ABC RadioChris Janson officially becomes the newest member of the Grand Ole Opry Tuesday night. The induction ceremony will take place in the circle of wood on the venue’s stage that was famously transported from the Opry’s longtime home at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium.
Appropriately, it was at Chris’ sold-out show at the Ryman in February where Keith Urban invited him to become an Opry member. The Missouri native admits it caught him totally off guard.
“We did [‘Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)’], [the] John Michael Montgomery song,” Chris recalls of that night. “And it was great and the crowd went wild. And then in typical Keith fashion, and in my personal fashion — you know, we’ve done duet stuff over the years together — so I’m just totally assuming, as naturally we would, do another song. Right?”
“So I’m motioning for a guitar,” he continues, “and he’s talking and I’m totally in tune with it. And then all of the sudden, he just comes out with, ‘Do you want to be a member of the Opry?’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I lost it. I screamed “Holy s**t!” Chris laughs.
It wasn’t long before the congratulations started rolling in.
“To put in perspective of how big of a deal it is to me and to other artists,” Chris explains, “the first phone call I got the next morning at eight o’clock was Luke Bryan.”
“He was home with his kids, doing the dad thing. And he called and said, ‘Buddy, do you know how big that is?’ And I said, ‘Yes I do. I totally get it.’ That says a lot for not only Luke, but it says a lot for the Grand Ole Opry, and, you know, that means a lot.”
Chris adds, “The second call was Dustin Lynch, third call Craig Morgan, fourth call John Conlee. I will never forget those type of things.”
Chris’s latest single, “Drunk Girl,” is currently in country’s top 40. It’s the follow-up to his #1 hit, “Fix a Drink.”
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