Dolly Celebrates Opry’s 85th Birthday
Dolly was the highlight of the evening last Saturday for the Grand Ole Opry’s 85th birthday celebration that included performances by Taylor Swift, Trace Adkins, Bill Anderson, and many others. After a performance from Bill Anderson in the final segment that evening, he introduced Dolly to the crowd saying, “There are people who are stars; there are legends; there are icons. This lady is all three and then some.” Dolly performed three songs for each show, the first set included “Jolene”, “I Will Always Love You”, which she dedicated in memory of her late singing partner, Porter Wagoner, and “9 To 5”.
Dolly performed mostly the same songs for the second show but swapped out “I Will Always Love You” with “Coat of Many Colors”. At the end of each show, Dolly reappeared on stage with Bill Anderson and other entertainers of the evening with a giant 85th birthday cake and sang “Happy Birthday” with the crowd.
Besides Dolly, the evening’s other major performance was Taylor Swift who lauded Dolly from on stage as “one of the greatest storytellers of all time”. Swift performed her set of three songs prior to Dolly’s segment, performing “You Belong With Me”, an acoustic version of her new single “Mine”, and “Love Story”. Taylor also commented to the audience on getting to meet Dolly between shows that evening, a photo of which can be seen on The Boot’s website. WSMV also ran a video story on the event that includes a clip of Dolly that is available on their website.
Dolly also did an interview backstage with FOX News about the event, watch it in the player below!