A few artists of all genres recently came out for a special Grand Ole Opry show entitled, Salute The Troops to support those serving our country featured on the Saturday Night Opry on Saturday, May 29th of Memorial Day Weekend!

This special event was the first sold out show at full capacity the Grand Ole Opry has had since 2020 and included several different artists including Jeannie Seely, Riders In The Sky, Matthew West, Rhonda Vincent, Chris Young, Lauren Alaina and Luke Combs!

The first artist of the night was the lovely Opry member, Jeannie Seely and the singer songwriter was still celebrating from the day before because on that day 55 years ago, is when Seely made her Opry Debut!

Seely was thrilled to see a sold out Opry crowd! She performed three songs including a cover of Ernest Tubb’s song, Hey Good Lookin’ and two of her own big tunes, Don’t Touch Me and Who Needs You.

“Welcome to the Western part of the Opry show!” proclaimed Riders In The Sky as they were welcomed on stage! The group has been members of the Grand Ole Opry since 1982. “It’s great to have a sold out crowd, it’s great to have a crowd anywhere!” said the band.

Riders In The Sky performed two songs, Press Along to the Big Corral and Happy Trails, along with a medley of tunes they recorded for the Toy Story movies which included, Woody’s Roundup, Jessie, The Yodeling Cowgirl and You’ve Got A Friend In Me.

A country christian artist, Matthew West was the next artist on this portion of the Opry. He did a outstanding performance of three songs including his newest one with Carly Pearce entitled, Truth Be Told, along with Amazing Grace and The God Who Stays.

While the Opry was having its first official sold out show with no restrictions since 2020, West jokingly teased with a song he made up on the spot about how happy people in the audience were with the rules being lifted as the lyrics said, “my mask is gone, I can finally breathe.”

The last artist on the first hour of the Opry was the Queen of Bluegrass, Rhonda Vincent and The Rage! She performed a new tune entitled, I Ain’t Been Nowhere, which she said is a song that describes how a lot of people feel right now. The tune is a new take on the song, I’ve Been Everywhere but with a twist! Vincent’s version is featured on her newest album released on the same day, Music Is What I See.

Along with that, the bluegrass artist took the opportunity to showcase one of her new band members, Zack Arnold as it was his first time on the Grand Ole Opry and he performed a song entitled, Tiny Broken Heart.

Rhonda Vincent and The Rage did one more brief performance acoustically of another song entitled, There’s A Record Book from her new album, leaving the crowd in amazement and with a standing ovation.

The following second hour of the Saturday night Grand Ole Opry show was live recorded and aired on Circle All Access along with on the Opry’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube social media pages!

Chris Young was the first country artist to perform on the second hour of the Grand Ole Opry. “This is awesome!” said Young talking about how great it was to have a full audience at the Opry. “It’s been a long time since I got to stand on a stage in a full crowd and I wouldn’t want to be doing it anywhere other than right here at the Opry.”

The country singer songwriter performed three songs including Gettin’ You Home, The Dashboard dedicated to those who have and are serving in the military, along with his latest #1 single with Kane Brown which is the title track to his upcoming album, Famous Friends.

Along with that, Chris Young took a moment in his segment to shine a light on MTSU as they were helping present this Opry show and to recognize some special guests in the audience. “MTSU is home to the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center.” said Young, “The largest Veteran Support Center on any university campus. General Keith Huber who worked with Charlie to open the Daniels center is here tonight, along with our beloved Hazel Daniels and Charlie Daniels Jr. General, just want to say thank you for helping further Charlie’s legacy and supporting our troops and to Hazel and Charlie Jr. specifically, I love you, we love you, and we miss Charlie very very much.”

The second artist of the hour was the lovely, Lauren Alaina. She was very happy to be performing at the Opry! “The Grand Ole Opry is my favorite stage in all of the world, to me and my heart there is no other stage.” said Alaina. She performed three songs including her latest single with Jon Pardi called, Gettin’ Over Him and Road Less Traveled.

Along with those two songs, for her third performance she asked her dad, J.J. to perform with her as he served in the Army and asked her brother, Tyler to perform as well as a gift to him for his 28th birthday that day, so it seemed fitting for them both to join her. They performed Keith Whitley’s hit song, When You Say Nothing At All. “I never thought I would ever be able to repay him for the big brother that he is until I thought, Happy Birthday brother, would you like to sing at the Grand Ole Opry!” said Alaina.

Lauren Alaina also took a minute to talk about this special Salute The Troops show at the Opry. “Thank you to all the men and women in uniform serving for our freedom, we would not be America without you so god bless you and god bless your families.”

“We’re back!” exclaimed country superstar, Luke Combs as he was welcomed to the Opry stage after performing his single, Cold As You, followed by Even Though I’m Leaving, Forever After All, Lovin’ On You and Hurricane.

The country artist talked about how during rehearsal with the Opry band for the show, he realized he had three or four #1 songs which he had never performed live before. This show was Combs’ first time performing in front of a full crowd in sixteen months, so he performed one of those songs called, Lovin’ On You.

“I just want to say thank you guys for being here.” said Combs, “Thank you guys for loving the Opry and you know to all of our men and women in the service out there and any men and women out there who have served, thank you guys for what you do on this Memorial Day. We love you guys.”

Congratulations to the Grand Ole Opry on the success of this special Salute The Troops Show!

Be sure to follow the Grand Ole Opry on their social media including on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and at their website, www.opry.com.

Have you been to the Grand Ole Opry before? I’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave me a comment below or on social media!