Exploring the Old 280 Boogie with friends in Waverly, AL.
LABOR OF LOVE
Making award-winning whiskey in SC with love.
ABANDONED
A photographer captures the deserted, historic sites of VA.
BIKING HISTORY
Pedal through the historic sites of Norfolk, VA.
Myrtle Beach is full of hidden-gem venues. Next time you’re at The Beach, check out Ocean Annie’s Beach Bar steps away from the ocean, Hot Fish Club in Murrells Inlet, and Local on the Water and Captain Archie’s on the Intracoastal Waterway.
40: ABANDONED
Photographer John Plashal takes us on a journey through forgotten historic Virginia.
50: BOOGIE CHILLUN
The signature festival of Waverly,Alabama, the Old 280 Boogie is an invitation to party.
STORIES
58: CONSIDER THE LILIES
Come for the lilies but stay for the history and charm of the Olde English District of South Carolina.
64: MAKING HISTORY
Using antique textiles, LS Mercantile reimagines each piece to be newly appreciated.
72: ADDING TO THE STORY
Gretchen Pettis believes every piece of jewelry, has a story just waiting to be told and added to.
Photograph by LS Mercantile
CHAPTERS
EDITORIAL
PG 6: STAFF
People who keep us going.
PG 9: OUR CONTRIBUTORS
The people who make our stories come to life.
CORRECTION
In our Winter issue, we discovered the wrong credit was given for the creation of the Cherry Bounce Hot Toddy. Credit should go to Bar Manager Rebecca Johnson of Coltivare in Houston, TX. You can find the recipe in our Winter issue on page 35.
SOUTHERN COMFORTS
PG 10: LABOR OF LOVE
In South Carolina, David Raad’s Six & Twenty Distillery is making award-winning spirits crafted by hand and heart.
PG 16: CELEBRATING 100 YEARS
The Grand Ole Opry turns 100 and celebrates its history.
PG 20: THE SACRED SOUTH
Mike Farris goes to Muscle Shoals and comes back with some Sweet Southern Soul.
SOUTHERN SNAPSHOTS
PG 80: DISCOVER
A brief history of two pivotal points in the lives of Jacksonville, FL’s African-American community.
PG 86: LAY OF THE LAND
Our readers submit photos of their South. Photo above strolling below the Spanish moss covered trees, Phoenix City, AL. Submitted by Mary Boyd.
TO DINE SOUTHERN
PG 26: SOUTHERN CELEBRATIONS
Vera Stewart, host of VeryVera, pays homage to our family histories with beautiful party settings sure to delight.
PG 32: NOTEWORTHY
New tastes of the South explore innovative ways to recreate some of our favorite soups.
PG 34: ON OUR PLATE
Little Coyote in Chattanooga, TN has a new take on the classic Tex-Mex favorite, King Ranch Chicken.
PG 36: WORTH A STOP
With a place waiting for you at the table, this Savannah, GA, Dottie’s Market, makes you feel at home.
A ROAD LESS TRAVELED
PG 92: ALONG THE ROAD
Spend a weekend in historic Norfolk, VA and explore the city’s sites by bike.
PG 98: THE LAST WORD
Visit the Goo Goo Chocolate Co. in Nashville, TN. Enjoy a taste of this first of its kind candy and learn more about this iconic Southern candy.
FRONT COVER
Explore to find the Hidden South. Photograph by betyarlaca
VERA STEWART is a nationally-recognized TV personality, cookbook author, and entrepreneur whose career in the food and hospitality industries spans nearly four decades. Launching her career in the 1980s with a cottage catering business, VeryVera, she has become a household name with ventures that included a bakery and café, and a national mail order business for her signature cakes and casseroles. She currently has the cooking and lifestyle show The VeryVera Show, the VeryVera Cookbook Series, the VeryVera Cooking Camp, and VERA, a catering, concierge and hospitality service for patrons of the Masters tournament in Augusta, Georgia. veryvera.com
MELISSA CORBIN is a a Tennessee based freelance journalist telling stories of the folks and places that make their corner of the world unique. Her main beats are travel, food, beverage, music, outdoors, festivals, and even a bit of luxury (this one came as a complete surprise to her.) In addition to her work here at Okra, you can read her stories in publications such as Wine Enthusiast, Garden and Gun, and Food and Wine. She also makes regular television appearances on regional midday shows where she cooks quintessential dishes from her travels while introducing viewers to the region in approachable ways.
