With “Opry 100: A Live Celebration” set to go out live tonight, producers of the show are offering a preview of the three-hour telecast — which doesn’t quite have a hundred performers to represent the Grand Ole Opry‘s 100 years, but may seem close enough to it by the time the three hours are up. The show airs from 8-11 p.m. ET/PT on NBC and Peacock.
Silent House, which is behind the conceptualizing and production many of today’s top arena and stadium tours (like Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour), is partnering with the Opry on the production. Silent House’s Baz Halpin, Mark Bracco and Linda Gierahn, who recently won Emmys for “Carol Burnett: 90 Years of Laughter + Love,” are serving as executive producers on “Opry 100,” along with R.A. Clark and Steve Buchanan. Gierahn and Bracco spoke with Variety during a time-out from rehearsals about what country fans can expect.
Or just fans of music, generally, they wanted to emphasize. “You know, there are so many incredible songs in the show that are part of the American Songbook that were huge crossover hits, so I think this isn’t an event that’s just for country music fans,” Bracco said. “If you are a fan of music, there’s so much great music in this three hours and so many songs you will know — and know the words to — that even if you don’t consider yourself a country music fan, I really think the umbrella is very big for a viewer for this show.”
Some, but not all, of the performances, were announced in the days leading up to the Wednesday night telecast. “There’s over 20 performances in the show. Because it’s not an awards show, there’s even more time for music. We’ve got Reba paying tribute to Patsy and Loretta. We’ve got Garth and Trisha paying tribute to George and Tammy. We have Jelly Roll and Ashley McBride paying tribute to Johnny and June. We have Carly Pearce honoring Dolly, Keith Urban paying tribute to Crystal Gayle, Carrie Underwood paying tribute to Randy Travis, and Kelsea Ballerini doing a salute to Barbara Mandrell. And Crystal, Randy and Barbara will be there, so they (the performers) wil be singing to their heroes, which makes it even more special.”
On top of that, he said, “the War and Treaty are leading a tribute to country’s roots and gospel with Amy Grant and some other special guests that are joining for that. Allison Kraus + Union Station are doing a bluegrass segment. So we’re really trying to represent every generation, different pieces of country music, and also the legends of country music, those who have have passed and those who are still with us — just trying to make sure we honor that hundred years in this three hours.”
Added Gierahn, “One I’m really excited about is a little ’90s jam, for which we’ve got Blake (Shelton, the show’s host), Clint Black and Trace Adkins. And we just got out of rehearsal with Post Malone; we were all up dancing and just having fun already, as he was doing a little ‘T-R-O-U-B-L-E’ with Travis Tritt.”
It’s not all cover songs or intergenerational duets. Eric Church’s choice of tune remains unrevealed, going into the telecast, but it will be an original song, and — knowing who it’s coming from — possibly a somewhat iconoclastic choice. “Eric is doing a special performance of a song that means a lot to him and his relationship with the Opry that’s very emotional and personal,” Bracco said. “It’s one of his songs that’s just tied to an emotional event for him. We really wanted to give people some of that freedom, and it was great in the creative process of people coming and saying, ‘You know, I’d love to pay tribute to this or to that,’ or ‘I wanna do a certain song that has a special meaning to me with the Opry.’ And that’s what Eric’s doing.”
A few performers will do double-duty on more than one song. “Keith Urban pays tribute to Crystal Gayle doing, ‘Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue,’ but then goes into one of his big hits, so it’s a little bit of both for some people,” Bracco said. “Lainey Wilson and Marty Stuart are doing ‘Lost Highway’ for Hank (Williams) Sr., and then Lainey and Marty do one of Lainey’s songs together.”
Krauss will be seen more than once — participating in the bluegrass segment, but also doing a duet with Brad Paisley on their early-21st-century smash “Whiskey Lullaby.” That’s also a chance for one of the Opry’s oldest and most steadfast members, Bill Anderson, to make an appearance, introducing that duet, since he co-wrote it.
How do you do an In Memoriam for a hundred years’ worth of performers, meanwhile? Just how many can be squeezed in remains to be seen, but Vince Gill will be on hand to deliver what will surely be the most-witnessed version ever of a song that has soundtrack untold thousands of funerals, “Go Rest High on That Mountain.”
The portions of the show going out from the Opry House will be live, while select segments were pre-recorded in a separate taping at the program’s pre-1970s home, the Ryman Auditorium, in a ticketed event. That served two purposes: giving the beloved Ryman its props and also making some of the live set changes a little less frantic than they’d be if 20-plus performances were all happening in live succession. ”
“It’s probably a little bit of both,” said Bracco. “I mean, I think you can’t tell the story of the Opry without also including the Ryman. But it did now give us an opportunity to go to these fantastic performances there while maybe we’re resetting the stage and getting some things getting set on the Opry stage.” There will be a different look to the Opry House and Ryman segments, especially with the very modern capabilities of the Opry House, which is doing live radio or TV broadcasts at least once a week. “We’ve brought in some really great screens that are a part of the show, so there’ll be content as part of every performance that really helps to tell the story of that song or that performance, and every performance will look very unique because of the screen content that we’ve created for each one — some more intimate, some more tempo and fun. But we’re definitely making sure that at the, at the Opry, each performance really has a different look. But the Ryman is so beautiful and it’s so legendary, we very much embrace the look of the Ryman in those performances.”.
Said Gierahn, “We’re just so honored to be a part of it and so excited. Both Mark and I and a lot of the Silent House folks and people that we have working on the project have done shows in Nashville before and been part of that community. I just have to mention, too, that I went to school in Nashville, so I was a music business major, and it’s been really special for me to just, now, all these years later, be back here working on the show and working in country music.”
“She still has her 615 number,” Bracco pointed out of Gierahn.
“And there’s so much art and just joy and love in the show and celebrating the Opry and celebrating what it means to all these artists,” she continued, “and not just the artists, but people behind the scenes who’ve been part of the Opry and bringing music to people for so many years. So there’s just a lot of good things in store, but a lot of heart to it.”
