Marty Stuart Marks Grand Ole Opry Anniversary, Prepares For New Theater Opening

Marty Stuart celebrated the 30th anniversary of his induction into the Grand Ole Opry, and his 50 years in Nashville, by leading an all-star show at the famous institution on Saturday (26).

In a busy period for the country and Americana hero and historian, he was recently inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and, with his band the Fabulous Superlatives, the Musicians Hall of Fame. They also released the new song “Country Star.”

The Opry show also featured performances by the Del McCoury Band, Stuart’s wife Connie Smith, Jason Crabb, Gary Mule Deer, and a debut by Jontavious Willis. The concert was streamed on Sunday on Circle Television’s social media channels, Willie’s Roadhouse show on SiriusXM, and in its entirety, as below, at the Opry website and on WSM Radio. Stuart was just 13 when he made his first appearance at the Opry, just after he had joined Lester Flatt’s bluegrass band as a mandolin player.

Stuart is due to open the first phase of his Congress of Country Music on December 8 with the 500-seat Ellis Theater in his home town of Philadelphia, Mississippi. This follows more than $4 million in renovations to a building almost a century old, which opened as a silent movie theater in 1926 and will now host the first phase of the ambitious, $40 million Congress project.

A four-night grand opening of the Ellis Theater will open with performances by Stuart and Smith on the 8th, followed by Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder (9), Vince Gill (10) and the Gaither Vocal Band on the Sunday afternoon, December 11.

The Congress will provide a permanent home for Stuart’s extraordinary collection of some 20,000 country artifacts, including the boots that Patsy Cline was wearing when she died in a plane crash in 1963; the first suit owned by Stuart’s later boss, as bandleader, Johnny Cash; and Hank Williams’ handwritten notes to “Cold, Cold Heart.”

Stuart has also spoken recently about a possible new music TV show, to follow The Marty Stuart Show, which ran for 156 episodes on RFD-TV, hosted by the artist and his band. It featured such stars as Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Keith Urban, and Lyle Lovett. A pilot for the new potential series has already been filmed, tied to the Congress of Country Music.

Buy or stream “Country Star.”