On This Day in 2005, the Only Artist to Ever Be Banned From the Opry House Was Inducted Into the Grand Ole Opry

On this day (October 1) in 2005, Dierks Bentley was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. His induction came a little more than two years after he made his debut in April 2003. Before he was invited to stand in the Circle for the first time, Bentley was the only country artist to be outright banned from the Opry House.

Unlike many country stars, Bentley didn’t grow up listening to the Opry. In fact, he had never heard of the show until he moved to Nashville when he was 18. He almost immediately fell in love with the broadcast and, after attending the Opry at the invitation of Terry Eldredge, who was playing with the Osborne Brothers, he became almost obsessed.

“From that night on, I went to the Opry as much as possible,” Bentley reflected in a piece for Billboard. “I even got a job working across the street from the Opry at the Nashville Network and CMT. Every Friday, I would sneak in the back door to watch and learn from some of the greatest entertainers ever,” he recalled. “I actually went so often that the then-head of the Opry, Pete Fisher, sent an email to my boss saying that while they appreciated my interest in the Opry, the free pass was being revoked.”

Playing the Grand Ole Opry Was Dierks Bentley’s Goal

Having his access to the venue revoked didn’t stop him from wanting to stand on the stage. “I figured that if I ever played the Opry, everything else, including a publishing deal, a record deal, etc., would have had to fallen into place,” he wrote.

When Bentley took the stage for the first time, he had inked a deal with Capitol Records. Four days before his Opry debut, he released “What Was I Thinkin’” as the lead single from his self-titled major label debut. It was also his first No. 1 on the country chart.

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Marty Stuart invited Bentley to join the Opry in July 2005, during a show at the House of Blues in Los Angeles. A few months later, Stuart took the stage to welcome the Arizona native as the show’s newest member. “Even the night of the induction, in October of that year, I was still processing the invite,” Bentley wrote. “To go from being a fan, to a performer, to an actual member is more than I could have dreamed.”

Featured Image by Jason Kempin/Getty Images

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