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THE GRAND OLE OPRY SURVIVED 100 YEARS. NOW ITS FUTURE DEPENDS ON THE HIGHEST BIDDER. Ryman Hospitality Properties just confirmed they’re exploring the sale of their 70% stake in Opry Entertainment Group — the company that runs the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium, WSM Radio, Ole Red, and Category 10. They hired Morgan Stanley to find buyers. Over 1 million people walk through those doors every year. The Opry is the longest-running radio broadcast in U.S. history, started in 1925 with one fiddle player in a tiny Nashville studio. But what most people don’t know yet is what kind of buyer is circling — private equity firms, media corporations, live-entertainment companies — and what that could mean for a place where Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and Dolly Parton once stood on that same wooden stage. Executive Chairman Colin Reed says no deal has been signed. No guarantees. But they’re actively shopping it. Last November, the Opry celebrated 100 years. Seven months later, someone else might own it all.

The Grand Ole Opry Has Survived 100 Years. Now Its Future Is Up for Sale The Grand Ole Opry has…

HE HID HIS DISEASE FOR 10 YEARS. TONIGHT, 50,000 PEOPLE ARE COMING TO SAY GOODBYE. Alan Jackson was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease in 2011 — a degenerative nerve condition he inherited from his father. He didn’t tell anyone for a decade. By 2021, he was stumbling on stage and struggling to keep his balance at the microphone, and that’s when he finally spoke about it. But what most people didn’t know was how deep it ran — his grandmother had it, his father had it, his sister had it too. Tonight at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Jackson will play his final full-length concert. George Strait, Carrie Underwood, Luke Combs, Eric Church, Miranda Lambert and more than a dozen stars will share the stage with him. Over 50,000 tickets sold out. A dollar from every single one goes to CMT disease research. He picked Nashville because that’s where everything started for him over 30 years ago. Tonight, it all comes full circle.

Alan Jackson’s Final Nashville Concert Brings a Full Circle Moment For years, Alan Jackson carried a private struggle while continuing…

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SHE CO-PRODUCED THE SONG THAT SAT 28 WEEKS AT #1. NOW HER OWN ALBUM IS COMING. Miranda Lambert just announced “Crisco” — 12 tracks dropping October 2nd on MCA. She produced it alongside Jesse Frasure, and the sound moves between honky-tonk grooves, heartbreak, and late-’70s disco-country she hasn’t really touched before. There’s a duet with Chris Stapleton called “A Song to Sing” — already Grammy-nominated before the album even has a release date. A cover of Jim Croce’s “I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song.” And the title track she debuted live at the ACMs in May, dressed in denim and rhinestones. But here’s what makes this interesting. While everyone was waiting on new Miranda music, she was quietly co-writing and co-producing Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” — the song that sat at No. 1 on Hot Country Songs for 28 weeks and held the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks. Forty ACM Awards in 20 years, and she spent part of that time making someone else’s career-defining hit. Now she’s back with her own record. And it’s called Crisco.

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Miranda Lambert Returns With Crisco, a Album Built on Risk, Heart, and a Surprise Hitmaker Role For a while, fans…

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23 STITCHES, A CONCUSSION, AND HIS WIFE HAD TO DEFEND HIM FROM THE INTERNET. Kane Brown was golfing with a buddy last Tuesday when a 3-wood slice sent a ball straight into his ear. Not from across the course — right next to him on the fairway, at roughly 150 to 180 mph. He turned his head just in time. A few inches the other way, and in his own words, he wouldn’t be here. Hospital. Split ear. 23 stitches. Minor concussion. CT scans came back clean — no fractures, nothing internal. But the injury knocked him out of the Tight End University concert in Nashville that night, where Travis Kelce and even Taylor Swift performed. Then people online started making jokes about it. And that’s when Katelyn stepped in. She posted videos making it clear — this wasn’t some little golf mishap. The ball hadn’t been losing momentum. It hit Kane at full speed, from close range. She said it could’ve been so much worse.

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23 Stitches, a Concussion, and How Katelyn Brown Defended Kane Brown From the Internet Kane Brown expected an ordinary day…

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$1.2 BILLION FROM TOURING. 17.9 MILLION FANS. AND HE REFUSES TO USE THAT STAGE FOR POLITICS. When Bill Maher brought up Bruce Springsteen on his Club Random podcast, Kenny Chesney didn’t dodge. He leaned right in. But what he said next made even Maher go quiet for a second. “I’ve just never felt like it was my place,” Chesney said about using his platform for politics. No PR answer. No rehearsed line. Just a man being honest about where he draws the line. He went further — saying there’s a certain ego involved when celebrities believe they can change how people vote. That his fans come to concerts as an escape. “They get that everywhere else. Every device. Every network. They’re there as an escape from all that stuff.” Maher agreed. He even admitted that studies suggest celebrity endorsements often have the opposite effect on voters. And Chesney? Thirty years in the game, a Hall of Fame ring on his finger, and he still won’t use that stage for anything but music.

