Opry Quotes & Sayings

My folks were country music performers. They made records and even did a few tours with the Grand Ole Opry. There always were a lot of guitarists around. — Lenny Breau

I hate to say stuff like this because everyone dreams about playing The Opry, everyone dreams about playing Gruene Hall, but I've always tried to not concentrate too hard on where I want to go because I know if I put too much stock into it, it would be pretty disappointing if I never got there. — Cody Johnson

As a country singer, there is only one place you dream of playing in your lifetime, and that is the Grand Ole Opry House. — Blake Shelton

I called my mom, and I was so excited. I was telling her, 'I'm going to be on the Grand Ole Opry! This is crazy!' And she told me, 'Watch out for Jimmy Dickens, because he likes the pretty girls. — Carrie Underwood

When you go to the Opry for a show or hear it on the radio, you get the whole circle of country music. — Dierks Bentley

Country music is always changing but the Opry is always there to serve as a lighthouse for what country music really is. The past, present and future is all encompassed by not only the physical structure of the building but also the radio show. — Dierks Bentley

Backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, I got on my knees and told her that I was going to marry her some day. We were both married to someone else at the time. 'Ring Of Fire' - June and Merle Kilgore wrote that song for me-that's the way our love affair was. We fell madly in love and we worked together all the time, toured together all the time, and when the tour was over we both had to go home to other people. It hurt. — Johnny Cash

Among musical instruments, only the first - the human voice - is more universal than the harmonica. This is appropriate, given that the mouth organ is the most ventriloquial of musical devices. "I throw my voice," explains Lonnie Glosson, the seller of millions of "talking harmonicas." DeFord Bailey, harmonica star of the early Grand Ole Opry broadcasts, approached his first mouth organ as an impressionist would: "Oh, I would wear it out, trying to imitate everything I heard! Hens, foxes, hounds, turkeys . . . everything around me. — Kim Field

Country music is just country. It's going to shift around a little bit, doing some different instrumentations, different production styles. But it will always come back to what you heard at the Opry. Nobody wants it to change. — Steven Curtis Chapman

Carnegie Hall was real fabulous, but you know, it ain't as big as the Grand Ole Opry. — Patsy Cline

No matter what does, or doesn't, happen for me in the music industry, getting to play the Opry as a kid was always be a highlight of mine. — Charlie Worsham

I play guitar, the ukulele and the piano. I grew up on a mountain in Tennessee, and we had 'The Mountain Opry,' where anyone could just get up on stage to perform. It was just about the soul and heart of music. My upbringing was less about being great and more about just doing what you love. It was always for joy. — Rachel Boston

I grew up with the Grand Ole Opry, Dottie West, Conway Twitty, Buck Owens ... not realizing it was influencing me as much as it was. — Lionel Richie

I would have to say I've been on the 'Opry' at least 30-35-40 times a year for ... 51-52 years. — Jim Ed Brown

When I was growing up, Nashville was the place to go if you had songs to sell and thought you had talent and wanted to tour and be on Grand Ole Opry [radio show]. It was the big deal back in those days to play the Grand Ole Opry. And you could travel around the world saying, "Hi, I'm Willie from the Grand Ole Opry". — Willie Nelson

The Grand Ole Opry is an artist, and I am proud to be one of its songs. — Blake Shelton

First time I walked out on the Opry stage, Vince Gill was there. He kind of 'daddied' me through the whole thing. My knees were knocking. I walked out there, and I was literally shaking. They say it's the spirits or the ghosts. And out of respect for that whole establishment, I was really really nervous. — Randy Houser

If they don't have the Grand Ole Opry, like they do in Tennessee, just send me to hell or New York City, it would be about the same to me. — Hank Williams Jr.

