GAC PRESENTS
Opry Live
GAC: Great American Country broadcasts a full hour of the Grand Ole Opry. Click here for a list of airdates.
LEARN MORE about Opry Live on GAC. Don't get GAC? Find out how you can GET IT.
Ask Nan
Here are a few questions from Opry fans that Nan has answered:
Who is someone you’d love to interview on the set of “Opry Live,” but haven’t yet had the chance?
I'd love to talk with K.T. Oslin. I love her music...she's a great songwriter and really carved out her one niche in country music. Glen Campbell, songwriter Jimmy Webb, Dan Seals, Randy Travis,.... When I first moved to Nashville from Mississippi about 15 years ago, a former teacher told me to look up a gal from up the road in Star, MS who was working for Gary Morris. He said she was very nice and since I was new in town, I might make a new friend. That girl was Faith Hill. I never called her. Needless to say, I'd love to meet her!
Did you have a favorite country song while growing up in Mississippi?
I think my whole family loved "Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell. We have a cassette tape of my brother Denny singing the song when he was a toddler before he could really talk well. He got a lot of the words totally wrong and he didn't pronounce some of them correctly but he sang it loud..... "like a winetone cowboy...."!! We still talk about that performance--it's a great memory--all we have to say to each other is "like a winetone cowboy!!"
Since you began hosting “Opry Live,” who is one of the favorite people you’ve met?
Loretta Lynn was so sweet! What a lovely, sincere lady. Meeting a legend like that can make you a little nervous and admittedly, I was. She said some nice things to me and made me feel so comfortable. I'll always remember that. It was also a real honor to met Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recently. The Secretary came to thank the Opry for its support of our troops through the America Supports You organization. We had a live satellite link to some of our troops in Iraq. The entire experience was very meaningful to me and I was so proud to be a part of this expression of support for our servicemen and women.
About Nan
Whether she’s interviewing country music superstars and legends backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, chatting it up with a fan she meets on the street or talking through a television screen to a few million folks – Nan Kelley has an uncanny ability to connect with people.
Born and raised in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, southern hospitality and the ability to shoot the breeze with anyone about anything were not just taught to Nan – they were practically encoded in her DNA.
"My mom, a hair dresser, is Dolly Parton from the movie Steel Magnolias,” admits Kelley. “ I get my gift of gab from her. Growing up in a beauty shop, you pick up a lot around the shampoo bowl!"
Kelley took her first steps toward a television career when her love of the stage and talents on it earned her a Miss Mississippi crown and an opportunity for a small-town girl to see the world. She globe-trotted for several years for the Department of Defense entertaining troops in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, the Middle East, Alaska and Europe.
It was a pit stop in Nashville, however, where she found her breakthrough opportunity that would eventually make Music City her permanent home.
In 1998, she was chosen as the lovely and loveable sidekick to host Gary Chapman for the Tonight Show-esque late-night series Prime Time Country on The Nashville Network. She’s been welcomed in homes across the country ever since.
Over the next few years, her experience in television and her relationship with the country audience would grow in leaps and bounds. Since 2003, Nan has been a fixture on one of the most popular and longest running shows in all of entertainment -- The Grand Ole Opry. She’s the television host of Opry Live and has become a major personality on the Great American Country network. Fans get to spend time with Nan on a weekly basis as she hosts a handful of series, including the fan-voted GAC Top 20 Country Countdown. She also hosts many specials throughout the year, including the annual Academy of Country Music Red Carpet Show.
“Nan’s secret weapon is her Mississippi charm,” says Sarah Trahern, Sr. V.P. of Programming for GAC. “Time and time again, artists tell me that Nan puts them at ease the minute they walk into the studio.”
More recently, Nan has seen her career branching out with more opportunities at other TV networks. She served as a long time host for the Shop-At-Home Network as well as hosting FINE LIVING specials, Easy Outdoor Entertaining and Forbes Magazines Best Places to Live & Work and the HGTV Dream Home specials.
When she is not out on the road or in the studio, Nan spends all the time she can with her husband Charlie, a Grammy nominated musician/producer and their dogs-- Molly and Big Chief. The warm, welcoming vibe of her family life has proven to be a source of inspiration in her work.
"Think about how you feel when you're at someone's home,” says Kelley. “It's comfortable, the conversation is great, the mood is enjoyable. You don't want to leave. That’s the environment I want to re-create as a host."
Opry Live airs on Saturday nights on Great American Country and CMT Canada.