HENRY GONZALEZ is an advertising photographer who live and worked out of Atlanta, Georgia, and the Southeast for over 20 years. Photography started as a hobby and became a career. After graduating from photography school, he moved to Atlanta and has been in demand ever since. He specializes in all types of photography: food, fashion, interiors and editorial. He’s always up for a challenge. henrygonzalezphotography.com
MARIANNE LEEK is a retired high school educator who continues to teach part-time at Tri-County Community College. She lives with her husband in western North Carolina, where she spends much of her free time enjoying the outdoors. More of her work can be found in The Bitter Southerner.
JOSEPH MCSPADDEN is a freelance writer and music enthusiast whose work has appeared at nodepression.com and at mbird.com, and The Mockingbird Journal, a publication that examines faith in the real world. His work has also appeared in Richmond, Virginia’s Style Weekly, the capital city’s premiere culture magazine. Joe is fascinated with the way words and music impact our lives and can be used as a vehicle for healing. He currently resides in Virginia with his wife Suzanne where he enjoys writing for okra. magazine and spending time with his 17 grandchildren. Yes, you read that right. 17 grandchildren.
JENNIFER STEWART KORNEGAY is a freelance writer and editor based in Montgomery, AL. Her work has appeared in Garden & Gun, Southern Living, The Bitter Southerner, The Local Palate, thekitchn.com, Bake From Scratch, Paste, Travel&Leisure.com, Nashville Lifestyles, Birmingham magazine, Alabama magazine, Georgia Magazine, Alabama Living magazine and more. She’s interested in everything, will write about almost anything but most often reports on Southern culture, food and travel. jenniferkornegay.com
ERIC J WALLACE is an award-winning lifestyle journalist based in Staunton, Virginia, who has contributed to top national outlets like WIRED, Outside, Reader’s Digest, Atlas Obscura, Best American Food Writing, Modern Farmer, and more. He is a two-time James Beard Foundation media award nominee and was named an International Association of Culinary Professionals Best Feature Story media award finalist in 2021. drericjwallace@gmail.com
LIESEL SCHMIDT lives in Florida but spends a lot of time in Virginia and North Carolina. She works as a freelance writer for local and regional magazines, web content writer, and book editor. Having harbored a passionate dread of writing assignments when she was in school, she never imagined making a living at putting words on paper, but life sometimes has a funny way of working out. Follow her on Twitter at @laswrites or download her novels, Coming Home to You, The Secret of Us, and Life Without You @ amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com
WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT
My sister just adores your magazine. She says it’s like sitting on a porch talking after Sunday dinner. That is high praise indeed. Jodi P.
This is one of the most beautifully illustrated and written magazines I’ve ever seen. I truly enjoy my subscription. Suzy G.
I really enjoy this magazine! It’s feel-good Southern stuff. Beverly R.
As a Southerner, farmer, hiker, and gardener, I really love this magazine. It touches the heart of the South. Linda S.
I just wanted once to tell you all what a marvelous job you do with this magazine. I received my latest copy and started looking at it last night and it was like being on a fabulous trip thank you so much. Deborah W.
SHOW US YOUR SOUTH
Submit your photos to be printed in an upcoming issue.
What does the South mean to you? Is it the beauty of our landscape; the houses, fields, mountains, seas and towns? Or is it our people and our foods? Maybe it’s even our beloved pets. The South is all of these things and so much more. Show us what it means to you by sharing your pictures with us. Send them to submissions@okramagazine.com We’d love to feature them on the pages of okra. or share them on our website. The photo above is at Black Bayou, Pass Christian, MS, submitted by Donald Maginnis.
HLOOK FOR THE NEXT ISSUE OF OKRA. MAGAZINE ON NEWSSTANDS SOON.
CHAPTER 1 SOUTHERN COMFORTS
Photograph by Fernando Macias Romo
LABOR OF LOVE DRINK
DAVID
RAAD’S SIX & TWENTY DISTILLERY IS METICULOUSLY WATCHED OVER, NURTURED OVER TIME… MAKING SPIRITS CRAFTED BY HAND AND HEART.