What I loved about country music when I was a kid was the Grand Ole Opry, was 'Hee Haw,' was 360 degrees of entertainment. — Laura Bell Bundy

I get the same feeling walking into the Opry House as I do when I see one of my heroes. — Blake Shelton

My earliest memories of country music are the Grand Ole Opry. — Lionel Richie

I feel this is a family here, so kinda regardless of whatever happens in your life, you always can come home to the Grand Ole Opry, thank God. — Ronnie Milsap

It's such an honor. I still get, I guess, starstruck, at the Opry. Because there's so much history here and there are so many legends that are still walking around backstage, so it's really an incredible, incredible experience for somebody like me that grew up listening to all of them. And to be able to share the stage with them is something that I treasure. — Kellie Pickler

I came out the back of the building and I was hollering, 'I've sung on the Grand Ole Opry! I've sung on the Grand Ole Opry!' — Loretta Lynn

You think about people like Hank Williams, who stood on that spot of wood, and Mr. Acuff, and, of course, George Jones. And just about anybody you can think of who has made country music has been on that stage. That's what makes you so nervous - to think about the historical part of the Opry and how it's played such a part in country music. — Alan Jackson

It means so much being a part of country music and the Opry. — Martina Mcbride

Winning the ACM, winning the CMA, my first time on the Opry and having Grammy nominations were all a big deal to me. — Joe Nichols

There's so many great things that happened at the Grand Ole Opry in 50 years. You get the chance to go out and visit with your peers. You get a chance to sing your song and say hello to so many friends and neighbors and all that you have. It's just - well, it's a second home. — Jim Ed Brown

The Grand Ole Opry, to a country singer, is what Yankee Stadium is to a baseball player. Broadway to an actor. It's the top of the ladder, the top of the mountain. You don't just play the Opry; you live it. — Bill Anderson

There is an intimacy about the Opry Theater that gives an entertainer a special charge. — Charley Pride

Playing the Opry, when I get the opportunity - it's one of the coolest honors for any musician in any genre, but especially for a country musician. — Charlie Worsham

The only music we ever listened to out in the piney woods was Roy Acuff and the Grand Ole Opry. That was the only night of the week I was allowed to lay in the middle of the bed with Mama and Daddy, just long enough to hear Roy Acuff sing; then I had to go back to bed. — George Jones

Pilgrims travel to Jerusalem to see the Holy Land, and the foundations of their faith. People go to Washington, D.C. to see the workings of government, and the foundation of our country. And fans flock to Nashville to see the foundation of country music, the Grand Ole Opry. — Brad Paisley

The Grand Ole Opry used to come on, and I used to watch that. They used to have some pretty heavy cats, heavy guitar players — Jimi Hendrix

I take his talent and his passion with me - to the stage of the Opry, to the podium at the CMA Awards, to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, into my own living room. I am the realization of my grandfather's dream. I am a player. — Brad Paisley

When I was asked if I wanted to perform on the Grand Ole Opry, I yelled, 'Are you kidding me?' I've been waiting for that my whole life. To be invited where so many of the greatest country artists have performed is an honor, and I still can't believe it has been bestowed on me. Just to stand in the circle where so many greats have stood-Hank Williams, Kitty Wells, I just couldn't believe it. — Darius Rucker

I can remember that little thrill - that little shiver of excitement - when the Opry audience would encore a person because that person had touched them so. — Zell Miller

Jimmy Dickens was the essence of country music and the heart of the Grand Ole Opry. — Connie Smith

I've gotten to go to the Opry a couple of times and stand backstage and watch. But I made it a point not to take a tour or stand in the circle until music took me there. I told myself that was one place I'd never go unless music took me there. — Dustin Lynch

George Jones and I happen to share the same birthday. The first and only time I met him (which I believe was at the Opry if my memory serves me), I told him that. His response, 'You must be trouble.' Takes one to know one, I am so proud to say. George, his music and his mischievous trouble, will all be missed. He is a country legend. — Jennifer Nettles

I'm just another Opry entertainer. I'm not the start of the Opry, and I'm not the ending. I'm not the Alpha, and I'm not the Omega. It's been a pleasure taking part in the Opry and country music these many years. I'm part of a big operation. — Roy Acuff