The Grand Ole Opry, the most famous institution in country music, celebrated its 100th birthday with a three-hour special on NBC on Wednesday, March 19, featuring some of the biggest and most legendary names in the genre’s history and modern-day highlighting some of the greats of the genre’s past.

Reba McEntire, a legend of the genre and current star of NBC’s sitcom “Happy’s Place” (have to have that synergy, right?), opened the show with a snippet of Patsy Cline’s “Sweet Dreams (Of You)” before doing a fantastic rendition of Loretta Lynn’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough.” McEntire cited Cline and Lynn as two of her major influences. She was then joined on the stage at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville by Trisha Yearwood for a duet on McEntire’s 1992 song “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.” They did a good job, but I would’ve preferred “Fancy” or something else.

Blake Shelton, longtime coach on NBC’s “The Voice” (y’all see how this works), helped usher the evening along as emcee. Later in the evening, he would pay tribute to the late Joe Diffie by performing Diffie’s 1995 No. 1 hit “Pickup Man.” This came during a segment in which Clint Black and Trace Adkins also performed hits from the ‘90s with “Nothin’ but the Tailights” and “(This Ain’t) No Thinkin’ Thing,” respectively.

During the telecast, I was happy to see the show show small snippets of Grand Ole Opry history. I was concerned it might just be a series of performances over the evening, which it mostly was. That’s what we mostly want as viewers, but it was necessary to also tell the story of the Opry’s century of music.

The Grand Ole Opry is an important institution in country music, but I think some would be surprised to know that it isn’t a complete history of the genre. Some of the biggest names in the genre's history, like Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and George Strait, were never members.

My favorite aspects of the celebration were the stars of today paying tribute to the legends of the past, like Garth Brooks and Yearwood paying tribute to George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Brooks performed Jones’s “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” Yearwood performed Wynette’s “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad,” and then they dueted on the classic Jones/Wynette collaboration “Golden Ring.”

Lainey Wilson got one of the biggest surprises of the evening when Marty Stuart let her borrow Hank Williams’ actual guitar for a supreme performance of “Lost Highway.” Luke Combs did an admirable job on Jones’s incredibly sad “The Grand Tour,” though with Brooks and Yearwood coming beforehand, another Opry legend could have been feted instead.

Dierks Bentley, Jamey Johnson and Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show also did a fantastic job paying tribute to the late Charlie Daniels with “Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye” and “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”

Among my favorite performances from more modern artists were Alison Krauss and Union Station, featuring Jerry Douglas, doing their excellent “Let Me Touch You for A While,” and Krauss later joining Brad Paisley for “Whiskey Lullaby.” Ashley McBryde gave a touching performance of her song “Girl Going Nowhere” with Terri Clark, and Alan Jackson put on a show with his classic “Chattahoochee.”

There weren’t any bad performances over the three-hour show, but a few head-scratchers. It was mostly a night of Opry members playing their songs or paying tribute to other Opry legends, but there was also mainstream Nashville’s continuing to shove Post Malone down our throats as he joined Travis Tritt for a performance of “T-R-O-U-B-L-E” and later McBryde for a Johnny Cash/June Carter tribute with “Jackson.” By the way, Cash and Hank Willams, who was tributed earlier in the show, were fired from the Opry – neither one of those firings was mentioned on the show.

Tributing Charley Pride was a must, but getting pop/R&B singer Aloe Blacc to do it with “Kiss an Angel Good Morning” was strange, given that Darius Rucker is a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Maybe Rucker wasn’t available, as he does live overseas now. But there were black country singers in the Opry audience, like Breland and Chapel Hart, who could’ve done the job and kept it in the genre. Blacc did a superb job, though.

Dolly Parton wasn’t at the show in person, still grieving the recent death of her husband, Carl Dean, but did send in a video congratulating the Opry on its 100th birthday. Carly Pearce did a lovely version of “Jolene” in tribute to Parton, and the show ended with an all-star cast of all of the Opry members in attendance doing “I Will Always Love You” with Lady A, McEntire and Carrie Underwood leading the way. 

Without a doubt, one of the biggest and most exciting artists of the last two decades is pop superstar Lady Gaga. There is no one like her. You cannot pick another singer that compares to her throughout the entire music industry. Gaga has unapologetically been herself from the beginning of her career in 2008. She has never concerned herself about what other people are doing. She focuses on herself, her craft, her voice and her messaging for the world. Throughout her musical career, Gaga has transcended many different pop music subgenres. She has explored electronic dance music with The Fame and Artpop, techno-pop with Born This Way, soft rock with Joanne and even pursued jazz on the album Cheek to Cheek with the late great Tony Bennett. 

Gaga has also proven her versatility throughout the entertainment industry with a Golden Globe-winning performance in the limited television series “American Horror Story: Hotel” and is an Oscar-nominated actress for the 2019 version of “A Star Is Born.” “A Star Is Born” original song, “Shallow,” won Gaga her first Academy Award for Best Original Song. Therefore, anytime Lady Gaga announces a project, it is met with widespread anticipation. So far, Lady Gaga has never let her fans down. On March 7th, Lady Gaga released her sixth solo studio album, Mayhem. 

Has Gaga continued to deliver? 
 
The answer is an unequivocal “yes.” In my opinion, it is Gaga’s best album to date. While I have been a huge Lady Gaga fan for years, I have not loved every song on every album. Though most of her albums have been solid, there have always been a few skips. 

I can declare that Mayhem is a no-skip album. Every single song feels so carefully thought out. Every song is a piece of the puzzle that makes Mayhem the massive creative success that it is. Gaga remains her authentic self but also showcases some of the greats she is influenced by, such as David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Madonna and even pop superstar Taylor Swift. 

