Around the Opry Table: A Feast of Recipes and Stories from the Grand Ole Opry

293 Pages·2009·4.53 MB·English

by  West Kay

®
Copyright © 2007 by The Grand Ole Opry , Gaylord Entertainment All rights
reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of
this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
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First eBook Edition: April 2009
ISBN: 9781599952772
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION
Uncle Dave Macon
Pee Wee King
Curly Fox and Texas Ruby
Roy Acuff
In a Pickle
GooGoo Clusters
Bill Monroe
Minnie Pearl
Whitey Ford, the Duke of Paducah
Backstage at the Ryman
Ernest Tubb
The Cackle Sisters
Lew Childre
Martha White
Little Jimmy Dickens
George Morgan
Hank Williams
Mother Maybelle Carter and the Carter Sisters
Kitty Wells
Marty Robbins
The Louvin Brothers
Jean Shepard
Johnny Cash
Jimmy C. Newman
The Cooper Family
Porter Wagoner
Rhinestone Cowboys
Rudy’s Farm and Odom’s Tennessee Pride
Hank Locklin
Bill Anderson
Jim Ed Brown
Meat ’n’ Threes
Tex Ritter
Charlie Walker
Jeannie Seely
Jack Greene
Dolly Parton
The Opry Duck Hunt
Tom T. Hall
Tootsies Orchid Lounge
Jan Howard
George Jones
Jeanne Pruett
Backstage at the Grand Ole Opry House
Cracker Barrel Old Country Store®
John Conlee
Ricky Skaggs
Riders in the Sky
The Whites
Lorrie Morgan
Patty Loveless
Alan Jackson
Catering Country Style
Vince Gill
Marty Stuart and Connie Smith
Alison Krauss
Martina McBride
Steve Wariner
Pam Tillis
Brad Paisley
Trace Adkins
Del McCoury
Terri Clark
Dierks Bentley
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PERMISSIONS
PHOTO CREDITS
Also by the
Grand Ole Opry:
The Grand Ole Opry: The Making of an American Icon
Available from Center Street wherever books are sold.

For my mother and father,
Joyce and Jay,
and my daughter and son,
Joy and Harry
Acknowledgments
My thanks to Gaylord Entertainment’s Steve Buchanan and Melissa Fraley, who
during this endeavor became Melissa Fraley Agguini and a mother to boot. One
can get married and birth a baby in the time it takes to write a book. They invited
me to do this project, and I am immeasurably grateful for that opportunity. For
invaluable assistance behind the scenes and access to the inner sanctum of the
Grand Ole Opry, I thank Pete Fisher, Gina Keltner, Brenda Colladay, Dan
Rogers, Tim Thompson, Jo Walker, Becky Sanders, Tommy Huff, and Sally
Smith. For his razor-sharp memory and irreverent humor, Jerry Strobel. For
infinite patience and encouragement, editor Christina Boys. For their scholarly
knowledge of and deep affection for the Opry, John Rumble with the Country
Music Hall of Fame Library, and Ronnie Pugh of The Nashville Room at the
Nashville Public Library.
My thanks to all the Opry members who generously shared their time, stories,
and recipes with me; it was an honor to be in their presence. Appreciation as
well to managers, tour managers, agents, lawyers, label executives, and
publicists—the hardest-working people in show business—for their logistical
aid.
Though I spent countless hours in solitary confinement and social quarantine
working on this project, it did not happen in a vacuum. For being there, in
thought, word, and deed: my family and especially my children, for their good
nature and generous hearts; Mother’s Resource Group: Janet, Pat, Bridgett,
Michelle, Barbara, Joanne, Claire, Christine, Tracy, Jill, and Monica; League of
Beleaguered Women: Liz, Christine, Susan, and Carrington; Nashville Heat
Baseball Moms: Betsy, Sue, Felice, Katie, Anne, Nancy, Mary Ellen, Susan,