Written by Marianne Leek / Photography Courtesy of Six & Twenty Distillery
An avid outdoorsman, David Raad’s approach to most things in his life has been with the same patience and perseverance it takes to successfully fly fish. Now in his mid-50s, Raad’s journey to becoming a master distiller and the owner and operator of Greenville, South Carolina’s award winning Six & Twenty Distillery has been anything but linear, a result of his tireless work ethic, and that same patience, perseverance and keen eye for detail.
Raad’s family immigrated to the United States from South Africa when he was a child. His upbringing would span three states, New York, Georgia, and Virginia. After graduating high school Raad joined the military where he became part of the elite Army Rangers and served in both Operation Just Cause and Desert Storm. Upon returning home to New York from Kuwait, Raad made the serendipitous choice to move back to the South where he had spent most of his childhood to finish attending college. At the time, he had been taking classes at a community college and excelling. His counselor told him he could likely go wherever he wanted and handed him a brochure for Anderson University in South Carolina that had come across her desk. He applied and was accepted. “They invited me for a visit, so I jumped in my car and drove from New York to Anderson. I was supposed to meet with the admissions director at 9:00 in the morning so I drove all night. At 8:00 am, I was getting gas, and I noticed all these orange paws all over the pavement and I asked the guy pumping gas next to me, ‘What’s with all the paws?’ He’s like, ‘What planet are you from? It’s Clemson.’ I said, ‘Is that a school? A university?’ He said, ‘Yeah, duh.’ I got in my car but instead of heading to Anderson, I decided to check out Clemson. I walked right into the admissions office with my transcript and basically was accepted on the spot.” Making the most of his time at Clemson, Raad took three levels of chemistry “just for fun,” and triple majored in political science, history, and Japanese.
emerged from not being able to find a whiskey he liked and a conversation with his wife who requested that he “make something we can drink together.” When he remarked that they have the same taste, she clarified, “Make me something we can drink together - on a Tuesday night.” Per her request, with notes of vanilla, caramel, and maple the “low intensity, long on flavor,” Six & Twenty Old Money Wheat Whiskey was born.
To Raad, distilling feels more like capturing, “to create a recipe of different grains, you have to understand what those grains will present under the conditions in which you prepare them, how they’ll be improved or diminished during fermentation…then during distillation to bring those flavors forward as a collection and then essentially have your basis before you begin to age it. So, you’re shooting for a target of flavor before you even age it.”
Raad works closely with local farmers, using only grains grown and harvested in South Carolina in his spirits. He compares the distillation process to a dinner recipe, “It would be like going into a restaurant and the chef simply saying, ‘Here’s dinner,’ rather than explaining the ingredients that have been assembled to give you this savory pasta dish or casserole. The process of creating a good whiskey involves a lot of flavors put together, assembled to make something bigger than the sum of their parts.”
After graduating from Clemson, Raad worked for SABMiller, a multinational brewing company in East Africa where he learned the process of brewing beer. In 2011, he parlayed his brewing skills into making distilled spirits and decided to open Six & Twenty Distillery. The inception for creating his own distillery
Raad explained the evolution from a one hit wonder to a full-fledged distillery with a variety of spirits that appeal to every palate, “After creating Old Money Wheat Whiskey, which was an easy, low intensity, long flavor whiskey, I knew that to have a full spectrum of products you have to have different assemblages. I had to create different combinations of flavor to go on the bolder end, and that became our bourbon. Using a bunch of different grains to achieve a different purpose, to assemble a bigger mouth field, more complex, not simple, but elegant; big and bold and complex - that is our bourbon.”
However, one of Six & Twenty’s most popular spirits remains their Carolina Cream, a delectable dessert whiskey meant to be slowly sipped and savored. Like Old Money, the idea for Carolina Cream came from an unusual request.
David Raad
Raad described how one Christmas morning his beloved mother-in-law opened an 1187 shotgun that she had asked for. “She had that shotgun across her lap and she’s giving me the hairy eyeball…I’m thinking I’m glad I didn’t give her shells. But she said, ‘You know what I really want? I want you to make me something like Baileys.’ I thought to myself, ‘Oh, I can do that.’ And so I began that process.”
