The Oak Ridge Boys Photo Credit: Jarrett Gaza

On July 8, The Oak Ridge Boys were asked by Little Jimmy Dickens to become the newest members of the Grand Ole Opry. Banjo player Joe Bonsall penned a letter for the band’s website, expressing their gratitude and excitement as well as reflecting on the journey to receive the invitation.

“On July 8th, upon the legendary stage of THE Grand Ole Opry, in between Y’all Come Back Saloon and Elvira, history was made,” Joe wrote. “The oldest living Opry star, Little Jimmy Dickens, strode onto the stage dressed as William Lee Golden and surprised us all by announcing that The Oak Ridge Boys were to become the newest members of the prestigious sisterhood and brotherhood that IS the Grand Ole Opry! That night is now etched in music and Oaks’ history. The official induction will take place August 6th on the same stage.” Continue Reading

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Opry member Little Jimmy Dickens invites the Oak Ridge Boys to join the Grand Ole Opry. Photo courtesy of Schmidt Relations.

A show at the Grand Ole Opry can be full of surprises — and tonight was no exception. Congratulations to the legendary Oak Ridge Boys, who were invited to join the Grand Ole Opry! The quartet, made up of William Lee Golden, Joe Bonsall, Richard Sterban, and Duane Allen, will be formally inducted into the Opry family on Saturday, August 6.

After the Oaks performed their hit “Y’All Come Back Saloon,” 62-year Opry member Jimmy Dickens surprised the group by walking onstage dressed as a 4’11” William Lee Golden, including long beard and sunglasses. “All my life I’ve wanted to be a little bitty Oak Ridge Boy,” Dickens announced to raucous laughter in the Opry House. “On August 6th, I will become the newest member of the Oak Ridge Boys, and at that time, you will become the newest members of the Grand Ole Opry!”

Joe Bonsall responded for the group, saying, “Jimmy, that’s the funniest thing we’ve ever seen, first of all. This is a brotherhood and sisterhood unlike any other. We have been friends Continue Reading

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Trace Adkins photo courtesy of Show Dog-Universal Music.

Trace Adkins has never been afraid to try new things…in life or in music. Sometimes his music makes you think, while other times you might want to “shut your mouth and slap your grandma,” all while shaking your “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.” (Sorry Grandma!)

His journey to the top has been anything but ordinary.  In fact, he’s lucky to even be alive. He’s gone from operating rooms to Donald Trump’s boardroom and from the Grand Ole Opry stage to the silver screen. It’s not hard to understand why “Ladies Love Country Boys,” and this one in particular.

Here at GAC, we love him too! Don’t miss Part 2 of The Collection: Trace Adkins airing TONIGHT on GAC at 8/7c! What’s your favorite Trace Adkins video? Leave a comment below and let us know!

In honor of The Collection: Trace Adkins, this week’s GAC Trivia Time* is all about Trace:

Sep 11, 1983 – Trace Adkins rides out Hurricane Chantal on an oil rig in the Caribbean

Feb 21, 1994 – Trace Adkins’ first wife shoots him with a .38-caliber revolver, the bullet penetrating both lungs and both chambers of his heart

Jun 25, 1996 – Capitol releases Trace Adkins’ debut album, Dreamin’ Out Loud

Nov 23, 1996 -Trace Adkins makes his debut on the Grand Ole Opry. After singing “Every Light In The House,” he drops to one knee, calls out girlfriend Rhonda Forlaw and asks her to marry him. She says yes Continue Reading

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Dierks Bentley photo courtesy of artist.

It rained. And rained. And rained some more.

Nashville took in over 13 inches of water in a 48-hour period in May, and some areas of the region were swamped with as much as 20 inches. It was more than the rivers and streams could handle, and by May 3, the drainage system was overflowing. The stage and much of the floor seating at the Grand Ole Opry House was covered, water seeped into one room at the Country Music Hall of Fame, LP Field — the site of the CMA Music Festival — became a swamp, and an instrument storage unit was drowned, destroying guitars and equipment owned by Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Toby Keith and Vince Gill, among others.

It took a while for people to notice outside of Middle Tennessee. The focus of the major news organizations at the time was on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. So Music City rolled up its sleeves and started digging out on its own.

The Nashville flood is No. 1 on the list as GAC concludes its countdown of the top country news stories of 2010.

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Brad Paisley performs “This is Country Music” at “The 44th Annual CMA Awards,” live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010, on the ABC Television Network. Photographer: John Russell / CMA

From the day Brad Paisley signed his first recording contract more than 10 years ago, he had a plan. He knew how he wanted his first album to introduce him, the kinds of talents and lyrical themes he wanted to unveil on the second and even a bit of how the third project should go.

Plans change, of course, and Brad’s planned and adjusted repeatedly through the years, finally finding himself at the top of the country music heap in 2010. He won the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award after being nominated six straight years.

