Invite happened on live TV
Garth Brooks has invited Ashley McBryde to become the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry. The surprise invitation happened live on CBS Mornings on Thursday (Oct 6th) as McBryde was in New York City discussing her new album and the horse accident that was worse than fans thought.
“I’m here for a proposal,” Brooks says from the Opry stage in Nashville via satellite. “Miss Ashley, this is part of a family that keeps growing. You know where we’re at. We’re at the Grand Ole Opry. I’m standing in the circle of wood right now where you stand. Miss Ashley McBryde, on behalf of the Opry and myself as an Opry member — I’m gonna try not to cry — we would love for you to consider becoming the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry.”
McBryde tearfully accepted the invitation, “It would be the great joy and great honor of my life. Thank you, Garth. Goodness.”
Brooks continues, “Pretty cool. It’s the longest living family in music history. You belong in it. We need you. You’ll make it stronger for decades to come. I love you! Congratulations! Couldn’t happen to a sweeter person.”
“Winning Grammys and being a member of the Opry are the two greatest things that could ever happen to you as an entertainer. I’ve always said I would earn it. This is a surreal moment,” McBryde states.
“There isn’t anybody in this family who hasn’t [earned it] ’cause it’s the love they show for the Opry and the respect they show for country music,” Brooks adds. “Try to remember, it’s the longest living family in music history. So Grammys, CMAs, they’re all gonna fade, this won’t. This will be until the day they put you in the ground, you will be part of the coolest show on the planet.”
At the close of the segment, McBryde’s next surprise was revealed to be her mother waiting in the green room who then joined her on set.
An induction date will be announced a later date.
Earlier in the interview, McBryde also revealed more about the horse accident that forced her off the road earlier this summer, stating it nearly took her life.
“It was pretty bad,” she shares. “We did kinda put out there that there had been an accident — a horse specific wreck — and that some shows were gonna have to be canceled. We didn’t even know the extent of my injuries until all the imaging came back and a little while later, but life saving measures were taken.”
She didn’t share specifically what happened, but declared it wasn’t the horse’s fault. She said she visited the horse named Jenny earlier this week for closure and to thank the “people that saved my life, and to look at them and really just know that they put breath into my lungs for me so I could live.”
Ashley McBryde Presents: Lindeville was released last month and tells a distilled version of everything that listeners have come to appreciate from McBryde: raw, honest, specific portraits of small-town America, and the many characters that you may encounter in any one of them. The project tips its hat to the writing methods of legendary Nashville songwriter Dennis Linde (“Goodbye Earl,” “Burning Love,” “Bubba Shot the Jukebox”). Produced by John Osborne, the project features performances from McBryde, Brothers Osborne, Brandy Clark, Aaron Raitiere, Pillbox Patti (Nicolette Hayford), Caylee Hammack and Benjy Davis, forming a cast of characters that appear across the 13-track collection.
