The world around us seems to be changing every day. This makes us appreciate life’s constants even more.

One of those near constants is the Grand Ol’ Opry. The weekly radio broadcast from Nashville began nearly a century ago on November 28, 1925. Thanks to cable, satellite and streaming television it is possible to watch the Grand Ol’ Opry on television each week. Of course, you can still listen to the Grand Ol’ Opry on WSM Radio.

I discovered the Grand Ol’ Opry on the family’s old console radio as a kid. My first full-time job was at a radio station in north central Iowa and, among a variety of other duties, I hosted a one-hour country music program at 6 a.m. each day.

This was in 1967, long before country was cool. I took some good-natured kidding from friends and acquaintances, but I defended my job. I enjoyed country music and took my career seriously.

One day I received a phone call from the now-late Smokey Smith, a country singer/disc jockey/promoter from Des Moines. Back in the ’60s Smokey brought country music performers to the old KRNT Theater in Des Moines.

Smokey’s call on this day was to advise that he was bringing George Morgan and Little Jimmy Dickens to Des Moines and would I like a backstage pass to meet the performers?

Do bears poop in the woods? Of course, I would like to meet these Grand Ol’ Opry stars.

When the date of the show arrived I hadn’t been able to convince any of my friends to accompany me. Some had previous plans while others couldn’t stand the thought of an afternoon of country music. I drove to Des Moines by myself.

Arriving well in advance of curtain time, I found Smokey Smith who escorted me backstage. This was my first year as a country music DJ and I was both excited and nervous about meeting real live country music stars.

Smokey knocked on a backstage door and we were greeted by a diminutive fellow partially dressed in a sequin-studded suit. Smokey introduced me to Little Jimmy Dickens and to George Morgan, a distinguished-looking gentleman sitting in a corner of the room.

Smokey excused himself and when he left me there with the two performers I began to worry about having nothing to say. I need not have worried. Jimmy Dickens started things out by positioning his just-over-five-foot body next to my 6’7″ frame and asking George Morgan if he thought it was fair that I was so darn big. He speculated that being a cornfed Iowan may have contributed to my size.

Disarmed by his sense of humor, I quickly began to feel at home and spent the next half hour in animated conversation. As curtain time drew near, I excused myself and found my seat in the audience.

Subsequently, Smokey Smith got me back stage to meet other country music stars. Over the years I had opportunities to meet and interview other country performers, but none of the visits hold a candle to that half hour with Little Jimmy Dickens and George Morgan.

William Lyon Phelps once said, “This is the final test of a gentleman: his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him.” A wet-behind-the-ears disc jockey from a small radio station in a county seat town in Iowa surely could not do much for Grand Ol’ Opry stars Little Jimmy Dickens and George Morgan, yet these southern gentlemen treated me like a newly discovered cousin. Their kindness gave me a new sense of self-confidence and increased my interest in the business.

As I have watched country music grow into the nation’s most popular music format I have often thought about that backstage visit. I’m convinced that one of the reasons country music became so popular is the down-home personalities of many of its performers.

Little Jimmie Dickens and George Morgan have passed on to what Tex Ritter called Hillbilly Heaven. George’s daughter, Lorrie Morgan, became a country music star in her own right.

Whenever I hear “The Bird of Paradise” or “Candy Kisses” I get a warm feeling recalling my half hour with two of the most personable of the Grand Ol’ Opry.

Arvid Huisman can be contacted at huismaniowa@gmail.com. ©2023 by Huisman Communications.