Opry has been the perpetual evolution of pop and youth culture.
Social change risks making the institution appear irrelevant.
In two distinct periods — the 1950s when Elvis Presley rose to fame and the 2020s when country’s streaming age led to crossover success for the genre’s artists — the Opry has adapted and evolved.
“Since I made my Opry debut in 1972, everything has changed about (the Opry), except being a standard bearer and standard-setter for great songs and performances,” said Grand Ole Opry member and country icon Marty Stuart.
“More than anything else, that will always make everyone — artists and fans alike — want to participate in and see a great show, he said.
How did Elvis Presley affect the Grand Ole Opry?
Elvis Presley’s October 1954 Grand Ole Opry debut kicked off a season of change for the radio show. The rockabilly version of Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky” that Presley performed received a tepid response at the Ryman Auditorium. He never performed at the Opry again.
However, very soon rockabilly and later rock ‘n’ roll would cause country music’s momentum — then experiencing a commercial boom in the decade following World War II — to slow.
Tennessee Ernie Ford’s country hit “Sixteen Tons” crossed over to dominate the top spot of Billboard’s pop charts for the entirety of December 1955.
But by 1957, Presley alone had nine of the top 40 songsof the year, including “All Shook Up,” “Don’t Be Cruel” and “Heartbreak Hotel.”
Through the addition of nearly a dozen new members, the Opry successfully incorporated rock elements into its traditions.
In the 1960s, new Opry cast members like “Whisperin'” Bill Anderson, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Dottie West, Willie Nelson, Connie Smith, Jeannie Seely, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette developed what Jordan Pettit, the Grand Ole Opry’s current director of artist relations and programming strategy, called “a bolder and more credible” genre where artists with unique backgrounds and life experiences could be reflected.
The performers united country’s traditions with rock’s cool by “connecting with the audience with some humor, maybe some personality,” Anderson said.
How has the Opry evolved in the 2020s?
Stuart pointed to a couple eras as moments when the Opry made an effort to align itself with younger, more pop-aligned artists. The seven inductions of 1964-65 included Willie Nelson and Stuart’s wife, country music icon Connie Smith. Then the “Class of 1989” inductions included Clint Black, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt and Stuart himself.
“You can always tell if a church is healthy by the number of young people it has in its congregation,” Stuart said. He said his wife, Smith, believes adding younger members keeps the institution relevant in pop culture while also retaining country’s traditions.
Pettit offers a simple strategy for the Opry’s latest era, one that avoids the pitfalls of pop and rock evolutions seen over the past six decades.
As country surged to the top of Billboard’s all-genre Hot 100 charts in June 2023, the genre’s entertainer of the year, Lainey Wilson, became an Opry cast member. One year later, Texas-born pop superstar Post Malone debuted on the program with support from Wilson and Opry cast members Vince Gill and Brad Paisley.
“We’re in an era where remembering how and why a broad set of sounds can (cycle back) through generations is critical,” Pettit said. “At the Opry, we have an audience of over 4,000 people who know better than most what those sounds are influenced by.”
To wit, No. 1 hitmakers Priscilla Block, BRELAND, Ashley Cooke, Jackson Dean, ERNEST, Corey Kent, Megan Moroney, Nate Smith, Anne Wilson and, yes, Lainey Wilson, have been members of the Opry’s NextStage talent development program over the past several years.
In February 2023, recently deceased Opry legend Jeannie Seely offered the best perspective regarding why the radio show adapts to change so well.
“The Opry is a multi-generational American institution,” she said. “Like Ernest Tubb once told me, the Opry itself is unique because it’s a bigger star than any of us who play it onstage.”
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