Grand Ole Opry members Jamey Johnson and Dierks Bentley joined forces to perform during Wednesday night’s 100th birthday party for the hallowed institution.
No music event has brought together more country artists than this year’s Opry 100 celebration. Roughly 40 artists, mostly comprised of Opry members, were slated to perform or make a special appearance during the 3-hour show.
Among the performers were Jamey Johnson and Dierks Bentley, who teamed up to pay tribute to the late Opry member Charlie Daniels. The duo was joined by Old Crow Medicine Show fiddler Ketch Secor and performed a cover of Daniels’ 1993 release “Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye,” followed by his 1979 hit “The Devil Went Down To Georgia,” the song that was Daniels’ signature song and biggest hit.
Charlie Daniels joined the Opry in 2008, a moment that was a dream come true for the singing fiddler who used to wonder what it was like to perform on the hallowed stage.
“The first radio show I ever listened to was [the] Grand Old Opry. And I don’t even know what age I was — I was a baby,” Charlie said in a 2015 interview. “I used to sit around as a kid, thinking, ‘What does it look like? What is it like? What would it be like to actually walk in there and sit down and see the show?'”
Charlie Daniels died in 2020 at the age of 83.
Jamey Johnson’s Opry History
17 years after his Opry debut in 2005, Jamey Johnson officially became a member. Johnson, who built a career as one of the genre’s most successful songwriters and sought-after collaborators, was invited to join the Opry family by Bill Anderson.
“Bill has been way more than a co-writer from the beginning. He’s been a mentor. He’s been a hero. To have him be the one … just perfect,” Jamey said.
Bill Anderson said of Johnson, “He’s one of us. He’s got a country heart. He’s got a country soul. He’s not somebody that’s come in here pretending that he’s something that he’s not. With Jamey Johnson, what you see is what you get. And I respect that, and I honor the fact that he wants to be here.”
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Dierks Bentley’s Opry History
Dierk’s Bentley’s Opry story is unlike any other. Bentley is the only artist to have been banned by the Opry before he was ever a member!
Dierks shared the story of his ban with Taste of Country, saying, “I used to work at CMT and TNN … we worked right next to the Opry. It was out at Opryland, and the building was right next to the Grand Ole Opry. So I would sneak over there on Fridays and Saturdays to watch the Opry before I would go down to Lower Broadway to watch more music.”
Bentley eventually wore out his welcome and received a letter that said, “Hey, we love Dierks, but he can’t come to the Opry every single weekend.”
The letter inspired Dierks to earn the “ultimate backstage pass” in the form of Opry membership. His dream came true in 2005, two years after he made his debut in the iconic circle.