It’s been a century of country music at Nashville’s storied Grand Ole Opry. The venerable institution pulled out all the stops in celebration of its platinum anniversary with a star-studded lineup hosted by Blake Shelton. Country queen Reba McEntire took the stage during NBC’s Opry 100: A Live Celebration Wednesday (March 19) to pay homage to two queens who came before her, Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn.
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Reba McEntire Pays Tribute to Two Country Trailblazers With ‘Opry 100’ Performance
Taking the stage at the Grand Ole Opry, Reba McEntire kicked off the Opry 100: A Live Celebration event with a moving tribute to Pasty Cline and Loretta Lynn. The “Fancy” singer, 69, began with an acapella rendition of Cline’s “Sweet Dreams (Of You)”, which the Country Music Hall of Famer recorded just one month before her death.
REBA opening this #Opry100 singing pasty cline is everything
— Lizzy MacDonald (@Lizzard899) March 20, 2025
Next, Reba followed up with Loretta Lynn’s 1966 hit “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man.)”
An Unexpected Bond
Reba McEntire’s Opry 100 performance brought back a flood of memories for those who got to witness Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn’s bond firsthand. Although brief, the women’s friendship was something special. While younger, the more experienced Cline became a mentor to Lynn, offering advice on hair, heels and makeup.
“She taught us everything about singin’, about how to act onstage, how to stagger the numbers, how to dress,” Lynn said of Cline in 1985.
And that wasn’t all. Rising to fame in a male-dominated industry had given Cline a thick skin. Through her example, the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” singer learned how to stand up for herself.
“After I met Patsy, life got better for me because I fought back,” Lynn said in a 2000 interview. “Before that, I just took it. I had to. I was 3,000 miles away from my mom and dad and had four little kids. There was nothin’ I could do about it. But later on, I starting speakin’ my mind when things weren’t right.”
Tragically, Patsy Cline’s life was cut short at 30, when she died in a plane crash on March 5, 1963. Lynn lived until age 90, passing away on Oct. 4, 2022. And the “Fist City” trailblazer never forgot her country music sister.
“I still miss her to this day,” Lynn told the Denver Post in 2009.
