Little Big Town surprised Kelsea Ballerini Tuesday night with an invitation to join The Opry. After Ballerini performed her segment, Little Big Town took the stage to close out the show, inviting Ballerini back to perform the group’s hit “Girl Crush” with them. As the song concluded, Karen Fairchild changed its final lyrics to “Kelsea Ballerini, do you wanna join the Opry?”
Ballerini started crying and after being asked again finally said yes to one of the most honored invitations in country music.
“Yes,” Ballerini exclaimed, “I’m gonna pass out I think!” Collecting her thoughts, Ballerini recalled having visited the Opry at age 13 with her mother and knowing then that she wanted to support the Opry, even if only as a fan. “To be on this stage is the greatest gift in the world,” she said. “This is the home of country music, and I get to be a part of it.”
“For the rest of your life,” Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild added.
Watch the video below where Karen Fairchild invites Kelsea Ballernin below.
Ballerini’s formal Opry induction is set for Tuesday, April 16.
“We are thrilled at the thought of Kelsea Ballerini joining the Opry family,” said Opry General Manager Sally Williams said in a release. “So many of us at the Opry have been fans of her recordings, her songwriting, and her live performances since she played the Opry for the very first time. Having grown to know her personally in the years since, we love and respect her just as much as a person as an artist. We look so forward to her Opry induction in April and to all the years of great music we’ll share.”
The Grand Ole Opry began 90 years ago as a radio show and continues today. Over the years, around 200 country artists have been inducted into the Grand Ole Opry but only 66 current members are still living with Jan Howard the oldest and now Kelsea Ballerini is the youngest.
Ballerini is out on Kelly Clarkson’s MEANING OF LIFE TOUR, before breaking out on her own for her first-ever headline arena trek – THE MISS ME MORE TOUR – with Brett Young (plus special guest Brandon Ratcliff) this spring.
