Petition for a new Opry Mgr.

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 24 Mar 2005 4:21 am

Lets put the Grand Ol Opry back the way it was.
Just fiddle's and banjo's with a mandolin here and there. Get rid of all those "non-country" instruments like drums, piano, and all the electric instruments(guitar, bass, steel, keyboards, ect.).

Get back to having groups with names like "The Skillet lickers", "The Fruit Jar Drinkers", "The Possum Suckers", and the old "Dixie Dew Drop" Uncle Dave.

That's the petition that I'm signin'!

Bob Storti · Post by **Bob Storti** » 24 Mar 2005 4:40 am

Well said Ricky! The current management is doing a good job of balancing the old with the new IMHO. The marketplace will determine what is good or bad, and the programming will follow the money. I don't think it's necessary to turn the Opry stage turn into a fashion runway either - again the marketplace will determine what is acceptable.

My name will not be on this petition.

Bob

Frank Parish · Post by **Frank Parish** » 24 Mar 2005 5:30 am

You ain't never gonna get on the Opry like this Smiley!

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 24 Mar 2005 6:41 am

I don't follow this debate too closely, but it would seem nice if, say, there could be a "Contemporary Opry" that stays current with the changing times and appeals to whomever likes that, and, separately, a "Classic Opry" that would still be held at the Ryman Auditorium, the classic country music venue, and would appeal to those who still dig the classic sounds.

Don't know if this would be financially feasible, though. I kinda suspect the "classic" crowd is a declining fan base that is not being replaced by younger folks as rapidly as the older ones are being lost. In the end natural selection may end up favoring the Contemporary Opry and it may be the only one left standing...

Earl Erb · Post by **Earl Erb** » 24 Mar 2005 8:07 am

Well, let me see if I can stir the pot. In my 37 years living in Nashville and having had the honor of working the Opry for 8 of those years I can't remember Ott Divine, Hal Durham, Bud Wendell, Jerry Strobel and Bob Whitaker drawing as much contempt as Pete Fisher has. Jack Stoner is right, there is a lot more going on behind the scenes that the public is not privey to.
I have had conversations with two of my good friends,Weldon and Leon about the Opry. Weldon saw it coming and told Fisher to stick it and left before he got stuck. Leon was told he was being terminated because of his age...bullsh*t. If age was the reason those guys got fired than Capps, Linniman and Hester would have been terminated at the same time. I don't think there is a staff member under 40 right now. There wasn't one bad player in the staff band.
I know its all about the numbers but you mean to tell me the Opry can't be managed by someone with a musical background instead of accounting? I read between the lines Alvin, and I don't want to see the Opry revert back 50 years but I am tired of Rock Fest being marketed as country music. I guess its a generational thing but there has to be a balance somewhere.
My friends that still manage to get into the Opry have told me the back stage vibe is depressing and the place feels like it is being run like a prison. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but for those that have never set foot in the Opry or ever experienced back stage will never understand where I am coming from. It ain't supposed to be this way! Let the flames begin!

Howard Tate · Post by **Howard Tate** » 24 Mar 2005 9:37 am

Progress is good, we need it. And I love jazz and some rock and roll, but I think they should stay separated. I believe that if a song was rock and roll when it was first released, it's still rock and roll now. If I want to hear some rock and roll and turn on a rock station I don't expect to hear country. So if I turn on a country station why do I hear rock. The same should hold true for the Opry. New is not so bad, rock does not belong. Just one rednecks opinion.

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Howard, 'Les Paul Recording, Zum S12U, Vegas 400, Boss ME-5, Boss DM-3
http://www.Charmedmusic.com

Bill Beall · Post by **Bill Beall** » 24 Mar 2005 11:23 am

I'm #517. Bring back the REAL COUNTRY.

James Pennebaker · Post by **James Pennebaker** » 24 Mar 2005 12:01 pm

Words of wisdom from Ricky Davis. You have to look at the big picture. Not just a very small piece of it.
JP

Larry Phleger · Post by **Larry Phleger** » 24 Mar 2005 12:30 pm

I hear what Ricky is saying. Traditional country is not what is being marketed. Several years ago traditional country music made a comeback. Now it is hard to hear anything but commercial crap that promoters are pushing to make money. They flood country stations with this junk, and call t “Country”, but it isn’t. Country is country, and the majority of what is marketed as country isn’t it. Country isn’t selling billions of dollars worth of records because country is being forced off the airways by “The Industry”. It’s a crime that the Opry is selling out. It needs to get back to its roots and stay there. The Country Music Association sold out country music and its fans years ago. All you have to do is watch their awards shows and you’ll see what I mean. There needs to be a forum that preserves traditional country music, the sound, the tradition, and the values.

