When Reba McEntire first fulfilled her dream of performing at the Grand Ole Opry in 1977, she was already a little nervous for obvious reasons. Then he heard that Dolly Parton appeared as a surprise, implying that his plans for the night had changed.
After the rearrangement, McEntire had one song to perform instead of two. And things got worse than that, she said. What did he think was the worst part of the shakeup?
Reba McEntire debuts at the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 1977
As McEntire shared in Reba: My Story, she fulfilled a dream when she debuted the Opry on September 17, 1977. But a guard at the gate almost stopped him from going inside. His name was not on his list, she said. So, he asked her to "turn back and go home" with his family.
Her parents and sister had traveled from Oklahoma to Nashville to see her performance, so they turned around but didn't go home. Instead, McEntire called his booking agent a veteran in the industry. He told her to turn around and go back to the gate.
And when they came again, things were different. "The guard's attitude had completely changed," she shared. "It was one of my first lessons in the power of influence."
The Women of Country dressing room here at the Opry House is a special tribute to all of the women who have graced the Opry stage and blazed the trail for women in country music.
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Reba McEntire: 'I haven't even met Dolly Parton'
Soon after McEntire arrived at the Opry with his family, his father told him that he had been named the "All Around Cowboy of the Rodeo" exactly 30 years before that day. "What a lucky sign!" he said. "Maybe I can make history too."
"Then I heard about Dolly," she wrote. "Dolly Parton, one of the biggest stars in the entire entertainment industry, decided to make a surprise appearance on the Opry the night it premiered."
Although most of the cast sang two songs on the show, McEntire lost one of them and therefore only performed one. "Things could have been worse," she said, "and they did. I couldn't even meet Dolly."
In the end, she was not angry with Parton and remains a fan. But she wished she had been asked to "come back one more night" to make her debut at the Opry.
Watch Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton share a drink and lament a lost love in the new video for "Does He Love You." https://t.co/A0qm9QvAVR pic.twitter.com/SjLnIAp4XQ
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Reba McEntire recalls Dolly Parton's 'trademark' rhinestone butterflies and her all-denim outfit
Although McEntire did not meet Parton that night, he remembered seeing him in person in his autobiography.
"Dolly looked fabulous as ever," she shared. "She wore a black pantsuit with chiffon, transparent, flowing arms. The dress was dotted with rhinestone butterflies, Dolly's trademark."
In her getup, she wrote, "I wore a straight denim skirt with a matching shirt."
McEntire said she was then "too shy to perform" and was "absolutely in awe" of Parton, who was "smiling and smiling across the room."
"Following Dolly Parton isn't easy even for a veteran," McEntire wrote, following the "Jolene" singer she had to move on. She said the nerves helped her physically in the center of the stage. And although she "hardly [remembered] getting it," she sang "Invitation to the Blues."