Kentucky Headhunters play the Grand Ole Opry for the first time this weekend

Matthew Leimkuehler, Nashville Tennessean
·2 min read
Kentucky Headhunters
Kentucky Headhunters

Southern country-rock staple Kentucky Headhunters nearly played the Grand Ole Opry three decades ago.

Around 1990, hot on the heels of the Headhunters releasing debut album "Pickin' On Nashville," bluegrass forefather Bill Monroe approached the Opry about hosting the band.

One tiny obstacle stood in the way.

"I wasn't there," co-founding guitarist-singer Richard Young said. "[but] it was said that Roy Acuff said, 'They're probably pretty good boys. They'll do a fine job, but let's get 'em a haircut first."

Yeah, that wasn't gonna happen.

Country music legend Don Gibson, in hat, poses with members of the Kentucky Headhunters, who scored a recent country-rock hit with the Gibson classic "Oh Lonesome Me" during an Opryland Music Group luncheon honoring Gibson, a 1990 Country Music Hall of Fame nominee, on Aug. 16, 1990. Band members are Ricky Phelps, left, Fred Young, Greg Martin, Richard Young and Doug Phelps.

"When that got back to us, we didn't play the Grand Ole Opry ... we never asked again, either," Young said, adding: "We didn't get in this business to get a haircut."

Hair still hangs to Young's shoulders, but that isn't stopping Kentucky Headhunters from making a Grand Ole Opry debut Saturday night in Nashville. The band plays Nashville's famed stage in support of "That’s A Fact Jack!," a pandemic-born album that marks the band's first studio effort in five years.

And, 30 years on from the Grammy and CMA Award-winning success of "Pickin' On Nashville," Young described stepping into the formidable circle as a milestone for the long-running band from small-town Edmonton, Kentucky.

"I tell people around home about it. Or they would come up to me — and I don't care how much press you do on something that they don't relate to, it just goes over their head — [but] evidently this Opry thing has hit home with everybody," Young said.

"It's like 1990," he continued. "You can't go to the dollar store without 20 people wanting to talk about it. It kinda shocked us."

The Headhunters — featuring brother Fred Young, cousin Greg Martin and longtime member Doug Phelps — won't cut any corners Saturday, either. They'll give the audience a rendition of defining hit "Dumas Walker," as well "Stumblin'," a blues-rocking co-write with late pianist Johnnie Johnson, and a holiday tune off the band's new album.

"We gotta get two upbeat songs," Young said. "We figured if we get to 'Dumas,' that was more of the Southern rock-country thing and 'Stumblin'' was one of our blues hits."

But performing isn't all nostalgia for camp Headhunters in 2021. After being sidelined by COVID-19 for much of 2020, the band returned to its rural Kentucky practice barn to create "... Jack!," a 12-song blues-rock effort that follows 2019 live release "At The Ramblin' Man Fair," which captured the band's first U.K. trip.

Headhunters supported "... Jack!" with a run of tour dates and festival appearances that wrapped last month in Corinth, Mississippi.

"The lifeblood is to keep makin' records," Young said, adding: "Being a band, you have to nurture that kinship and the playing, being together."

Tune in: The Grand Ole Opry airs Saturday at 7 p.m. via WSM 650 AM in Nashville or globally at wsmonline.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Kentucky Headhunters set sights on Grand Ole Opry debut concert