I think this would be a sad,sad day for the country music industry. The legends are the ones who have made the industry what it is today not the so call modern ones. I am proud to say I have known some of the legends and I salute each and every one of them. Mr Rice I hope you can find a hole and bury your head in it for thinking such an awful thing. May God have mercy on your bad thinking.
I support this petition. This thing that Ora Tandy Rice is about the most rediculous thing I have heard of. To take away our county music legends is propospuous. I firmly believe if the mangement of the Opry put this idea into action, it would be the end of what few traditional country music artists we have left. I whole-heartedly support this petition.
I support this petition. I go to the Grand Ole Opry to see these so called "Retirees". I am in an age group that you say would not fill up the seats! I for one will go to any concert Loretta Lynn is at, especially the Grand Ole Opry. It is a great way to bring the generations together to enjoy a night of country music! My 9 year old daughter, myself and my mother enjoy the time there together every year!
I support this petition. I can tell you right now that none of these new so called "country music" will put my "fannie in a seat" to watch them. Give me the REAL country stars any day.
I support this petition.No wonder country music is in trouble,How did this JERK become affiliated with the CMA?.Look at Branson,their isn't near the traditional country music thrie used to be,at least you can get around town a lot easier,their aint no traffic.stick that in your smipe and poke it mr.Rice
I support this petition. Without the legends the Grand Ole Opry would not be a country music show. In fact, the legends are the only performers on the Opry who are actually performing country music. There is some type of noise coming out of the mouths of the "new-style" opry singers, but it ain't country music. They can call it anything they want to, but is still isn't country music.
I support this petition. Country music is made by legends all the way. And country music has been manipulated by promoters, executive, managers and agents,putting country music into the sad state it is today. all of the great shows coming out of Dallas, Chicago, Wheeling, put country music on the map with there groups of legends. Where are they now.
It is sad that the only way Mr. Rice can get any attention is to take an inflammatory position on the legendary preformers that have brought us to where we are in Country Music. I feel his gravesite will be visited.
Tandy, you sir, are an idiot. When I see The Opry, I see the Grand Ladies and the Great Gentlemen that have been there for all these years. Today's "Country" sucks. Why don't you do the journalistic world a favor and certainly us fans of REAL Country Music, and YOU be the one doing the retiring? We need Little Jim, Jim Ed, Jeannie, Jan and Jean a hell of a lot more than we will EVER need you. Say goodbye and throw away your pencil and go sit in a rocking chair and slowly die while no appreciates you. Your very attitude is what cost us Faron Young.
Old soldiers never die... Same goes for Country Stars...
On behalf of Sounds of the Sixties (Musicians Charity, Liverpool, UK) I would wholeheartedly support the petition - our organisation is made up of 50s/60s Merseybeat Legends who played the Cavern Club in Liverpool and The Star Club in Hamburg - we support and help young musicians up the ladder of success - but we still pack The Cavern Club every week with fans old and new. Most of our members were wheaned on Country Music and we still love to hear the Country Greats. We are not so fortunate as to be able to watch our old heroes on our own doorstep and those who can should thank their lucky stars that they still have the opportunity.
MAN YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR MIND. THERE ARE ALOT OF GOOD OLD SINGERS OUT THERE. GEORGE JONE,BILL ANDERSON, PORTER WAGONER TO NAME A FEW. SO NO WE DON'T NEED TO RETIRE ANY BODY THAT CAN SING AS GOOD AS THESE MEN DO.YOUR JUST OUT OF YOUR EVER LOVING MIND. YOUR ONE CRAZY PERSON. I HOPE YOU GET A LIFE. AND LEAVE THE GOOD COUNTRY MUSIC PEOPLE ALONE.
I support this petition.I've played with many of the senior "Opry" stars over the years, mostly on road show tours. These folks are all that's left of the "Heart" of country music. If we shut them out, all we have left is pitiful rock and roll. No longevity there!
Jack Kondora(steel guitar)
I support this petition. I'm Canadian and Traditional Country Music is an integral part of my life. The "FOUNDATION" Of Country Music was built by the legends of "Country Music", and "Trady Rices" remarks to retire the legends of the "Grand Ole Opry" are totally ridiculous. Mr. Rices should appologize to the WORLD" for his remarks. Sorry to say, only an "IDIOT" could make these kind of remarks. We must all support the true legends of Country Music and they paved the way to all country music artist of today. I'm a singer/songwriter from Canada and I fully support the legends of "Country Music" and I will inform my fans about this unfortuate incident and hopefully retire "TRADY RICES". P.S. All country music artist of today should support this petition and I believe the majority would support it.....
