Eddie.

Category: News/Tribute

It's one of the saddest pieces of news to come out of Nashville about someone who's alive and well in eons. 

Eddie Stubbs is retiring.

The 58-year-old Country DJ Hall of Famer, who will be inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame this year as part of the Johnson Mountain Boys, announced on his radio show Tuesday (7/21) that July 29th would be his last day at WSM.  That ends his nightly "Eddie Stubbs Show" as well as his work as an announcer on the Grand Ole Opry, where he was the third-longest tenured announcer in Opry history.  

This will close a love affair between Stubbs and fans from all over the country who tune in to his WSM radio show in Nashville or online to get a nightly education in country music.  Along the way, he's interviewed countless country and bluegrass legends.  

To say the very least, his knowledge of country music is beyond comprehension or description. 

I've been in the studio a couple of times while he's been on the air (once to drop off some photos I took at the Johnson Mountain Boys' show in North Carolina).  He's not reading any of that stuff he tells you.  It's all coming from his memory bank.  And, as anyone who's ever come in contact with him will attest, he is a gracious, humble gentleman in every sense of the word.

So, what will Stubbs, who just married at the beginning of July, do?  There's no telling.  He may go back to being a road musician.  He may move that Fort Knox-like vault of golden music knowledge to Sirius/XM.  Or, he may just retire and enjoy life.  

Whatever he does in the future, I can guarantee you that, when Stubbs turns the microphone off for the final time at WSM next week, the final thread by which traditional country music in Nashville dangled will break.  

God bless you, Eddie.  Thanks for everything.