Country Music Giant Honored, Steps Down
One of the more glittering banquets in Nashville memory was held the other night as E.W. (Bud) Wendell, in the company of a few hundred close friends, stepped down as president and CEO of Gaylord Entertainment Inc.
Vince Gill, who emceed the event honoring Wendell - and sang the Anne Murray hit “Could I Have This Dance” at the suggestion of Wendell’s wife - told the black-tie crowd he was there “to help Bud and Janice (Mrs. Wendell) turn a page.”
Gill introduced a series of tributes that included a film on Wendell’s life narrated by Walter Cronkite; a rendition of Bill Monroe’s classic “Uncle Pen” by the Grand Ole Opry’s Osborne Brothers and Jim & Jesse; a rousing “Have a Little Talk with Jesus” by J.D. Sumner and his Southern gospel quartet; and a dazzling display of rapid - in fact, two-handed - portrait painting by flamboyant artist Denny Dent, who managed to create a huge painting of Wendell’s head as the crowd watched.
“That guy could do the Sistine Chapel in half a day,” quipped Gill, adding: “Or the entrance to Alan Jackson’s new house.”
Wendell began his career in 1950 as a salesman for the Tennessee-based National Life & Accident Insurance Co. National Life then owned WSM Radio-Television as well as the Grand Ole Opry. Wendell moved up to become administrative assistant to WSM President John H. DeWitt Jr. in 1964 and the manager of the Opry in 1968.
From there he went on to manage both the Opry and the new Opryland USA theme park beginning in 1974; then to president and CEO of WSM Inc. in 1978; president and CEO of Opryland in 1983; and president and CEO of Gaylord Entertainment in 1991.
For the past two decades, Wendell has been an enormous influence in forging links between music executives and Nashville’s commercial and political communities that have brought the city national attention.
Concluding the film tribute, Cronkite noted he wasn’t one of Wendell’s intimates.
“But,” he added, “I figure a fly fisherman whose friends call him Bud must be a fine fellow.”
Doctor in the house!
Singer-songwriter-author Tom T. Hall, whose way with words includes a talent for wry understatement, was relating the other day how he - along with fellow Kentuckian Ricky Skaggs - was about to be awarded an honorary doctorate of music from Morehead State University in Morehead, Ky.
“You know, I went to college some and never did learn anything,” he said.
Sure, T. And your personal library, which is big enough to accommodate a good-sized county, is just for show, right?