A combination of wanting to see Mae Estes and the fact that #TEAMw21 had such a good time at The Grand Old Opry the first time round led us back for a repeat visit the following Tuesday, Election Day. The lightning of the first visit was not to strike another time, for a start the bill was a little weaker,made even more so by the fact that Hall Of Fame veteran Jeannie Seely was unwell and could not perform. The venue was therefore not completely full and although we had the same template of the earlier show things just did not pan out as well.
Our new host was now Kelly Sutton, who would do a fine job of relaying adverts, moments in Opry history and calling out visitors celebrating significant birthdays and anniversaries or who had travelled an inordinate number of miles to share a little country music magic. The wit and inventiveness of Saturdays show was replaced by large doses of patriotism and religion, nothing wrong with either of those in their place, we had cheered for the veterans on Saturday as we would do again tonight and arguably the Saturday show had more of a religious feel to it though handled in a more subtle way.
The evening started with a couple of sterling sets, first from Rhonda Vincent, the Queen Of Bluegrass, who would open with "Rocky Top", a song more synonymous with The Osbourne Brothers than the Brothers Osbourne. It was fast paced with a blur of a banjo, fiddle and pedal steel, Rhonda, sparkling from head to toe, would seem a slight figure surrounded by her taller musicians but would still play her guitar with some gusto.
All of her songs tonight would come from her latest album "Destinations and Fun Places" and she certainly took us on an enjoyable journey. Her next song "Four Strong Winds", a hit for Canadian folk duo Ian and Sylvia was a masterpiece of harmonies with 2 backing singers merging with Rhonda to make a sweet sound while the mandolin playing was impeccable.
Rhonda would play fiddle on the next song, which on the record has Dolly Parton and Cody Johnson on it. Neither sadly were present in the house to join in on this version of "Take Me Home Country Roads". There was the sound of twin fiddles but only Rhonda was allowed to set foot in the magic circle. and in a sweet touch , Rhonda would wipe an imaginary tear away on the "Teardrops in my eye" line. There would be times when Rhonda would face off her against her fiddling compadre, including a melodic almost classical finale.
As a bonus we would get an early sighting of Mae Estes for a bluegrass version of "9 To 5" complete with banjo and fiddle solos. although presumably in some Opry tradition / superstition she would remain nearly totally outside outside of the circle as she sang!
Hailing from Hope Arkansas, Mae Estes would keep up the momentum and would be the star of the show in our eyes. She was now able to step into the circle to sing the same song she sung on her Opry debut, "Pedal Steel"
"I sold my soul a long time ago
When I was a kid I’d move rabbit ears til I could hear WSM
Dreamin’ of the day the Opry stage would be under my feet
That unbroken circle still does it for me"
Holding the mic in her hand she would emphasise each line with hand gestures, this was the sound of classic country sounding modern. The instrument of the song title would shine through loud and clear while Mae was simply outstanding.
For the second song Mae promised to expose the uglier side of Country songs that does not get sung about as much these days and "Good Ol' Boys" certainly delivered. The mandolin intro and Mae's voice were as sweet as could be, the subject matter was deadly serious dealing with underage rape. It is equally good, yet sad that this song has drawn such a large amount of positive feedback from the listening public, airing what would otherwise be kept a hidden secret allowing perpetrators free reign. It may have been dark yet was the highlight of the entire evening.
Closing her set would be a debut for "Stubborn Will", another 5 star song, dealing with families that no longer speak to each other. Once again wonderfully heavy in mandolin, this song seems set to chime with families across the world as will the name Mae Estes without doubt
The second half was where things took a turn for the strange, Annie Bosko, taking to the stage in a stunning red outfit, criminally only given 2 songs to sing chose one of them to be "God Bless America". She did say it was an apolitical gesture and fulfilling a request from her late Grandfather to sing it, it seemed to set a tone for the rest of the evening. Once the first audience member stood up, the rest followed like reverse dominoes until it became quite intimidating to be sitting down!
Normality returned for her second number, which Annie dedicated to her parents in the house for their 45th wedding anniversary. She would sing a new song scheduled for release next year, "Californian Cowgirl" which was a promising upbeat bit of country
"California cowgirl
Home grown as a Georgia peach
Boy I bet ya
I could Texas two step ya
Right off you feet"
Definitely one to watch out for next year.