Steven Curtis Chapman on Upcoming Grand Ole Opry Show: 'It's Gonna Be Very Special'

In July, when Ricky Skaggs surprised Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) artist Steven Curtis Chapman with an invitation to become an official member of the Grand Ole Opry, it marked a full-circle moment for Paducah, Kentucky. Chapman grew up listening to the sounds of the Grand Ole Opry every week on his father's radio. Chapman's father ran a small music store in Kentucky, and on weekends he played music with friends, including dobro player Jack Martin, who played with bluegrass pioneer Lester Flatt and played on the Opry.

After receiving his invitation, one of the first things Chapman did was call his parents back home in Kentucky to tell them the news.

“I said, 'You'll never believe what happened tonight.' And [my father] she said, “I know exactly what happened – I'm still crying. I was listening.' He was so proud and excited,” Chapman recalled. “They will make plans to be there and [I’ll have] my whole family to celebrate the moment. It will be very special.”

When Chapman is officially inducted as the 239th member of the Grand Ole Opry on Friday (Nov. 1), he will be the first CCM artist to receive the honor.

Chapman made his Grand Ole Opry debut at age 18 as a performer at the US Opryland theme park, singing songs by Skaggs and George Jones during a matinee. He estimates he's performed on the Opry 50 times over the past four decades.

Over the past 40 years, Chapman has become one of the leading architects of CCM, thanks to songs including 'The Great Adventure', 'For the Sake of the Call', 'Dive' and 'Love Take Me Over'. He had nine plays that reached No. 1 Bulletin boardentered the Top Christian Albums chart and won five Grammys and nearly 60 GMA Dove Awards.

“We felt the time was right for Steven to join the Opry, looking at his incredible career and connection with the Opry since he was a teenager. He loves every style of music that is played here and he can play that style of music,” says Grand Ole Opry Senior Vice President/Executive Producer Dan Rogers. Bulletin board. “He brings his own genre to the show, and his credentials are impeccable, but we often say when someone walks in, that at its core, Opry membership is about relationships — relationships with Opry fans, between members and between artists, and the ideal of Opry.”

Chapman's introduction also acknowledges the deep shared history of faith-based songs and country music. Over the decades, country artists have recorded gospel albums or included gospel songs in their sets—an approach that offsets country music songs with alcohol, broken relationships, and cheating, emphasizing the duality of Sabbath nights for sin and on Sunday mornings for redemption. the species is known for.

Hank Williams Sr.'s “I Saw the Light” describes a story of spiritual conversion, while Kris Kristofferson's “Why Me” is a plea to a higher power for grace and mercy. Country music anthem “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” looks at death through a spiritual lens. Dolly Parton's “Silver and Gold” and “He's Alive,” the Brad Paisley/Parton collaboration “When I Get Where I'm Going,” Johnny Cash's “Jesus Was a Carpenter,” “Love Without End, Amen ” by George Strait, Carrie Underwood's 'Jesus Take the Wheel' and 'Something in the Water', Garth Brooks' 'Unanswered Prayers', Morgan Wallen's 'Don't Think Jesus' and 'Need a Favor' of Jelly Roll all weave feelings of loyalty.

“One of the first songs I learned to play on guitar was [Cash’s] “Folsom Prison Blues,” notes Chapman. “Songs [with lyrics about] “I was on my way to jail… but I saw the light”, you have to have both. And that's the Grand Ole Opry in a nutshell, those songs are so baked into the DNA. You listen to Bill Monroe and all these songs… 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken'. “I Saw the Light,” “I'll Fly Away,” these songs are synonymous with the Opry.

One of the Grand Ole Opry's first homes—from 1943 to 1974—was the Ryman Auditorium music venue turned church. The building, originally known as the Union Gospel Tabernacle, was built by riverboat captain Thomas Green Ryman and opened its doors in 1892, seven years after Ryman attended a tent revival in Nashville led by evangelist Samuel Porter Jones. Ryman was inspired to build the Union Gospel Tabernacle as a place where people could join in worship (the building was later renamed the Ryman Amphitheater).

1994 saw the first incarnation of the Ryman's “Sam's Place—Music For the Spirit” (named after Jones), which welcomed some of the top names in Christian, gospel, bluegrass and country. Two decades later, Chapman helped revive the series at the Ryman.

2008 saw the launch of the Grand Ole Opry How Great You Are: Gospel Favorites From the Grand Ole Oprya collection of Grand Ole Opry performances by country artists with gospel standards. For the past four decades, the Opry House has also hosted the annual Sunday Mornin' Country, featuring country artists expressing their faith in song.

In recent years, several CCM and Gospel artists have debuted at the Grand Ole Opry as the Opry continues to welcome a wide range of genres to its stage, including Wilson, for King & Country, We the Kingdom, CAIN, Blessing Offor and Naomi Raine. Opry participants in recent years have included bluegrass/southern gospel group The Isaacs, bluegrass icon Rhonda Vincent, and comedians Henry Cho and Gary Mule Deer.

“Half of our audience is here because they love country music, and the other half are in Nashville and know that the Opry is a microcosm of the music of this city,” Rogers says. “We try to put on the best country music show we can, but also give them a real taste of the different styles under the country music umbrella.”

Lady A's Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood will introduce Chapman, while Friday's lineup will also include Skaggs, Carly Pearce, Russell Dickerson and alternative rock band Colony House, which includes Chapman's sons Caleb and Will.

One of the songs Chapman will perform is “The Grand Ole Opry Stage,” a song he created for the induction, which chronicles his journey.

“The song ends with the lyrics, 'We're all invited to the unbroken circle of the Grand Ole Opry stage,' and I'm going to 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken' and my family and Ricky Skaggs and other artists. they're going to join me and finish my intro by singing this song,” says Chapman, adding, “Of course, by the end I'm going to be crazy, I'm just going to figure it all out.”