Party At The Opry

It was a star-studded salute to Vince Gill at the Grand Ole Opry over the weekend. The celebration was in honor of Vince's 20th anniversary as an Opry member. Opry legends Little Jimmy Dickens, “Whisperin’ Bill” Anderson and Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Jean Shepard all stepped out to honor Vince. Emmylou Harris took the stage with Vince to sing her hit “Two More Bottles of Wine” and “If I Needed You.” The night also included a special video montage of Vince’s great moments with his Opry family and a special performance by his daughter, Jenny Gill, who made her dad proud and earned a standing ovation with his song “If You Ever Have Forever In Mind.” Vince said, “Having my daughter Jenny here is perfect, because the first time I was ever invited to play here—I’d waited my whole life to get that invitation—I turned down because she had a talent show that Saturday night, and I promised I’d play guitar for her. I said, ‘I can’t believe I’m saying no, but I promised my kid I’d do that. I’m gonna do that.’” Vince’s wife, Amy Grant sang “Better Than A Hallelujah” and “True Love,” which she wrote for her hubby. A touched Vince closed out the show with his hits, “Look At Us” and the song he says landed him his first appearance on the Opry, “When I Call Your Name.”

When George Strait’s 39th studio album, Here for a Good Time, drops on September 6th, look for Faith Hill to join George on “A Showman’s Life,” which laments the not-so-publicized side of a musician’s life. The song also appeared on Gary Allan’s 2003 record See if I Care, as a duet with Willie Nelson.

Six Nashville Metro Police officers were suspended after taking an off-duty job escorting Taylor Swift and her security team around Music City. The Tennessean reports that the officers had received approval from their superiors to take the job, which paid more than $30 an hour, but then top brass rejected it. It was then that the officers decided to go ahead and do it anyway, hoping that their superiors wouldn’t find out. According to the article, Taylor was “unaware” of the approval problems, as was Firefly Entertainment, the company that hired them for her. “As soon as Firefly was made aware that there was a problem, they stopped using these officers immediately,” Taylor’s spokeswoman assured.

Kellie Pickler will make her TV acting debut on the CW’s show, 90210, this fall. Kellie will play “Sally,” the country-singing cousin of “Austin” in one episode of the upcoming season, as well as sing her latest single, “Tough.” 90210’s 4th season begins September 13th on the CW.