The second half of the evening would commence with the evergreen Bill Anderson who would prove that age need not be a reason for not making good records Bill is another act who has been writing and performing since the 60’s and in that time he also had a amassed a well worked line of patter that he had truly honed. He may have occasionally looked a little uneasy walking but for 87 he showed a level of performance and showmanship that could not be doubted. Initially he picked a couple of his more lightweight, family fun tunes in “Peel Me a Nanner” and “The Unicorn”, the first with its irresistible chorus of
“Peel me a nana – toss me a peanut
I'll come swinging from a coconut tree
Peel me a nana – toss me a peanut
You sure made a monkey out of me"
while the latter caused at least two of #TEAMw21 to have childhood flashbacks of originally hearing this. Both great fun but possibly not the tunes he'd like to be most remembered for.
It would therefore have been easy to assume that Bill's best days were behind him but you’d be wrong as he arguably put in a contender not just for song of the evening but for the whole year. It came from his 2024 "Forevermore" EP and in “The Last One I’ll Forget” he played a most emotionally moving song which he rightly proclaimed to being most proud of. A tender love song about facing the inevitability of ageing made all the more poignant by being sung by someone in their senior years - it received a standing ovation and we at #TEAMw21 salute Bill for creating something quite so moving both on record and in person in the magic circle with the Grand Old Opry band .
Our Opry experience would have an interlude with another appearance from the Opry Square Dancers, #TEAMw21 had actually missed their first half appearance while taking our seats but were perfectly placed for this secondary showing. In many ways hard to describe, there were limbs with joints that seemed almost detachable that flew around finding ever more impossible angles. Performed at pace with sheer gusto and a smile – it was ridiculously good fun to watch.
An unusually diverting session then came via Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally who have teamed up with Broadway impresario Robert Horn to create a musical about corn called “Shucked”.
Tonight we would get a 7 minute snippet of what is a hundred and fifty minute show but there would be the sort of word play and tunes that you’d expect from two of Nashville finest. Brandy would set the scene and start off a duet with Shane - "Corn!" - it would be a 90 second snippet. With songs like "Looking For A Window Not A Wall" sung by Brandy ( playing the lead character Masey - Maizey - geddit? ) about a town closing itself off from the outside world only to see it's future endangered, the parallels were clearly obvious regarding what this musical is about. Events in the following days may well have taken the wind out of the sails of "Shucked"'s message or perhaps it will be needed more than ever. Either way it sounded highly entertaining and Brandy Clark was in fine voice.
Closing out the evening with would be Sara Evans, Nashville royalty who received a standing ovation from some just for taking to the stage. She would use her own band which may have contributed to a few sound gremlins early on. Anyone that loved her set at Long Road a few years ago would have loved this – the only issue would be which 4 songs would she choose?. Having only recently performed “Suds In The Bucket” with Post Malone at this venue a few weeks earlier this set was more focused on her newer material and her covers album of 2021. Almost instantly on her arrival the Opry audience were clapping along to "A Little Bit Stronger", there were trademark big notes, with her daughter joining her on backing vocals, for an impressive showing
Of all the artists on the night she was least constrained by the Opry circle and would prowl the stage. barely ever setting foot into the hallowed piece of ground. The evening would give Sara a chance to highlight her covers album "Copy That" from 2020. Personally it might have been more interesting to have heard her inventive take on The Pretenders "Don't Get Me Wrong", or rocked the house with The Knacks "My Sharona" instead we were treated to a version of Carole King's "It's Too Late" which was fine, and Sara singing anything is a treat, it just seemed a little safe on the night, in fairness it did get a standing ovation and contained some marvellously hit big notes.
Naturally she wanted to highlight who recently released Unbroke" album, with a stone cold country song being performed for the first time at the Opry, "Cleaning Out Your Closet" where the powers of Sara and he two backing singers was powerful and a joy to behold. Closing out a quite exceptional evening would be "Perfect" from 2023's "Restless" album.
As the Grand Old Opry literature says - each show is unique and each show is unrehearsed so you are never quite sure what you are going to get. This one was a cracker and to attend it within 90 minutes of landing in Nashville somehow only made it even more special.