The process turned out to be more complicated than Raad initially imagined because of “the complexity of what it is as a food product.” The creation of Carolina Cream would take almost a year following that Christmas appeal by his mother-in-law, mostly because of Raad’s insistence on quality. “I wanted real cream. It had to be real cream. It is an expensive product to make because the basis of it is real cream and that’s hard to get in the marketplace. The majority of cream-based whiskey products use a synthetic cream - think about when you go to the gas station and put creamer in your coffee. That’s the same stuff. I use real cream in our Carolina Cream and that’s what makes it unique. It just tastes better, and people recognize that.” In response to the overwhelming market success of Carolina Cream, Six & Twenty created the limited seasonal Peach Cream perfect for enjoying during the warmer months, and they are currently working on another cream flavor for release in spring.
Raad’s attention to quality and detail has continued to serve him well and in 2023, Six & Twenty was recognized in USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice lists in four categories: Best Craft Distilleries for Whiskey, Vodka, Specialty Spirits, and Gin, as well as making the short list of the finest craft distillery tasting rooms in the country.
Raad considers what he does a “demonstration of love.” After all, two of his most popular products were created as gifts for important women in his life. He’s also cognizant of the fact that while 51% of whiskey drinkers are women, that whiskey is predominantly marketed to men. He aims to change that. “Six & Twenty is a demonstration of love. I love to make things that people enjoy. I love to share it with my friends. I love to talk about the process. I love to get people smart about how these things are made. That’s kind of our modus operandi around here.”
When Raad was trying to come up with a name for his brand, he honed in on a timeless South Carolina love story between a Cherokee maiden and a white trader. Steeped in both fact and fantasy, legend has it that Issaqueena fell in love with Alan Francis. Learning her tribe planned to attack the settlement of her lover, Isaqueena rode 96 miles to warn him, marking the miles and naming places based on the distance that she rode away from them. Many of the places along her route through Upstate South Carolina are still recognized by the way she named them - Mile Creek, Six Mile, Twelve Mile Creek, Six and Twenty Creek, and others. When she was tracked down, Issaqueena jumped into the falls that now bear her name to escape her pursuers. Believing that evil spirits lived in waterfalls and thinking she was dead, they gave up their search. Issaqueena and Francis would reunite and flee to Alabama where they lived happily ever after. The original Six & Twenty distillery is located along the route
that Issaqueena rode to warn her lover Alan Francis. Rooted in the same spirit, Six & Twenty is Raad’s labor of love, each batch “meticulously watched over, nurtured over time…making our spirits crafted by hand and heart.”
Raad is on a mission to make his products accessible to a variety of palates and experiences. “That’s the thrust of what we are trying to accomplish without being condescending to anyone who wants to explore and experience. That’s why we really dig into our educational component as well. We want people to enjoy becoming educated without feeling diminished by listening to a lecture on how spirits are made.”
With a production team of just four people, Six & Twenty has been creating award winning spirits since shortly after opening and they show no signs of slowing down. In November they released their limited Avena Oat Whiskey, with oat, brown sugar, and buttery flavors, as smooth and delicious as the Werther’s candy from your grandmother’s purse. Raad appreciates the creativity inherent in operating a craft distillery and is committed to excellence, “There are so many variations of what we can do because the variations are limitless. Different types of oak to aging, different types of grain to use, different distillation methods. And so there will always be a market for people who make things differently. That’s the essence of what we want to do. I’m not going to remake Maker’s; I’m not going to make Tito’s. There’s no point in that and it’s been done to death. We don’t reproduce everything that’s been done already. It’s got to be unique.” Located in the eclectic and artistic community of the Village of West Greenville, the Six & Twenty tasting room is sleek and modern without feeling pretentious and it’s the perfect place to relax with friends after visiting the neighboring galleries. With weekly distillery tours, live music, trivia nights, and seasonal parties, it’s no wonder it’s considered one of the finest tasting rooms in the country. Six & Twenty also offers monthly mixology classes for those interested in learning how to create signature craft cocktails at home. “Our mixology classes are a hoot! They are limited to no more than 20 people. We close the place off and Jordan, our bar manager, teaches guests how to make different drinks. We will make three cocktails over the course of an hour and a half. She talks about where each drink originated and variations on it. Each person gets their own bar materials - the whole setup - and you learn to make your own drink and have fun with it.”
