Nashville's Grand Ole Opry to Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Canadian Country Music Association
The legendary country music venue and radio show is spotlighting Canada on Oct. 29 with a special show featuring performances by Terri Clark, Brett Kissel, Tami Neilson, Jess Moskaluke and more.
A legendary Nashville institution is celebrating Canadian country music.
Nashville's Grand Ole Opry has unveiled a grand celebration for Oct. 29 titled "Grand Ole Opry: Celebrating 50 Years of the CCMA." The event will shine a light on the Canadian Country Music Association. The special broadcast will gather Canadian artists from different generations, highlighting those who have put the Canadian country scene on the map and the others who are carrying it into the future and will air on iHeartRadio on Nov. 6.
This past weekend (Sept. 19), singer Jess Moskaluke was brought to tears upon being surprised with an invitation to make her Opry debut while at the CCMAs, a performance that is now known to be part of the 50th anniversary celebration.
Joining Moskaluke on the lineup are Canadian singers Terri Clark, who is among the select list of Opry members, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Gord Bamford, Paul Brandt, Tami Neilson, Tenille Arts and Brett Kissel, who was honoured with the Gary Slaight Humanitarian Award at this year's CCMA Awards.
The reveal follows numerous crossovers between both institutions, as established country singer Kalsey Kulyk was also recently invited to make her Opry debut in November while performing at the CCMAs Legends Showcase, receiving the news via a surprise video message from American country hitmaker Lainey Wilson. This year's CCMA Awards broadcast also featured Stella Lefty's recent Opry debut, where she performed "Boston," her chartbreaking track that has held steady at No. 2 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 for multiple weeks. The performance is also set to be included in the anniversary broadcast.
The CCMA has set up a number of recent international initiatives to spotlight Canadian artists in other parts of the world. In August, the non-profit unveiled the inaugural Canada-Australia Country Music Exchange, a new program and pilot project to introduce Canadian and Australian country musicians into each other's markets.
The milestone year coincides with a hot year for country music across Canada. The top 3 of the current Billboard Canadian Hot 100 (dated Sept. 26) is entirely comprised of country songs, led by Ella Langley's monster hit "Choosin' Texas," which now stands as the third-longest-running No. 1 in Billboard Canadian Hot 100 history after earning a 20th week at No. 1 in Canada. Canadian country-rock star Cameron Whitcomb continues to have an illustrious year after being named Billboard's Country Up-And-Comer of the month for July and earning his highest-charting song ever with "Kingdom of Fear," which continues to trail right behind "Boston" at No. 3 in Canada.
Major Canadian country music festivals like Boots and Hearts and LASSO are showing the continued growth of Canada's country music scene by drawing tens of thousands of fans to festival grounds in Ontario and Quebec to catch big names like Whitcomb, Tucker Wetmore, Thomas Rhett and more live.
