Nashville may never be the same. In a city where sequined suits, pedal steel guitars, and heartbreak ballads have long been the standard fare, two pint-sized puppets waltzed onto the stage of the Grand Ole Opry this week and stole the spotlight. Elmo and Abby Cadabby, the beloved Sesame Street duo, made their Opry debut to the delight—and slight confusion—of a crowd accustomed to the likes of Dolly Parton and Garth Brooks.
Dressed to impress, Elmo sported a rhinestone-studded bolo tie while Abby floated in with a sparkly wand that looked suspiciously like it had been borrowed from a backstage prop closet at the Ryman. Together, they launched into a rendition of “You Are My Sunshine” that had toddlers clapping in the aisles and a few veteran Opry-goers blinking back tears, though whether from sentiment or disbelief remains unclear.
The highlight of the evening came when Elmo strummed a miniature guitar and Abby attempted some yodeling. The audience quickly discovered that a fairy-in-training’s idea of yodeling sounds less like Hank Williams and more like a kazoo caught in a windstorm, but that didn’t stop the crowd from cheering. Somewhere, Minnie Pearl surely tipped her hat from the great beyond.
Behind the scenes, Opry officials insisted this was part of a long-standing tradition of welcoming all types of performers. After all, they reasoned, if a ventriloquist and his dummy can find a home on the storied stage, why not two fuzzy emissaries from Sesame Street? One usher was overheard muttering, “I thought I’d seen it all when we had a hologram of Patsy Cline, but then Elmo started two-stepping.”
The event wasn’t without its hiccups. Midway through their performance, Abby’s wand accidentally zapped the stage lights into a rainbow strobe pattern that turned the Opry into something resembling a toddler’s birthday rave. Elmo, undeterred, assured the audience that “Elmo loves all the colors!” while the house band gamely kept playing through what looked like a disco revival.
Perhaps the most Nashville moment of the night came when a surprise guest joined them on stage. Vince Gill appeared, guitar in hand, to harmonize with the duo on “Jambalaya.” Abby flitted around him like a fairy godmother at a honky-tonk ball, while Elmo tried to match Gill’s baritone with a voice that sounded like helium escaping a balloon. Gill later admitted backstage that it was “the strangest collaboration of my career,” though he conceded the applause was louder than usual.
The night wrapped with a sing-along of “Happy Trails,” during which dozens of children in the audience waved plush toys like lighters at a rock concert. Parents smiled through it all, perhaps thankful that their kids were too busy singing with Elmo to demand another round of overpriced Opry popcorn.
As the curtain fell, the question lingered: was this a one-time novelty or the beginning of a new era for the Opry? Could Cookie Monster croon the blues? Might Big Bird be next year’s CMA Entertainer of the Year? For now, Nashville can only wonder.
What is certain is that Abby Cadabby and Elmo left the Grand Ole Opry with the same message they’ve shared for years on Sesame Street: music is for everyone, no matter how tall, how small, or how fuzzy. Even in the hallowed halls of country music, sometimes it takes a fairy and a three-year-old red monster to remind us that joy belongs center stage.