Raad wants visitors to Six & Twenty to know that you don’t have to “know” anything about whiskey to know what you like, “We don’t necessarily compete against other small craft distilleries. In fact, I hope my customers will explore other craft distilleries. It doesn’t matter what opinions are out there about the spirit industry, and there are some very strong opinions. ‘This is good and that’s bad and this is expensive.’ None of that matters. Nobody should listen to that. People need to remember that it’s entirely subjective. What you like is what you like and that’s it. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise and don’t be afraid to explore. That’s what we hope people will do.”
sixandtwentydistillery.com
THE REMEDY
1.5 ounces Heirloom Rye Vodka
0.75 ounce Pomegranate Liqueur
0.5 ounce lime juice
Build in copper mug or Collins glass over ice
Top with Ginger Beer, garnish with lime
PURPLE HAZE
1.5 ounces Double Made Gin
0.5 ounce Creme De Violette
0.5 ounce H]honey or simple syrup
1.0 ounce lemon juice
Shake and dirty pour into hurricane or collins glass
Top with soda, garnish with lemon
TIP YOUR HAT
1.5 ounces Old Money Whiskey
0.5 ounce Ancho Reyes Liqueur
0.5 ounce honey
0.25 ounce lime juice
1.0 ounce grapefruit juice
Shake, double strain, and pour into coupe glass
Garnish with lime
SMASHED IT
5-7 muddled blueberries
4-5 mint leaves (slap it!)
2.0 ounces 5 Grain Bourbon
0.75 ounce lemon
0.75 ounce simple syrup
Shake well, strain and pour over fresh ice,
Garnish with berries & mint sprig
SWEET TREAT
1.0 ounce Carolina Cream
1.0 ounce Dark Rum
0.5 ounce Amaretto
0.75 ounce demerara or brown sugar simple syrup
Shake well, double strain, and pour into coupe glass
OLD FASHIONED
2.0 ounces 5 Grain Bourbon
0.5 ounce demerara simple syrup
2-3 dashes Ango & Orange Bitters
Garnish with orange peel & cherry skewer
Stirred, large cube in rocks glass
NEW YORK SOUR
2.0 ounces 5 Grain Bourbon
0.75 ounce lemon juice
0.5 ounce demerara simple syrup red wine float
Garnish with cherry skewer
Shaken, double strained, large cube in rocks glass
SIDE CAR
1.5 ounces 5 Grain Bourbon
0.75 ounce Orange Liqueur
0.75 ounce lemon juice
Garnish with sugar rim & orange twist
Shaken, double strained, straight up in coupe glass
MANHATTAN
2.0 ounces Old Money Whiskey
1.0 ounce Sweet Rosso Vermouth
3-4 Dashes Angostura Bitters
Garnish with cherry skewer
Stirred , straight up or on the rock, Large cube for rocks glass or straight up in Nick & Nora coupe glass
FRENCH 75
1.5 ounces Double Made Gin
0.75 ounce lemon juice
0.75 ounce simple syrup
Top with Champagne
Garnish with lemon twist
Shaken, straight up in a flute
MIXING IT UP WITH
CELEBRATING
100 YEARS IN MUSIC CITY
THE LEGACY OF THE GRAND OLE OPRY
Written by Melissa Corbin / Photography
Courtesy of Ryman Hospitality Properties
1960s on the Ryman stage with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys and Opry Square Dancers.
“How-w-w-DEE-E-E-E! I’m jest so proud to be here,” hollered Minnie Pearl, played by Sarah Colley Cannon, on the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday night for more than fifty years. As one of Music City’s most beloved comics, who could forget that straw hat she wore with the $1.98 price tag hanging off the brim? She and a whole host of folks throughout the last century or so are who made Nashville… well, Nashville.
Yet, even as the town has long been known as “Music City,” Nashville actually struck its first chord far beyond the city’s Tennessee hills in 1873 when Queen Victoria suggested that the Fisk Jubilee Singers must have come from a “City of Music.” The acapella singing troupe of Black students had traveled abroad to raise funds for their beloved Fisk University; thus, creating a tradition that has stood the test of time. Within a few years the “City of Music” would build upon these lauded singers’ legacy thanks in part to an invention that most of us take for granted nowadays – the radio.