This is the craziest thing I have read in a long time. Great artists like Ray Price are still touring and selling out venues at 80 years old. Recently he did a show at the Ryman and sold it out. This doesn't sound like a has been to me. And recently at a show at the Kennedy Center, he was the only star in a crowd of new acts that received the "only standing ovation" of the night!! And encore!!
I support this petition wholeheartly, these punks that call themselves country singers do not know how to eminate those legands who performed before them, Hank,Earnest,Roy,and a host of others who made sense when they sang, get real Rice or get gone!!!
The only thing I support here is that we keep all the country music legends on stage. Without them, there wouldn't be country music,and no one to be hero's for the younger ones to look up to. Keep the legends as long as they so choose to perform.
I support this petition.I have TRIED to watch the present Grand Ole Opry program a few times over the past couple of years. Except for the senior members the so-called country music of today is just short of pathetic. Tandy Rice...comments written indicate that you are "DUMBER THAN A BUCKET OF ROCKS." Move on to the "noisey" racket stations that play nothing but pure noise...no talent. Country music senior talent is here to stay. These new people that THINK they are country on the opry now...NO WAY. My big toe has more talent than this new stuff they call music. Mr. Rice, shame, shame.
I support this petition. Why don't we 'retire' the jerk who started this campaign to retire the older Opry members so he can stay home and listen to the awful top 20 so-called country noise being played on the radio? The Opry is for those of us who truly love and respect real country music and those 'old timers' who know how to sing it.
Talk about things getting out of hand... Mr. Rice should have kept his opinion to himself.... and I agree with the fan that said Mr. Rice should be FORCED to retire - and will he be the one to tell the wonderful people and performers like Little Jimmie Dickens that he has to go? ..... I'm sorry Mr. Rice - but your thoughts are rediculous. In addition, it is scary to think that getting rid of the legends would allow all of the so-called "modern" country music performers to take over - country music has had to endure various stages of dying over the years but this would be the final stroke.
This is appauling to say the least. An institution such as the Opry is dependant on it's history as much as it's future. Without the past, it is nothing more than a building. Take away the heroes and legends and all you have left is just another place to sing. Get rid of this guy and bring in someone who understands what respect and loyalty mean.
I support this petition.
Talk about stupidity if the "Legends" leave all you'll have is the "canned" music we hear today where everyone sounds alike. The Opry was founded on country music and our Legends keep it that way. Rice should get out of the business if he doesn't understand Country Music & The Opry.
Long live the Legends.
Traditional Country is alive and living on regardless of what Nashville wants to believe. I perform all over this beautiful country of ours and my reason for continueing is the fans that come out and support the music. If CNN took a poll to find out what the percentage of people who want to see and hear the LEGENDS of country music...they would find out that 80% of the people who supported the music throughout the years still want and support our legends. Thanks for letting us know about the legends. We have numerous shows coming up. We will tell our fans and ask for support as well.
Please add our names to the list of NO FORCED RETIREMENT!
David and Terri Lisa Church
Forced retirement is DISCRIMINATION!!! I thought that was not acceptable these days. I'm not believing my eyes when I read about retiring the "legends" on the Grand Ole Opry. My nephew is a singer there in Nashville. The reason? He loved the music his grandma used to sing around the house which was influenced by everyone he'd ever listened to on the radio (before television). The music our legends sing will always be remembered. There are few songs that will be remembered in 50 years by the newer crowd singing because the songs they pick are just not that well written. Much credit should be given to songwriters also. When one goes to Nashville, you want to see the legends on the stage. If you want to see the newer generation, you can go to a club or concert. I'm not saying it's not good to have them mixed in with the legends but in my eyes, the legends are the mentors. Now if you listen carefully, how many newer singers out there have an original sounding
voice? And how many are wanna be's trying to sound like George Jones, George Strait, Allen Jackson etc. ???? That goes for the ladies also. If it were not for your women legends, women would still not be accepted as well singing country music. If may come as a surprise to the young performer out there (well singer, as not all are performers), but they too will be gray one day and will they want all their year's hard work and love of country music to be forgotten? Will they want to be DISCRIMINATED AGAINST? That's exactly what the forced retirement is, DISCRIMINATION against age. What next? If someone loses a leg or arm will they not be allowed on the stage? Start discriminating against one thing, soon it'll be another. As a child, 7 years old, I watched my first Grand Ole Opry show on a black n white tv. I'm 60 years old now and STILL dream of singing on that stage with all those legends. I bet Faith Hill
I support this petition because my dad, Speedy Haworth, was Red Foley's guitarist, Rex Allen Sr.s guitarist, Leroy VanDyke's guitarist, and an original member of the Porter Waggoner Trio. He's 84 and still kickin, pickin and grinnin. I'm so proud I cry when I hear him play knowing how lucky I am to still have him pickin and grinnin. Let the senior citizens keep goin on the opry, the new young'uns have plenty of vehicles in which to show their talent. The seniors don't. Vive La Seniors
Shame on you Tandy Rice for even thinking about forcing our COUNTRY LEGENDS into retirement...I played their music for years on the radio in North Carolina. There needs to be more stations that play the Country Classics and not what some consultant says to play. These artists have given more to the country music community than they will ever get back... Jeannie Sealy, Jack Greene, Jean Shepard, Bill Anderson, Little Jimmy Dickens, Loretta Lynn, and sooooo many more deserve nothing but RESPECT and forced retirement is outrageous.