The roll-out for Mayhem has been mostly successful. The lead single, “Die With A Smile” was nominated for Song of the Year at this year’s Grammys and even won Best Pop/Duo Group Performance. It also recently hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is one of my favorite love songs. It does not get much more romantic than to tell someone that if the world is ending, that one person is who you want to be beside you. That shows the incredible love and devotion you have for them.

“Disease” was the next single. It had moderate success but never hit the top of the charts. I get why it was chosen, though. It is a solid song but didn’t have the “wow” factor of past Gaga singles. The most recent single, “Abracadabra,” has peaked at No. 13 so far, but it will not surprise me if it gets to the top of the charts in the coming weeks. “Abracadabra” is infectious. Magic in that song forces you to dance like you do not care. “Abracadabra” became a massive hit on TikTok, with millions replicating the choreography from the music video. All of the singles released have been great songs.  
 
The songs that you must listen to are “Vanish Into You,” “How Bad Do U Want Me,” “Blade of Grass,” “Perfect Celebrity” and “Zombieboy.”

“Vanish Into You” made it difficult for me to listen to the rest of the album. It is track five, and I kept repeating it for a while before moving on. It is such a romantic song of Gaga reminiscing while looking at an old photo. She wants to go into the photo and recapture when she was really in love with her partner. The “Vanish Into You” verses subtly nod to David Bowie’s 1983 hit, “Let’s Dance.”  

“How Bad Do U Want Me” sounds like Gaga has become influenced by mega superstar Taylor Swift. TikTok had millions of Swifties wondering if Swift had secretly collaborated with Gaga on the track. The lyrics are very reminiscent of a Taylor Swift song and the arrangement sounds like something in her repertoire. Gaga still manages to authentically be herself and not just a copycat, however. Her explosive vocals sell this hit. It really should be a single in the future.      

“Blade of Grass” is the song that Gaga has said is her favorite song on the album. This song is influenced by a conversation with her fiancé about when he would propose. She told him he should grab a blade of grass and wrap it around her finger, showing that her love for him was the most important thing to her. It is simply beautiful.
 
“Perfect Celebrity” reminds me of a sequel to “Paparazzi” and the arrangement of “Zombieboy” pays homage to Michael Jackson’s iconic song, “Thriller.” The arrangement manages to reference the hit while also being authentic Lady Gaga. 
 
The only criticism I have of Mayhem is that there isn’t a lot of mayhem going on in the album. I feel Gaga may have an album later that might fit this title more. It isn’t much of a complaint, though. 

Mayhem is an early contender to get Lady Gaga her first Album of the Year at the Grammys next year. If it does not win, there may be some mayhem.

For the last decade now, B.J. Barham has been one of my favorite storytellers via the songwriting he does for his rock-Americana-alt-country band American Aquarium. Barham writes the kind of stuff that’s true to life in all its grittiness and pain and makes you feel the songs in your bones because you’ve lived them or known folks who have lived them.
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I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Barham’s raucous rock shows with American Aquarium numerous times – usually at least once a year when they come to Little Rock, Ark., and once I even got to see a short songwriters in the round event with him where he and two other singer-songwriters performed songs and told the stories behind them. But I hadn’t had the honor of seeing him perform solo until he made a trip to the magical White Water Tavern in Little Rock on Saturday, March 15.

It wasn’t the typical, energetic, shout the lyrics back toward the stage show I’m accustomed from Barham’s band, but it was a different kind of special – one in which you’re entranced by the man’s words, not just in song form but fascinating, emotional, devastating and often hilarious monologues about the family members and life’s moments that inspired some of his best work.

I’d heard some of these tales before – as he’ll often do a song or two alone on stage during his band shows – but I'd never heard most of the stories behind the songs.

There were tales about how something as simple as a sandwich can take you back decades in your mind (“Cherokee Purples”), the devastation of losing a child via miscarriage (“Chicamacomico”), tales of addiction and sobriety (“One Day At a Time”) and what addiction has wrought on relationships (“When We Were Younger Men”) and family trauma, whether it’s a cycle of teenage pregnancy (“Babies Having Babies”), growing old and outliving all the ones you love (“The Curse of Growing Old”) or how then loss of a parent can hit you hard, especially during different times of the year (“The First Year”).

Barham had tales we all need to hear about how it’s OK to show emotions and cry, despite generations of men, particularly in the South, claiming it to be a sign of weakness and something that should be tamped down inside of one. This inspired “Crier,” which he co-wrote with Stephen Wilson Jr. and appeared on American Aquarium’s latest album The Fear of Standing Still.

There were many moments throughout the evening that Barham revealed his storytelling skills went further than songwriting and that he easily could’ve been a stand-up comedian had the band not panned out (though he claimed he would’ve been a lawyer). Stories about how his mom repeated the “go fuck yourself” line to his teacher that had previously gotten him in trouble in school or retelling tales of a Burt Reynolds-esque uncle had the sold out room at the White Water in stitches in between tales that would also bring a tear to your eye, like losing his mother to opioid addiction.

Saturday night’s show made me realize how much I’d love to read a memoir or a novel by Barham if he ever decides to write tales longer than three to four minutes and set to melody.

The 13-song set ended with the same song he told the audience he’d finished every single show since 2011 with: “Burn.Flicker.Die,” the epic track off American Aquarium’s 2012 album of the same name. Barham credits this track with saving his band and his musical career, thanks to some input from fellow musician Jason Isbell, who produced the album.

It was a fantastic way to cap an unforgettable, at times heartbreaking, and at times heartwarming evening of storytelling. It helped me understand and respect some of these tales, which I’ve loved since the first time I heard them.