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September 1 2026

The day before the ACM Honors ceremony, I received this beautiful spray of flowers at my house. I could not imagine who they were from until I opened the card. It read: “Congratulations on your ACM Honor. We are proud of you and thankful for you!” And it was signed, “Love – Your Opry Family.” Now is that special or what? I hope my Opry family knows how thankful I am for them as well.

As I wrote in my letter, the Academy gave out Icon awards to two people this year…one to me and one to Mike Curb. We were both honored and grateful to receive them.

I guess this is what it looked like from the audience when I walked onstage to accept my award. The ACM folks really did things first-class!

Who wouldn’t be smiling while getting an award AND a hug from Carly Pearce?

One of the event sponsors, Tenn Pop beverages, presented me with a personalized Icon guitar toward the end of the evening. All I had to promise them was that I’d try my best to write a hit song on it!!

Nobody wants to go through a special night like this by themselves. My “team” was with me: Scott Adkins, my publicist; Rachael Nichols, his assistant; and my longtime manager, Lee Willard. My son, Jamey; his wife, Beth; my granddaughter, Hallie; and my daughter, Jenni, were in the audience. And my buddy, Sharyl Melvin, was close by to make sure I behaved myself!

This may be my favorite of the many pictures I have taken alongside Dolly Parton. We both look extremely happy here, and we should have been. We were onstage at the Opry and having a ball. Of all the things I will miss about Dolly, her smile and her infectious laughter top the list. She made the world a better place by simply being in it.

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Opry announcer, Mike Terry, and I sat down in the WSM radio studios recently to record a couple of new “Ambassador infomercials” for Springer Mountain Farms chicken. Mike asked me questions about my career in an interview setting, then I wrapped it up with a promotional plug for SMF products. You can see these this fall airing during the Dailey & Vincent Show Saturdays on RFD-TV.

I thought you might like to see what my Icon trophy from the Academy of Country Music looks like close-up. And you’re wondering, just like I did when I first saw it, why it says “2025” if it was presented this year. I have no idea, but it’s probably either because the award was on the ACM books as a 2025 gift or the engraver simply made a mistake. When I find out I’ll let you know. Regardless, it’s a beautiful piece that I treasure….and FYI, it’s much heavier than it might look!

When Jeff Womack came to my office recently to interview me for an episode of Nashville Insider, he told me he had a surprise for me when the interview was over. I never suspected it might be one of the original “to go” boxes from the early days of our Po’ Folks restaurant chain in the eighties. Back in those days, long before Doordash and UberEats, if you wanted restaurant food at home you went to the restaurant, placed your order, and carried it home in a box similar to this. I saw hundreds of these boxes go out the door when I was the spokesperson for Po’ Folks. Jeff had me autograph this one for him…and promised me he’d keep it forever. Our interview should be airing soon.

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I had the opportunity to visit with Sonya Isaacs prior to her and her family entertaining and inspiring the congregation at our Church By The Lake on July 5th. Larry Gatlin will visit us on September 27th. It’s free, and all are invited.

Jamey Johnson and I have been friends, fellow Opry artists, and songwriting buddies since his earliest days in Nashville, and it was fun to help him celebrate his 51st birthday onstage July 14th. Someone told me later that he called it, “my favorite night ever at the Opry.”

I couldn’t get the grin off my face during the Sony-BMI breakfast when I was presented with 12 Millionaire Awards, signifying twelve of my songs having been publicly performed over a million times each. What a great way to start the day, and the food was pretty darned good too! Left to right on stage were BMI reps Mason Hunter, Clay Bradley, and Leslie Roberts.

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of walking onto that Grand Ole Opry stage and welcoming the crowd to our portion of the show….even after having done it for 65-years! After a few songs, including a duet with Mary Lou Turner, Lorrie Morgan came onstage and, on behalf of the Opry, presented me with a beautiful gold ring with diamond and blue sapphire inserts, the symbol of 65-years of togetherness. It was a serious and special moment, but Lorrie and I got to cutting up and laughing about my putting the ring on her finger instead of mine. Before the night was over, fans were telling us we should work up a full comedy routine and take it on the road! Lorrie is one of my favorite people and dearest friends.

photos by Chris Hallo, Opry staff photographer.

When the show was over, about 300 of my closest friends, fans, and family members gathered in Studio A behind the Opry stage for the cutting of my 65th anniversary cake and some down-home visiting. I greeted everyone, telling them how thankful I was that they were there, then welcomed eight members of my family (L to R) : Granddaughter Greta, Granddaughter Rachel, Daughter Terri, Granddaughter Sophie, Son Jamey, Grandson Gabe, Daughter-In-Law Beth, and Daughter Jenni. My behind-the-scenes family, who took care of so many celebration details, was there too: (L. to R.) Publicist Rachael Nichols, Publicist Scott Adkins, Manager Lee Willard, and Webmaster Stephanie Orr-Buttrey, without whom so much planning and organizing would not have gotten done. And, last but not least, the night provided a reunion of three ladies who have combined to work in my office for a total of close to 65 years themselves (L. to R.): my current Administrative Assistant, Judy Price, and former Assistants Cathy Allen (formerly Cox) and Kathy Gaddy. What a night it was…I can’t wait to do it again in 65 more years!!!

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If there was ever a nicer man on Planet Earth than Bill Cody I certainly never knew him. I met Bill back in the eighties when he worked at WHAS Radio in Louisville and I was in town for the grand opening of one of our PoFolks restaurants. He interviewed me on the air, and we got to talking about good ol’ country cooking. I never forgot his saying how much he loved down-home food. So, when he moved to Nashville to work at WSM many years later, I welcomed him to town by taking him to lunch at one of my favorite meat ‘n three hangouts. He never forgot it, and would mention how much he enjoyed it for years to come. Rest In Peace, my friend. This ol’ world, the Opry, and my life are all better because you were a part of them.

Not only is Steve Wariner a great singer, songwriter, and guitar player, but the ol’ boy ain’t bad with a paint brush in his hands either! He hosted an exhibit of some sixty-odd of his paintings at a venue outside Nashville called Monthaven recently, and I had the opportunity to drop by for the Grand Opening. If you’re in Nashville before July 26th, I highly encourage you to drop by, too, and take a look at his work. You’ll be as impressed as I was I’ll guarantee you.

Rachael Nichols, who sets up a lot of my interviews and promotions for Scott Adkins Publicity, holds the “mock” Icon Award trophy that the Academy of Country Music presented to me on the Opry stage last month. Most award shows present “dummy” trophies to their winners onstage, then when they’ve learned who the winners are, they have the “real” trophy engraved and sent to the winner at a later time. As I wrote in my earlier letter, this mock trophy was one of the heaviest I ever tried lifting. You’d think my manager, Lee Willard, would have offered to carry it for Rachael. But, as you can see, he just stood there smiling! (And so did I!!)

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