Nashville.com Visitors Guide To Nashville, TN
After being in Nashville more than a decade and releasing two albums – Real Me and Kentucky Blue – Brit Taylor made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry March 22.
Wearing a blue chrome floor-length dress with bell sleeves custom designed by Paige Moore, a young Nashville-based designer.
She sang two fiddle-driven songs, the starkly melancholy “Kentucky Blue,” the title song for her newest album, followed by another original song from the album, “Rich Little Girls,” a semi-autobiographical, upbeat anthem to working women.
“I am always asked about the coolest or most special thing that has happened to me since I moved to Nashville,” Taylor said. “There has been a lot, so it has always been a tough question to answer. Not anymore! Singing on the Grand Ole Opry is by far my greatest achievement to date.”
Her two-song set was followed by the traditional brief interview with emcee Kelly Sutton. They discussed Taylor’s first publishing deal and why she left it and about getting Simpson and Ferguson to produce her latest album.
Taylor also revealed a little more about her personal life, talking about her hometown of Hindman, Kentucky, with its two stop lights and one Dairy Queen. When asked whether she worked there, she said, “No, I taught karate lessons to kids” before revealing that she holds a black belt in karate.
She received the invitation to debut on the Opry the same day Kentucky Blue was released.
“The record was released at midnight, so when I got up from not sleeping all night, it was already a special day,” she said. “Then the email popped in my Inbox inviting me to debut on the Opry.”
Her reaction when the email arrived? Tears of joy. Tears that continued on a regular basis right up to the night she walked on the stage, plugged in her guitar and began to sing.
It was a night she shared with the people she loves the most.
“I was surrounded by my family and friends, and I got to share the stage with my biggest champion, my husband Adam Chaffins,” she said. “I was standing side stage, just waiting, and I was feeling all the nerves creep in. My heart was pounding as they were just about to announce my name. Then I saw my husband standing on the stage with his stand-up bass, and he mouthed ‘I love you’ and the fears all faded away. I heard my name announced, and I walked out on stage, ready to sing.”
“Hearing my name introduced, walking out on that stage with all the lights and stepping into that circle was one of the most magical nights of my life,” Taylor said.
