The Grand Ole Opry is celebrating its 100th year
Multi-Grammy Award winning Steve Earle was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry tonight (Sat, Apr 26th) by Opry member and longtime friend Vince Gill. The Academy Award winner and Nashville Songwriter Hall of Fame member has been called one of the most influential singer/songwriters of the past 30 years. His songs have been covered by artists including Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, Patty Loveless, Willie Nelson, Tom Petty, and Eric Clapton to name a few. Earle is the first artist invited to join the Opry in this, the Opry’s 100th year, and will officially be inducted later this year.
Gill took the stage after Earle’s performance of “Copperhead Road,” presenting Earle with a personalized guitar strap created in celebration of the Opry’s 100th. “You have to be an Opry member to have one of these,” Gill continued. “We want to invite you to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry.”
Clearly moved, Earle said, “This is kind of the biggest thing that has ever happened to me in my life.” He then obliged Gill’s request for another song, “Hillbilly Highway.”
Earle is one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of his generation. A protege of legendary songwriters Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, he quickly became a master storyteller in his own right. 1986 saw the release of his record Guitar Town, which shot to No. 1 on the country charts and is now regarded as a classic of the Americana genre.
Earle’s 1988 hit “Copperhead Road” was made an official state song of Tennessee in 2023. His most recent album, 2022’s Jerry Jeff, consisted of Earle’s versions of songs written by Jerry Jeff Walker, one of his mentors.
Earle has published both a novel I’ll Never Get Out Of This World Alive (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2011) and Dog House Roses, a collection of short stories (Houghton Mifflin 2003). Earle produced albums for other artists such as Joan Baez’s Day After Tomorrow and Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels On A Gravel Road.
As an actor, Earle has appeared in several films and had recurring roles in the HBO series The Wire and Tremé. In 2017, Earle wrote music for and appeared in Coal Country, for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. Earle is the host of the weekly show Hard Core Troubadour on SiriusXM Radio’s Outlaw Country channel.
In 2020, Earle was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
