Wynette/ A new exhibit dedicated to Tammy Wynette opened at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville on Friday Aug. 20. The gallery includes Wynette's CMA and Grammy awards and archival footage from a variety of television shows, as well as glamorous evening gowns, stage wear and selected pieces from her jewellery collection. Personal effects on display also include a lead crystal vase filled with handpicked cotton, which she kept on her coffee table, as well as her leather-bound appointment book, her childhood chair and bonnet, her Bible and her beautician chairs. The exhibit, /Tammy Wynette: First Lady of Country Music/, will run until June 12, 2011. Wynette was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998.
Grand Ole Opry officials recently announced that the show, displaced from its permanent home due to May’s historic Nashville flood, will return to the Grand Ole Opry House with a star-packed show on Tues., Sept. 28th. Among the artists scheduled for the show are Trace Adkins, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Charlie Daniels Band, Diamond Rio, Jimmy Dickens, Del McCoury Band, Montgomery Gentry, Brad Paisley, Blake Shelton, Mel Tillis, and Josh Turner. The show will air live on GAC: Great American Country. Special events and artist appearances will follow throughout October in celebration of both the show’s return and its 85th Birthday. The announcement came just before the Opry House’s signature element, a six-foot circle of oak wood taken from the historic Ryman Auditorium when the show moved to the Grand Ole Opry House in 1974, was returned last week to its home centre stage at the Opry House. The circle,along with the full Opry stage, had been covered by 46 inches of water during May’s flood. Rescued immediately after waters receded from the Opry House, the circle has been painstakingly refurbished. The country music treasure was placed in its rightful spot with assistance from Jimmy Dickens and Brad Paisley. The two Opry members then took to the circle behind an Opry microphone stand for an acoustic performance of the country classic “Will the Circle be Unbroken.”
Georgette Jones, daughter of country music legends Tammy Wynette and George Jones, will return to Ireland soon for a series of shows. The event will be Georgette's tribute to her mother Tammy. Georgette, daughter of the only Country Music Hall of Fame husband and wife artists, will showcase her own talent and that of her mother in this very special concert series. A hugely experienced performer, for several years Georgette sang background vocals with Tammy and appeared regularly in concert with her father. In recent years she has stepped out of the shadow of her parents making her own name in country music with numerous television appearances including Country's Family Reunion series The Young 'Uns and The Grand Ole Opry to her credit. Sharing the stage with Georgette are a 6 piece band of the finest country musicians. Dates are as follows: October 29th St Josephs Hall Omagh, 30th Balor Theatre Ballybofey Co Donegal, 31st Killyhevlin Hotel Enniskillen ,Nov 1st Iveagh Theatre Bambridge, 2nd Sligo Park Hotel Sligo, 3rd The Briary Gap Theatre Macroom and Nov. 4th Set Theatre Kilkenny.
Following their starring role at the Ulster American Folk Park on Sept 3rd,4th & 5th, the Cedar Hill Bluegrass Band will play two dates in Southern Ireland before moving on for some further dates in Wales. They will play at the Blackrock GAA Club, Cork, on Tuesday Sept. 7th and at Colfers Pub, Carrig - On - Bannow, Co. Wexford on Wed. Sept 8th. Formed by its patriarch and mandolin player Frank Ray some 40 years ago, Cedar Hill is a traditional bluegrass band made up of six accomplished musicians and singers who have stayed true to their Ozark roots. Now settled into their own in the mainstream of the National Bluegrass scene, Cedar Hill has been pleasing audiences everywhere with their original, emotional and exciting brand of traditional bluegrass music.