But it wasn’t the only highlight of the last 12 months for Brad. He put out his first greatest-hits album, he was the first musical guest when Jay Leno resumed his place as the host of “The Tonight Show,” and he got a personal phone call from President Barack Obama with words of encouragement for the city of Nashville in the wake of the floods in May. If that weren’t enough, Brad played for an estimated 65,000 people in boats during an AquaPalooza concert at Lake Travis in Texas. And he headlined a sold-out stadium for the first time, playing Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., with Jason Aldean, Darius Rucker, Sara Evans and Easton Corbin.

All of that planning he did in the beginning? Well, Brad’s way beyond any of his expectations.

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Loretta Lynn photo courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

It was quite a year for the Coal Miner’s Daughter — 2010 marked the 50th anniversary of Loretta Lynn’s emergence as a national star, and she was honored in a slew of ways, including parties, awards and a tribute album by some of today’s top artists.

Loretta was joined by several other legends as 2010 honorees, including Merle Haggard, Jimmy Dean and now Dolly Parton. The recognition paid to the genre’s pioneering acts represents the No. 10 entry in our countdown of country music’s dozen top stories of the year.

Loretta’s first single, “I’m A Honky Tonk Girl,” came out in 1960, and it seemed like every few months during 2010, the music business found some way to pay homage to her impact. Early in the year, she was accorded a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, though she was unable to attend the Los Angeles ceremony. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was added to the National Recording Registry, she was saluted with an anniversary party at her Tennessee home, she was celebrated with a Reba McEntire-hosted Recording Academy Salute at the Ryman Auditorium, and a bunch of her classics were remade in the album Coal Miner’s Daughter: A Tribute To Loretta Lynn.

That latter project brought Loretta the opportunity to sing the title track with Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow on the Country Music Association Awards. The album also features Lee Ann Womack, Kid Rock, the White Stripes, Alan Jackson and Carrie Underwood, among others. Loretta hand-picked all of the contributors — appropriate, because she’s not one of those veteran stars who dislikes newer versions of country music.

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Brad Paisley and Little Jimmy Dickens perform on the newly-refurbished circle of wood at the Grand Ole Opry on August 25, 2010. Photo courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry.

He’s the oldest current member of the Grand Ole Opry, someone the other members look up to — even if they have to look down to do it. Little Jimmy Dickens, all 4’-11” of him, turns 90 on Sunday, and some of his music industry friends have a party cooked up for him this weekend to celebrate.

And he’s got plenty of friends. Randy Houser was thrilled to make the introductory speech last month when the Music City Walk of Fame inducted “Tater,” a nickname Jimmy picked up from Hank Williams for his first hit, “Take An Old Cold ‘Tater (And Wait).” Fellow West Virginian Brad Paisley has repeatedly employed Little Jimmy in his videos and plopped him onto his albums in comedic tracks. And that’s just a start on the list.

But Little Jimmy’s always been a friend of his fellow Opry members. He used to walk across the alley between the Ryman Auditorium and Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge with Hank. And he got his shot at the Opry and his first recording contract when he was championed by Roy Acuff, who was considered the King of Country Music.

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Rascal Flatts photo courtesy of Big Machine Records.

April marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, and Rascal Flatts is one of several country acts that will remember that moment in American history by appearing in a mini-series.

“To Appomattox” is named after the site where the South eventually surrendered, and the project will employ the guys in a couple of ways. They’ve been enlisted to produce the soundtrack, according to a website devoted to the production. And they’ll also have roles as soldiers. That’s a little bit different than their last attempt at acting, when they appeared as themselves on the CBS drama “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

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Brad Paisley photo by Mark Kalbfeld, courtesy of Sony Music Nashville.

Brad Paisley released a double album, Hits Alive, just five weeks ago, but it won’t be long before an all-new studio album reaches stores.

Brad plans to issue This Is Country Music April 19, naming the project after the song he debuted last month on the Country Music Association Awards. Beginning Monday, you can download the song for free for one week at www.thisiscountrymusic.com and pre-order the album. That gives you the opportunity to get additional content before the album’s release.

At the end of that one-week period, the single can be purchased at all traditional digital outlets, in addition to www.thisiscountrymusic.com.

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Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton on the Black Carpet at the 44th Annual CMA Awards on Nov. 10, 2010 in Nashville. Photo by Brian Kaplan Photography.

In a night that was short on surprises, Blake Shelton had one big moment that injected a shocking new name into the proceedings at the 44th annual Country Music Association Awards and helped keep some parity in his future family.

As expected, Blake’s fiancee, Miranda Lambert, won Album of the Year from the CMA for Revolution, and she added to her first-time haul by picking up Female Vocalist and the Music Video trophy, for “The House That Built Me.”

Not surprisingly, Blake’s “Hillbilly Bone,” a collaboration with Trace Adkins, also swiped the Musical Event of the Year. But when Blake took Male Vocalist of the Year in the show’s final hour — well, who the heck saw that coming?

Certainly not Blake, who stood in a surreal state of disbelief before he stomped up the steps at the Bridgestone Arena to claim his prize.

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