It's that sort of thinking that has angered me for many years.We've let those people who aren't country have way too much influence in the way we conduct our music, now they want to tell us they've got to stop at a certain age. Ray Price and George Jones, just to name a couple, are still better than any of these newcomers. Long live the oldsters.
I support this petition. Imagine some day not being allowed to see those who made and continue to make the contributions that make this institution what it is. No, No, **** NO.
I support this petition. These satrs are what made the Opry an institution and should never be put out to pasture or forgotten for thier contributions. Shame on any one for trying to oust them, and replace them with what, fifteen minute ,one hit wonders.......please!
I support this petition. I whole heartedly believe that Opry legends will be making amazing music until the day they die. Even then, their music will live on forever. These people have poured their hearts and souls into their music and NO ONE should try to force them to retire.
I support this petition. The Opry has been a family for a long, long time. It would not be right, and or fair to tell them they are no longer wanted and should go home. That's how alot of them qualify for there insurance. Let the artist make that decission when it's time to no longer preform. I wonder what Minnie and Acuff and the others that have gone on would have to say about this?? We should never do that to "FAMILY"
I support this petition. Tandy Rice thinks he is a pretty boy. This is probably for his gain! Get rid of Tandy Rice and continue as always........Change is not always good.
I support this petition. This is a ridiculous idea; these people are what made country music great to begin with. You don't just put them out to pasture!
I support this petition. When Pigs Fly and the seats are totally empty...maybe you can force them all to retire at 65. Check out Branson Mo. and count the tickets they sell to thousands of folks who can't see or hear enough of the Legends in Nashville today, then tell me The old folks have to retire. Tandy, at your age you should know better than to
even "think" such a thing. Definitely NOT!!
I am 35 years old and a lifelong country music fan. If Mr. Rice's suggestion had been enforced a few years ago, I never would have had the opportunity to see Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl, Hank Snow, Little Jimmy Dickens, and many others who made country music what it is.
Country music will continue to grow, change, evolve, and revolve back to its roots, as it has always done; but there will never be the talent or the showmanship that we have been blessed to see in those artists who molded it in those early years. I loved seeing Jumpin' Bill Carlisle still jumping onstage in his '80's and I will never tire of hearing George Jones sing "He Stopped Loving Her Today."
And, Thank God for Connie Smith who proves almost every weekend you don't have to show up onstage half naked to belt a song. She's not 65 yet, but she's not 25 anymore and can still sing better than any younger artist out there today.
The legends belong on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry until they decide they want to retire and not a moment sooner. I am sad that Jeanne Pruett retired and just as sad that Barbara Mandrell retired even though she is far from "the suggested retirement age" as well. There's more talent in their little fingers than in one split end of Miranda Lambert's hair.
You want to know how to shut the doors of the Opry forever - take away the legends and have those kids out there every weekend. The crowds will leave faster than you can say Wabash Cannonball.
I guess Mr. Rice's comments just prove there's plenty of stupidity still left on Music Row. I think we need a petition to force Tandy Rice into retirement.
I support this petition. I am shocked that they would consider such an act. These new singers don't know how to sing, and use bad language and dress undesireable. What give them the right to want to kick the legends off the stage. I am outraged.
I support this petition.
I would like to see the Opry play the role of preserving traditional music, rather than using record sales or airtime as the selection criteria.