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Kenny Chesney Explains Why He Leaves Politics Out of the Spotlight When Bill Maher brought up Bruce Springsteen on the…

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A 12-YEAR-OLD GIRL LOOKED AT HER FATHER WITH TEARS AND SAID JUST ONE SENTENCE — IT BROKE EVERYONE’S HEART Indiana Feek wasn’t asking for toys or candy. She was asking for something no doctor could give her. Born with Down syndrome and a hole in her heart that never healed, she’s faced more in her short life than most people ever will. Her mother, Joey Feek — the Grammy-winning voice behind Joey + Rory — lost her battle with cancer when Indiana was only two. Now her father Rory stands beside her in an Austin hospital, carrying the weight of both parents. What happened in the days before her open-heart surgery moved an entire congregation of over a thousand people to prayer.

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I Don’t Want the Surgery, Papa… I Want the Miracle There are moments when a family’s faith is tested in…

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ALAN JACKSON CHOSE HIS FINAL WORDS — AND THEY WEREN’T ABOUT MUSIC. West Palm Beach. Thousands of fans packed the “5 O’Clock Somewhere Fest,” scanning the stage for one man. His name was everywhere. His music filled the air. But Alan Jackson never walked out. Instead, his face appeared on the giant screens — a video message from Nashville. He could have talked about decades of hits, awards, sold-out tours. He didn’t. He talked about fishing off the South Florida coast with his family. Quiet mornings on the water nobody ever knew about. Then that familiar grin: “Pop a top, have a good time.” June 27. Nissan Stadium. Over 50,000 seats — gone. George Strait, Carrie Underwood, Luke Combs, Miranda Lambert, all there for one last night.

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Alan Jackson Sends a Final Message Before His Last Show in Nashville At the 5 O’Clock Somewhere Fest in West…

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“$16,000 IN DAMAGE. ONE HOTEL ROOM. ONE NIGHT. AND BAILEY ZIMMERMAN JUST BROKE HIS SILENCE.” On May 27th, Bailey Zimmerman was supposed to perform at Sandia Resort & Casino in Albuquerque. Fans had their tickets. The stage was set. But during soundcheck, something went wrong. Court documents say he appeared intoxicated — throwing microphones, smashing a guitar on the ground, knocking over drum equipment. He reportedly shoved a bandmate and spit toward a security guard. But here’s what nobody knew at the time. When the resort asked him to leave, he refused. Police had to escort him out. The next morning, housekeeping walked into his room and found a destroyed TV, a hole in the wall, broken furniture, and two missing chairs. Total damage: over $16,000. Plus a $400 unpaid alcohol tab. He told fans that night he was “not feeling well.” Weeks of silence followed. Then on June 23rd, Zimmerman finally spoke — apologizing to the Pueblo of Sandia and his fans, saying he takes full accountability and that he “fell short that day.” He now faces a felony charge for criminal property damage and a misdemeanor for unpaid services. An arrest warrant has been issued with no bond.

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Bailey Zimmerman Breaks His Silence After the Sandia Resort Incident On May 27, Bailey Zimmerman was expected to do what…

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HE WAS SIGNED AT 14, WROTE A CMA SONG OF THE YEAR — THEN QUIETLY WALKED AWAY FROM THE MACHINE. Dallas Frazier was never supposed to be invisible. At 12, he was already on the road with Ferlin Husky. At 14, Capitol Records signed him, and a poor kid raised around the cotton fields of Bakersfield suddenly looked like the future. He had the voice. He had the songs. He had the kind of start most grown men in Nashville would’ve begged for. Then the strange part happened. Dallas became more powerful when other people sang him. Jack Greene took “There Goes My Everything” to No. 1, and the song won CMA Song of the Year in 1967. George Jones recorded his words. Connie Smith recorded an entire album of his words. Charley Pride turned “All I Have to Offer You (Is Me)” into a No. 1. The Oak Ridge Boys later made “Elvira” a country-pop explosion. But Dallas himself never became the face on the wall. He recorded solo albums. He earned the respect. He entered the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame at just 36. And then, while most men would’ve chased more trophies, he began stepping back. By 1988, Dallas Frazier left the music business completely and became a minister. Maybe that’s why his story hits so hard. Nashville kept his songs. Dallas kept his soul.

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Dallas Frazier: The Songwriter Nashville Could Not Ignore, Even When He Stepped Away Dallas Frazier was never meant to blend…

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GARTH BROOKS FILLED STADIUMS WITH HIS WORDS — BUT PAT ALGER’S OWN VOICE NEVER GOT THAT KIND OF ROOM. You know the thunder. You know the prayer. You know the ache in “What She’s Doing Now.” Millions heard those songs through Garth Brooks and felt like they belonged to him forever. But behind them was Pat Alger — a Georgia-born songwriter with a quiet voice, a guitar, and a gift for making ordinary regret sound enormous. He helped write four No. 1 records for Garth: “The Thunder Rolls,” “Unanswered Prayers,” “What She’s Doing Now,” and “That Summer.” He also gave country music songs like “Small Town Saturday Night” and “Like We Never Had A Broken Heart.” And still, when Pat released his own albums in the 1990s, the world didn’t stop the way it did for Garth. That is the strange cruelty of Nashville. A song can become part of millions of lives, while the man who first carried it sits just outside the spotlight. In 2010, Pat Alger entered the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. But those old records are still there, waiting for someone to hear the writer sing his own ghosts.

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Garth Brooks Filled Stadiums With His Words — But Pat Alger’s Own Voice Never Got That Kind of Room You…

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