Brandon Housewright · Post by **Brandon Housewright** » 24 Mar 2005 1:15 pm

#522

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 24 Mar 2005 5:14 pm

Nicely put, Mr. Ricky

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Damir Besic · Post by **Damir Besic** » 24 Mar 2005 6:37 pm

#535

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"Promat"
~when tone matters~
http://hometown.aol.com/damirzanne2/PROMAT.html

bill mitchell · Post by **bill mitchell** » 24 Mar 2005 7:24 pm

I imagine Pete has to meet with those people over at Gaylord a few times every week. Does anybody remember when the new CEO tried to scrap WSM-AM and turn it into sports talk? They got their ears pinned back by the people of Nashville who knew the history and were not about to let the outsiders trash it to make a dollar.

Not much loyalty there, either. A lifelong friend, who was working at WSM as a news reporter told me a couple of years ago what great people Gaylord had. Two weeks later they fired all but one out of the news department...and considering the climate, I don't know how Eddie Stubbs and the other jocks have survived.

Gaylord's MBA's are doing what MBA's do..trying to increase profits. Not all bad, unless you take away the spirit, history, and the very soul of a distinctive, and irreplacable style of music. In other words, they ain't figured out yet what we all see in George Jones.

Let's face it...our (most of us, at least) kind of music is pretty well dead. The Opry stars are dying off..some are downright feeble and probably should stop trying to entertain. They are never going to be featured on the TV broadcast anyway.

But, there's still a world of traditional music to be created and talented people to take the place of people like Loretta, Reeves and Faron.

The presumption that young people couldn't possibly like Merle Haggard or Conway Twitty is flat wrong. I work with young people who liked those two performers when they were introduced to them. (One is a young college-educated woman from Connecticut). But, until recently she had never heard that kind of music..centainly not on the local "Country" station.

I don't think the petition will carry much weight with the Gaylord elite..and they, not Pete, will make the decision.

I do think that when Gaylord sells out and leaves eventually..the Tennessean will carry a banner headline "Good Riddance".

Billy Joe Bailey · Post by **Billy Joe Bailey** » 24 Mar 2005 9:14 pm

Im number 539

Theresa Galbraith · Post by **Theresa Galbraith** » 25 Mar 2005 3:47 am

I agree with Ricky.

I was backstage at the Opry Saturday night and it wasn't doom and gloom.
Can't we all just get along?

Bob Knight · Post by **Bob Knight** » 25 Mar 2005 10:07 am

There must be some rumors going around.

Check this out!!

http://www.opry.com/04_info/04_weeklylineup.asp

Howard Tate · Post by **Howard Tate** » 25 Mar 2005 11:44 am

That's a great lineup!

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Howard, 'Les Paul Recording, Zum S12U, Vegas 400, Boss ME-5, Boss DM-3
http://www.Charmedmusic.com

Bill Irsik · Post by **Bill Irsik** » 25 Mar 2005 2:00 pm

I've got to agree with Ricky also. I've been to the Opry several times in the last 25-30 years and I still enjoy every trip I make there.I'm not saying I,m a fan of every one that steps on that stage, but I think the blend of traditional Country Music to todays Country Music still leans more towards Traditional Country Music over the course of the 2- 2 1/2hour shows. I signed the petition a couple years ago to keep WSM country and now enjoy it on Sirius Satellite Radio as well as The Eddie Stubbs Show. I live in Southwest Kansas and we have always had to play a blend of Rock and Roll as well as Current Country Music to Survive in the Clubs we play, but we have always leaned heavy towards Traditional Country Music. We've always had to adapt to what would bring the people thru the door.

c c johnson · Post by **c c johnson** » 25 Mar 2005 2:24 pm

all things considered, the opry management needs an overhaul.

John Bechtel · Post by **John Bechtel** » 25 Mar 2005 10:04 pm

Although I haven't worked the Opry since ’78, for many years there was never a week~end that went by that I didn't listen to all the Opry shows on AM–Radio and the 1-hr Live TV portion whenever possible! But, lately, I seldom listen to any of it any more! Once in a while I do listen to the E.T.R.S. at Midnight on Sat., if I think of it! It just doesn't seem that important any more!

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“Big John” Bechtel
’49-’50 Fender T–8 Custom
’65 Re-Issue Fender Twin–Reverb Custom™ 15” Eminence

Charles Turpin · Post by **Charles Turpin** » 31 Mar 2005 3:02 pm

Mark me down once on the manager and twice on the sound man. I am 400 miles away got cancer and can't go to the show but i love to watch it and everytime it is on GMC up here in northern Missouri, and it is either the same people or you can't hear half of them. Where i am home bound i pay good money for see tv and i am sure they ar e payed money from the Opry to broadcast it. I love to hear the steel guitar players there. But why is it the steel guitar is the only instrument you dont here half the time. Is it cause there scared we other musicians might pick up a lick or two or what. So you can do me just like George strait says in song" Write me down" Instead of this, hehehehe

on this petition.

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pdl20 · Post by **pdl20** » 31 Mar 2005 3:26 pm

#664 .its about time something gets done .so much talent out there that never gets to be heard.