Record sales today have nothing to do with music. It is big business which is turning out clones of what sold yesterday.
I suggest to "the powers that be" on the Opry staff: Please,please,let traditional music preservation be foremost in your minds. We already have enough producers and radio stations with nothing but dollar signs in their minds.
I support this petition. It's OK to mix the new with the old, but the Pete Fisher syndrome of "No gray hairs on my stage" is absolutely stupid. I heard of a recent little "starlet" who was making an album and and needed a song to complete it. Her producer suggested a Patsy Cline song. She replied, "Does she sing? I thought she just came out of stage in a funny hat, said "Howdeeee", and told funny stories". Good people, this is where it's going if we take all the traditional acts from the Op'ry. I'd much rather see the rhinestones suits and know these were "stars" on stage rather than the grungy "who gives a damn how I look" fashion that seems to be the norm at the Op'ry now. To quote the late Rodney Dangerfield, "They don't get no respect". One act seems to try and "out do" the other as far as looking like they just crawled out of a dumpster after and eight day drinking and drug binge. What happened to the glamour of the Op'ry? The "showyness", and the pride to be part of an American tradition. If you're going to have forced retirement, force out some of the scum that's running the Op'ry now. Put someone in who knows about country music and not some glorified pencil pushers.
I support this petition. Why would they want to do this. The Opry has been played by legends and old-timers since the 1st. broadcast in 1925. Look how long some of the legends played that continued to draw. Acuff, Monroe, Snow Tubb & Minnie Pearl is a short list of superstars that grew old there and drew fans till the end. I was at a performance in 1998 and guess who got the only standing ovation the whole weekend on the 4 shows. It wasn`t Ricky Van Shelton, who was hot at the time, it was an 85ish year old Bashful Brother Oswald. Also some other old-timers were The Crook Brothers (over 60 years) McGee Brothers (Sam 50 years, Kirk about 60) The Fruit Jar Drinkers (about 55 years) and many of the original pioneers till death, like the king of the showmen, Uncle Dave Macon (the 1st real national star) Dr. Humphrey Bate and all his band members, and the list could go longer with a little study. The Opry is in obvious trouble, but it`s not the old legends causing it, but the lack of them. If someone wants to see a flashy modern country show, they will see a current superstars concert or go to Branson. The Opry is just "different" from any show. It has lost it`s "flair" of the "live-ness" since Acuff died due to crappy management (Mr. Fisher that is). They need to get "back down to earth" and get a little of the "live" feel back with the legends and get a few good comedy acts back and some stringband and traditional old-time acts on there to get the old feel back. If they would do this, then watch the ticket sales!!!!!
I support this petition. I would also support a return to the requirement that a minimum number of appearances be required to maintain Opry membership. Entertainers who want the Opry name should be willing to support it with their appearance.
I fully support this petition. But I also would like to see Pete Fisher removed and somone put over the opry that calls all the old members who have left back to the opry, and for goodness sakes get some comedy like they had when Minnie and Rod were around. I do mean clean family comedy, somone you can take your childtren/grandcholdren to. The bigwheels have destroyed the gran ole opry. It is a shame when you isten to the radio these days and hear all the socalled country, then somone will play a Hank song and with the equipment they had back then they still sound one hundred percent better now than the socalled country, that is a shame.
I support this petition. One of the greatest aspects of the Grand Ole Opry is the mixture of younger and older artists. Can you imagine if they had forced Roy Acuff out in the 1970's? If the newer artists are such a great addition, then why do they never work the Opry? Ernest Tubb, Bill Monroe and others made a point to comply with the requirement at the time, which required an Opry member to work at least 26 Saturday nights a year. In the present day, a young artist joins; says how much they love the Opry, but then you don't see them for 10 months at a time. The Opry only seems to be important to a select few younger artists such as Vince Gill, Marty Stuart and Brad Paisley. Country music as we know it today is already in a tailspin - providing very little music with any substance to the listener who knows 'real' country music when they hear it. The last thing we need is Tandy Rice messing things up more.
I support this petition. I also cannot believe that Tandy Rice does not know that this could be considered age discrimination. I wonder how old she is that she thinks 65 year olds should be put out to pasture.
This is the country we love, and these are the artists who built it. No way do we want them to be forced to retire from the Opry and let some young members that don't care about it take over!
I support this petition.
How Sad!!! After all the years of music they gave, this is how you want to treat them... How dare you!!! They should be a shamed of themselves.
