Opry @ the Ryman

Nashville, TN

November 3, 2007

Review By: Cole


We kept our fingers crossed all year for a chance of Patty to play Opry at the Ryman, and we were ecstatic to get the November 3rd date. We weren't sure what to expect as far as songs, however, since Porter Wagoner had sadly passed away the weekend before the show. We assumed that she would be doing something special for Porter.

I picked up Kathy from the airport on Friday night before the show and headed to the hotel to check in, and then out to dinner and some drinks. In that time frame, we saw Patty and Emory out and about, which was a nice surprise. It also turned out she made a quick surprise appearance at the Friday Night Opry and sang with Vince!

Showday we were ready for the show--- and tried to fill the morning with stuff to do to entertain ourselves in the midst of all the anxiousness of seeing Patty! After a few hours of watching Patty performances, Kathy and I headed back to the hotel to get ready, grab dinner and wait on Anita, her twin sister Rita and niece Cerys to arrive. Shortly thereafter-- we were ready to head to the Ryman!

Kathy and I had seats for the first show, so she went inside after we arrived so that she could have the chance to watch the whole show. I decided to wait and hang out with Anita, Rita and Cerys until Patty came on. Luckily for us, an old friend of mine showed up and had an extra ticket, so I was able to take Cerys in for the first show! THIS was very exciting for her, as she is 14, from England and this was her very first live performance! She's crazy about Patty, so she was really looking forward to it!

Right before Patty's time, we headed inside and grabbed seats. Patty was introduced and came out and looked gorgeous! She had a really cool band for the show, consisting of Emory, Deanie, Jon Randall, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Mike Bub, Pete Finney and Tom Britt! I was very excited to see Tom Britt in the band, as he was always one of my favorite guitar players. It's been nice to see some blasts from the past helping her out this year!

As we figured, Patty started off talking about Porter, and how special he was to her and they sang "Precious Memories" for him. She nailed it--- sounded absolutely amazing. It's a REAL shame that GAC chose not to televise this one. Her second song was for Tater Tate, who also recently passed away. Since he played on "Rise Up Lazarus", she felt it was appropriate to play that one for him. Another great choice, and wonderful tribute! It was nice to hear a few different things this time around--- and Cerys was THRILLED to hear something from Mountain Soul! She and I ended up going back out to the lobby with Anita and Rita after Patty, but then heard Vince start "Go Rest High", so we hightailed it back inside to see that the entire cast of that portion (as well as Amy Grant) had come out to join Vince in this song, which they did for a tribute to Porter Wagoner. They sounded wonderful- and it left quite a few people with tears.

We all met back inside the lobby in between shows. It's funny, usually when Patty plays the Ryman, we always hang out in the same area during the show, waiting for Patty to come on. A friend of mine called me a few days after the show and said "I saw you and your friends over there-- I told my husband that's where all the Loveless Lunatics hang out waiting for Patty!". And so we stood there and waited on Patty once again. (Not to worry, we are an entertaining bunch- we keep the staff entertained when we're around!) Kathy went inside around the beginning of the show, and we told her we'd be inside around the time Ralph Stanley came on. We had our fingers crossed that he would bring Patty out to sing "Pretty Polly". We joked prior to going in that all our seats were in different sections, and that we had each area in the Ryman covered on the floor for the second show. Funny how it ended up with ALL of us sitting in the exact same section! I sat with Anita, Rita and Cerys in the second row, Kathy was right behind us, and since there was some room in the front row--- we put our favorite Patty mascot Charlie up there!

Lucky for us, Ralph Stanley decided to bring Patty out for "Pretty Polly" during the second show. They couldn't have been cuter up there together--- Patty told everyone that once Ralph started singing, she'd probably cry because she just loved him. During the song, Ralph was having a hard time with the words and Patty was trying to help him out. He, in return, helped Patty out by moving the hair out of her face. Ralph skipped a little bit of the song, so we didn't get to hear Patty hit her high note, but it was WONDERFUL to hear them together, as always! That put all 5 of us pretty riled up for when Patty came out! She did the same set she did the first show, and nailed them both once more. And once again - I was thrilled with the band. I'll admit, as much as I love Rebecca Lynn Howard, she's got a pretty powerful voice, and I was worried that she was going to overpower Patty. But she didn't, and they REALLY sounded amazing together live. Jon Randall is always wonderful to hear with Patty-- I'm hoping he'll do a few more shows with her. And of course, I'm personally always ecstatic when Emory plays with her!

We hightailed it after the show to the alley in hopes of getting photos with Patty. She was gracious enough to stop and talk to us and allow us our chances to get pics and autographs. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful night!