Reba McEntire both opened and closed NBC’s Opry 100: A Live Celebration, which you can watch on Peacock now.
Opry 100: A Live Celebration was filled with countless iconic moments, including one very special performance by two of the all-time country greats.
The show opened with Happy’s Place star Reba McEntire doing an a cappella rendition of Patsy Cline’s “Sweet Dreams” followed by a tribute to Loretta Lynn with a cover of “You Ain’t Woman Enough.”
Moments later, Trisha Yearwood joined McEntire on stage for a stunning performance of “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” a Southern Gothic murder ballad that McEntire herself released a cover of in 1991.
Lyrics like “Well, don’t trust your soul to no backwoods Southern lawyer / ‘Cause the judge in the town’s got bloodstains on his hands” were sung so well by the two women, it’s easy to overlook the song’s rather dark subject matter. (McEntire has a knack for making any song sound hopeful!)
Check out a clip of the performance, below.
The gravity of the performance — and the evening as a whole — was not lost on McEntire, a Coach alum of The Voice.
“It’s an honor to be here celebrating 100 years of the Grand Ole Opry,” McEntire said during the event. “So many trailblazers paved the way for me to have the privilege of standing on this stage tonight.”
What to know about “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia”
Originally released in 1973 by Vicki Lawrence (and written by her then-husband, Bobby Russell), “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” is a story of a brother who is executed for a crime he never committed.
The original version reached the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
Less than two decades later, McEntire released her own version of the iconic song and enjoyed similar success. Her cover, released as part of her For My Broken Heart album, peaked at number-12 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and remains a fan-favorite during McEntire’s live shows today.