{"id":1305534,"date":"2019-03-14T11:09:43","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T17:09:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1803939"},"modified":"2019-03-14T11:09:43","modified_gmt":"2019-03-14T17:09:43","slug":"behind-the-scenes-at-blake-sheltons-ole-red-gatlinburg-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/music-news\/behind-the-scenes-at-blake-sheltons-ole-red-gatlinburg-opening\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Scenes at Blake Shelton\u2019s Ole Red Gatlinburg Opening"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:ao:image:cmt.com:669836?width=1200&amp;height=675&amp;.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"byline\">by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/tinglel\/\" title=\"Posts by Lauren Tingle\" rel=\"author\">Lauren Tingle<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\">29m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>The only thing that would have made the already over-the-top Ole Red Gatlinburg <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1803916\/blake-shelton-headlines-ole-red-gatlinburg\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">launch<\/a> entirely out of this world is if the nearby Santa Family Reunion crashed the party. They were already dressed in red for the occasion. Around the corner from the grand opening of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/artists\/blake-shelton\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Blake Shelton<\/a>\u2019s new restaurant and venue, were hundreds of vacationing Santas in red shirts and khaki shorts enjoying spring break off together.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday\u2019s (March 13) grand opening day, the streets of Gatlinburg were crowded with visitors and locals itchin\u2019 to have a little fun. In the mild spring weather, a few convertibles cruised passed the location on 209 Parkway blaring Shelton hits over their stereo systems as fans wearing his latest merchandise peeked through Ole Red\u2019s windows to catch a glimpse of the 6-foot-5-inch singer.<\/p>\n<p>Inside representatives from the city of Gatlinburg and the local tourism board assembled for a Q&amp;A with Shelton, Ryman Hospitality Properties CEO Colin Reed and moderator Bill Cody from WSM\u2019s Coffee, Country and Cody.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EIl45dxOidc?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EIl45dxOidc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>Throughout the press conference, Shelton expressed appreciation for the city\u2019s warm welcome. The last time he was in town was on a New Year\u2019s trip with Gwen Stefani and her three sons to check on the progress of his latest Ole Red and visit Dollywood. At one point when Cody opened the floor for questions from the local media, Shelton noted the difference between Hollywood press events and Ole Red\u2019s more laidback East Tennessee launch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the quietest group of media people I\u2019ve ever seen in my life,\u201d he noted. \u201cI\u2019m used to it in Hollywood where they\u2019re like [shouting], \u2018Blake!\u2019 I love it. This is way better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shelton and Reed shared plans to open more Ole Reds with the latest location set for Orlando, Fla. The common goal for all of the venues is to give regional rising acts opportunities to showcase their talents. Shelton mentioned how much his first professional gigs meant to him, and that he would have done anything to play a stage as nice as Ole Red Gatlinburg\u2019s when he was starting out in music.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom an artist\u2019s standpoint,\u201d Shelton said, \u201cthis is my favorite stage of the three because of the setup. You can see out here in front of you with the two levels, and you can actually see back here in a little ways \u2026 It\u2019s literally shaped like a megaphone speaker, and it\u2019s perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So, what would it mean to him if an Ole Red led to the launch of the next Dolly Parton or Blake Shelton of tomorrow?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be able to have something like that happen would be incredible,\u201d Shelton said. \u201cWe\u2019re still trying to have that on <em>The Voice<\/em>. We\u2019re still looking for that huge star that\u2019s going to explode out of that television show, and so, I know how hard that is, and it gets tougher every day. I know it\u2019s going to happen, and I know it\u2019s going to happen here, too \u2026 We\u2019re going to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wednesday\u2019s press conference included a $54,214 donation to Gatlinburg-Pittman High School\u2019s music programs. The total represents proceeds raised through auctioning tickets for Shelton\u2019s grand opening concert and a matching donation from the Ryman Hospitality Properties Foundation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpring Blake\u201d events continue at Ole Red Gatlinburg through March 17 with free performances by Lauren Duski, Prior Baird, Red Marlow and Emily Ann Roberts.<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/shows\/hot-20-countdown\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">CMT Hot 20 Countdown<\/a><\/em> sat down with Shelton for an exclusive interview airing on an upcoming episode. The season continues Saturdays and Sundays at 9 a.m. ET.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author\">\n<div class=\"description\">Lauren Tingle is a Tennessean and storyteller who eats music for breakfast, lunch and dinner. When she\u2019s not writing or rocking out, she enjoys yoga and getting lost in the great outdoors.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1803939\/behind-the-scenes-at-blake-sheltons-ole-red-gatlinburg-opening\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Lauren Tingle 29m ago The only thing that would have made the already over-the-top Ole Red Gatlinburg launch entirely out of this world is if the nearby Santa Family Reunion crashed the party. They were already dressed in red for the occasion. Around the corner from the grand opening of Blake Shelton\u2019s new restaurant [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1305534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-11 22:14:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1305534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1305534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1305534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1305534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1305534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1305534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}