Grand Ole Opry Circle just got bigger
Keith Urban invites Chris Janson to join the exclusive group
On Monday night country singer Chris Janson completed his first-ever sold out night at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, his previous appearance here was opening for Merle Haggard in 2014. It was to be a performance he would remember for the rest of his life.
Throughout the night, Janson’s show was good family fun (with a twist of Pentecostal revival for good measure). There came a point in his set however, that he was not expecting.
Keith Urban stepped out on stage paying homage to the effort Janson has put into country music, arriving in Nashville straight out of school in 2013, he is known to have slept in the back seat of his car between playing gigs.
“To see this guy come through that,” Urban said, “slugging it out in the clubs playing night after night, the real deal, 24-7, to have a sold-out show at the Ryman, Chris … first of all, it’s one of my favorite places in the world; somebody once said it’s like playing inside an acoustic guitar.
"And it is, of course, one of the many homes of the Grand Ole Opry, which I’m a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and I remember the night I got invited. It was an incredible feeling, and I think it was about time you were invited.”
Chris didn’t even see the Opry’s General Manager Sally Williams place an official Opry microphone stand right beside him. His eyes were locked on Urban, and his face beamed as the invitation was extended toward him. After, Janson quite literally can be seen jumping for joy. The atmosphere was electric and emotion filled the air.
“That’s where my heart is,” Janson said of the Opry. “I would have died before I had to quit singing country music. I know of nothing else. That’s it … I don’t know what to say.”