'Opry' band stalwart calls it quits
Guitarist Wilson claims disrespect

By BEVERLY KEEL
Staff Writer

After 53 years as a guitarist on the "Grand Ole Opry," Jimmy "Spider" Wilson quit Friday after what he said was what humiliating treatment over the past several months.

"I feel it was the right thing," said Wilson, 71, who joined the Opry band in 1953, at age 18. "I'll miss it because it's been the biggest part of my life for a lot of years. My work at the Opry over the years has been the next thing to a religion to me."

Said Pete Fisher, Grand Ole Opry vice president and general manager: "I hate that he made that decision. He is an exceptional musician and an exceptional person. We certainly are going to miss him."

Wilson, who at first appeared hesitant to discuss his leaving, said he was unhappy with several management decisions and policies but said what led him to resign was his exclusion from "Grand Ole Opry Live" telecasts. One hour of Saturday's Opry is televised on cable channel Great American Country.

Wilson was part of the Opry house band, but he said he would sometimes be the only band member excluded from the TV show. He would play during the non-TV segments of the legendary WSM-AM 650 radio broadcast, which he said do not pay as well.

Wilson said the entire band received notice of his exclusion in e-mails from music director Steve Gibson. "It would say, 'I need everybody minus Spider,' stuff like that," he said. "It went on for a while, and I got tired of it." (Three Opry band members confirmed that they also received the e-mails.)

"Like I told the management when that would happen, I don't care whether I work the TV show necessarily. It's the e-mails where it is always like, 'I'll need the Opry band minus Spider.' Why don't you just put on your e-mails who you do need and don't put whomever you don't need? Don't put their name on it. It is just sort of a humiliating thing."

Wilson said he discussed his unhappiness over the e-mail situation about six weeks ago and assumed it had been resolved. But a similar group e-mail was sent Nov. 16.

Fisher said the decision not to include Wilson in certain performances was "a casting decision" made by Gibson. He said as many as 60 musicians can be included during the television portion, the majority of which are musicians accompanying the guest singers.

"The decisions that were made as to which musicians would perform on television are decisions not unlike those that are made in recording studios each and every day: casting the appropriate musician to the right song," Fisher said. "Those casting decisions are made on a case-by-case basis, based on the needs of the artist, song and the arrangement."

Fisher said Gibson's e-mail "was most likely intended to simplify the communication. It is certainly not a reflection of the very high regard that we have for Spider and his talents. ... Spider Wilson is one of the greatest guitar players there ever was."

Band member Larry Paxton said Wilson wasn't the only band member not needed during various TV broadcasts. "I realize that he felt like it sort of singled him out, but everybody knew that it wasn't meant to be disrespectful," Paxton said. "There are e-mails that say, 'No Larry.' It is not just Spider."

Paxton added: "I just feel a real sense of loss. He is a piece of our music history, basically. I told him last night, 'I wish you would reconsider.' "

Guitarist Jimmy Capps, who played alongside Wilson for about three decades, said Opry performers were in tears as they bid farewell to Wilson. "He has been a mainstay of the Opry since the early 1950s," Capps said. "He has been there longer than anyone, including the managers and owners. A lot of guys of his caliber went in other directions to play sessions, to become traveling musicians, but Spider stayed right there and gave up every weekend. Lord, I miss him so bad. I think everybody begged Spider to stay, and to quote him, he said he had had his dignity hurt and his pride hurt and his feelings hurt. He told me he just couldn't take it anymore."

Fiddler Hoot Hester, told Wilson, 'Who is going to hum the intros that we forget?' " Said Capps: "Spider had an elephant mind. He could remember things that happened that we hadn't played for 20 years."

Hester said, "Spider is very well loved. He is just an Opry icon. I've watched him since I was a kid and think the world of him and everybody else does, too."

To Mr. Wilson, I would like to say Thank You for all of the many fine hours of country music you provided for so many of us in the past and hopefully we will hear you again in the near future.

[This message was edited by Kenny Burford on 26 December 2006 at 12:43 PM.]

However, what's wrong with running a smart business? If the opry managment doesn't pursue the dollars where the dollars are, then the opry will surely disappear. (I know, I know - good riddance!)

Some of you are forgetting that there are forum members who are participating in this "new country music". These players deserve our respect for being smart business people as well as fine musicians. They don't necessarily professionally perform the music that they prefer to listen to, but they are professionals, and they work hard.