If you’ve ever taken a ride in your Grandaddy’s pickup truck, you’re likely to have discovered the scratchy not-so-tuned-in monotoned AM side of the dial. But, when famed fiddle player Uncle Jimmy Thompson opened the very first WSM Barn Dance with an hour of his old-time fiddle tunes on November 28, 1925, it was clear as a bell that Nashville was onto something big. Listeners began tuning into their radios every Saturday night for the show because “AM radio was the thing. The new thing. The uncertain thing. The innovation of the day,” explains Dan Rogers, the Grand Ole Opry’s Vice President and Executive Producer.
How Grand Ole Opry Got Its Name
The WSM Barn Dance followed a music appreciation hour that regularly showcased opera programming. So, when DeFord Bailey played his signature “Pan American Blues” imitating the sound of a train raising the roof off that ol’ barn, radio announcer and the show’s founder George D. Hay declared, “For the past hour, we’ve been listening to music taken largely from Grand Opera, ‘and from now on we’ll present the Grand Ole Opry”. Bailey was the Grand Ole Opry’s first Black performer and one of its most popular in those early days. Bailey joined the ranks of other famous first-timers like Bill Monroe and Uncle Dave Macon. “We have always worked to stay ahead of the times, to embrace the new artists and new styles in country music but also making sure to honor those on whose shoulders we stand,” Rogers says.
This year the home of country music where artists and fans gather to celebrate and be part of country’s past, present and future turns 100 making the Grand Ole Opry the longest running live-broadcast radio show in history. Of the milestone, 32-year Opry member Marty Stuart says, “I’ve enjoyed watching the Opry go from an edgeof-town radio show to this cultural powerhouse that has become a
beacon for other shows in the nation. There is a resilience about the Opry. It’s been that oak tree presence that soldiers on and inspires people. For me, the Opry is more than just showing up and keeping the red “on air” light lit. The Opry is a light that spills down into people’s lives with hope and encouragement, and you know we have touched a lot of lives in 100 years.”
The Home of Grand Ole Opry
The weekly radio show was first broadcast live from downtown Nashville’s National Life and Accident Insurance Company’s Studio C with the call letters (WSM) reflecting the company’s motto – “We Shield Millions.” Its home shifted around town to several other places for a while before settling into The Ryman in 1943.
Originally built as a church, the Ryman offered one of the best listening rooms in the world due to its rich acoustics and intimate setting. Its wooden pews and rustic charm embodied the spirit of the show, hence its nickname – “The Mother Church of Country Music.”
Those were the days of performers such as Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, and Hank Williams, who made his debut on the Opry. In fact, The Ryman era solidified the Opry’s reputation as the ultimate platform for country music performers.
Just across the alley from The Ryman were the honky tonks that Nashville tourists flock to even to this day. In between Opry sets, it was not uncommon to spot some of these performers with highballs in hand at Robert’s or Tootsies. “If you look at photos of backstage at The Ryman during the Opry’s early days, how in the world did they even keep a show going with all these people scattered around?”
Rogers says that may be one of the reasons why the performers would scoot across the alley, or maybe they were just thirsty.
By the 1960s, the Grand Ole Opry was busting its buttons and needed a new venue with modern facilities and technology. So, the show once again moved in 1974. Only this time it was to the ‘burbs which initially caused quite the stir for traditionalists. But as Rogers puts it “the show really remained largely the same in terms of if you were listening on the radio. But, for the very first time in its almost 50-year life, a showplace had been built specifically for the Opry. You had artists with their own dressing rooms, you had wide, backstage hallways where people could jam and hang out together. It wasn’t, you know, a zoo.” It’s where the Grand Ole Opry House continues to welcome audiences from around the world today.
Where Stars Come From At the Grand Ole Opry
“The Opry has ways of nurturing a career that no one else does,” says Rogers. Standing upon a famous wooden circle made from the original Opry stage floor, eight or more artists put on unforgettable performances to a global audience.
The actual performers range from household names such as Di-
erks Bentley, and Chris Stapleton to newcomers such as Zach Top who Rogers remembers, “The conditions were right that he made his way to our office and played. We just all looked at each other and said, ‘Well, certainly feels like the future of country music was just sitting in that chair playing songs for us. But what do we have to lose by asking him if he would like to make his Opry debut?’”
