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PEOPLE & ARTS Monday 23 January 2017
Country star Crystal Gayle inducted

in Grand Ole Opry

JEFF MARTIN called during an interview also attending Lynn’s per-
Associated Press backstage on Saturday, a formances.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — few hours before the cer- “I got to just roam the
Country music legend Crys- emony. halls,” she said while flash-
tal Gayle was inducted She brought along with her ing a bright smile. She even
into the Grand Ole Opry in the shiny silver dress she crawled across the cat-
Nashville, nearly a half-cen- wore during that very first walk high above the stage
tury after she first walked performance, the one her lights, she recalled.
onto its stage to perform as mother made for her. She Now, all those years after
a teenager. planned to bring it out on hanging out in the Ryman
Gayle’s sister, country lumi- stage to show the audi- when Lynn performed and
nary Loretta Lynn, inducted ence, she said. then taking the stage her-
her into the country music It was Lynn coming down self, the fact that her sister
institution during a Satur- with a cold that day, as was tapped to induct her
day night ceremony at the Gayle remembers, that of- into the Grand Ole Opry
Ryman Auditorium. fered the opportunity for “means a lot in so many
The honor comes almost her to perform since her sis- ways,” Gayle said.
50 years after Gayle made ter wasn’t feeling well. Gayle’s 1977 hit “Don’t It
her Grand Ole Opry debut, After she signed her first re- Make My Brown Eyes Blue” In this Oct. 21, 2012 file photo, Crystal Gayle performs at the
singing “Ribbon of Dark- cording contract, her de- is among her most memo- Country Music Hall of Fame Inductions in Nashville, Tenn.
Associated Press
ness” at the Ryman when but single, “I’ve Cried the rable. It was the song that
she was just 16. The Ryman Blue Right Out of My Eyes” “opened the world’s eyes male Country Vocal Perfor- “The things that touch me
hosted the radio show from was written by Lynn. to Crystal Gayle,” accord- mance. are the ones that say my
1943 to 1974. Today, Gayle has fond ing to her biography on her Over the years, many fans music has healed them in
“I was very nervous, and I memories of the Ryman official website. — including many women different ways, that they
probably stood there and Auditorium when it hosted “Don’t It Make My Brown — have reached out to can get through a rough
held on really tight and the Opry — not only when Eyes Blue” also secured for Gayle to tell her how her time in their life,” she said.
sang my song,” Gayle re- she performed there, but her a Grammy for Best Fe- music has inspired them. “That means a lot to me.”q