You can listen to 3-7 live shows it hosts per week on opry.com and wsmonline.com, SiriusXM Willie’s Roadhouse, or its flagship home WSM Radio; and watch Opry Live on Saturday nights and Opry content all week long on Circle Country. Rogers says that last year the International Space Station even got to catch a show. So, one can honestly say that the Grand Ole Opry is out of this world.
Celebrating 100 Years
Out of the 230 performances slated for this big 100th year, there are roughly 2,000 slots to fill in which there may be a few surprise
performances according to Rogers who adds, “You can bet that we will find room for some of the biggest artists from other genres who want to come be a part of our 100th year. We will find a way to make that happen while still making sure that every night, we are celebrating the past, present, and future of country music. That part will never change at the Opry.”
The Grand Ole Opry ushered in its 100th year on the airwaves at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium with a special series of ‘Opry at the Ryman’ shows. The centennial celebration began with the Opry’s longest-tenured member ever, Bill Anderson, officially kicking off the 100th celebration in a show also featuring CMA Musician of the Year Charlie Worsham, Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie McCoy, Craig Morgan, along with additional shows featuring artists such as Ashley McBryde and Lainey Wilson. The Opry then returned to its permanent home, the Grand Ole Opry House, for shows paying tribute to the artists, fans and songs that have cemented the Opry
Clockwise, L to R: Taylor Swift performs on the Opry stage, April 7, 2007. • 1970s Minnie Pearl at the Opry. • Uncle Dave Macon (center) with the Delmore Brothers, Rabon (l) and 1962. • Johnny Cash makes his Opry debut at Ryman Auditorium, July 7 1956 • Post Malone makes his Opry debut.
Photograph by Chris Hollo
Photograph by Chris Hollo
as the cultural heart and home of country music since its debut on WSM radio in 1925. You can score tickets to tour backstage and/or seats for one of these shows by visiting opry.com.
You can also learn about the show’s evolution by touring the Ryman’s new Opry 100 exhibition, which is part of the iconic auditorium’s daytime tours. From its inception as a radio broadcast to becoming an iconic cornerstone of country music and American culture, the exhibit features a multimedia display with a dynamic collection of artifacts and rare photographs, highlighting pivotal moments in Opry history and legendary entertainers.
Just as The Fisk Jubilee Singers took their show on the road so long ago, this fall the Grand Ole Opry goes to London’s Royal Albert Hall marking its first live performance outside of the United States. Talk about coming full circle! opry.com
Field Notes
THE TASTE OF THE GRAND OLE OPRY
While Minnie Pearl hollered her howdys to an audience of Opry devotees, an advertisement for “the South’s favorite candy” emblazoned that iconic red barn backdrop. The chocolate-covered mounds of caramel, peanuts, and marshmallow known as Goo Goo Clusters made by Standard Candy Company became a quintessential taste of the show. In fact, many people think the partnership was the basis for the candy’s name (GOO = Grand Ole Opry), though the Opry was formed in 1925, 13 years after the candy was introduced as America’s first combination candy bar. Even still, Goo Goo’s President and third-generation owner, Laurie Spradley notes that, “Goo Goo Cluster is proud to share a legacy with the Grand Ole Opry as two iconic staples of Nashville. For over a century, both have played a role in shaping the city’s culture and identity, representing the sweet and soulful essence of Music City.”
HIPPIES & COWBOYS
You truly can’t sling a guitar anywhere in Nashville without at least hitting a few aspiring Opry stars. And, just as the country music genre has broadened, it has opened the doors for less traditional styles to be considered. Hippies & Cowboys are a rock ’n soul band, originating in Nashville, TN that has such aspirations. Its lead singer, Aaron Sparling, says that the first time he went to the Opry was shortly after he moved to Nashville in 2019. He had scored backstage passes because his drummer, Scott Metko, was playing with David Ball that night. “Wow, it was a special night, just a magical feeling there. I guess everyone says that, but it’s true. It’s motivated me to want to work hard so we can bring the band onto that iconic stage. A couple of times since then I’ve asked Scott if we could play there and he always says something like, ‘when we’re ready, it’ll happen!’” It’s stories like this one that illustrate what an incredible influence that the Grand Ole Opry has on Nashville’s music scene. So, it’s no wonder why the “home of country music” resides in such a “City of Music.”
Alton (r) on the stage at the Opry in 1935.• Patsy Cline on the Opry stage in May
