Charlie Worsham Talks About His Opry Invite + New Album

On Aug. 7, Charlie Worsham hit three big milestones all at once. He celebrated the 20th anniversary of his move to Nashville, released his first-ever independent album, Once Upon a Second Time Around, and got invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

It’s no accident that those three accomplishments all fell on the same day. They’re all connected — in fact, Worsham says that the album, the Opry and the time spent in Nashville are all mutually dependent pieces of the same big dream.

Read More: The Magic of the Grand Ole Opry: See Pictures Through the Years

“It’s not a record that could have been made at any other point in my life,” he tells Taste of Country of his Once Upon a Second Time Around. “It took me 20 years to be able to make this record.”

Worsham moved to Nashville at about 21 years old with a resume that mostly consisted of making music for the joy of it. His ultimate dream was to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He signed a record deal and started focusing on pursuing radio success and mainstream stardom.

“I kind of got it into my head that, ‘Well, success has to look this way, and you’ve got to straighten down who you are a little bit to fit it,'” he recounts. “I’ve always made music that was true to my heart, I just had a different belief system for a minute there about what success was and how to get it.”

He never achieved the superstardom he thought he’d need to in order to fulfill his dreams. But in the two decades that ensued, Worsham — a session and touring musician who’s performed with greats such as Vince Gill and Dierks Bentley, as well as an artist and a working songwriter — discovered an equally rewarding form of success. Importantly, he learned that his own unique path would fulfill his dreams, and create some new ones, too.

“I never strayed from — every note I ever played was aimed at the Opry,” he says. “…I think the fairy tale I let go of was, ‘There’s one path to get there.’ [When in fact] there’s nobody else like me, to come to Nashville and do the exact set of things that I do.”

Below, Worsham reflects on his 20 years in Nashville, his Grand Ole Opry induction and how his whole career to date led him to Once Upon a Second Time Around.

Were you surprised to get your Grand Ole Opry invitation, or did you have a suspicion it was coming?

The short answer is yes, I was surprised. The longer answer is that it is something I have dreamed about for a long, long time. Anytime I’m putting a record out or have some big moment, my Spidey sense are up, and that hope is certainly there.

I was distracted from what would have been any thoughts of that because I’ve been in [Vince Gill]’s band this summer with my friend Jedd Hughes, and Jedd’s wife went into labor right after soundcheck, so he had to bail. I knew this was a potential situation so I was ready, but I was sitting sidestage with my guitar, like, checking on parts…completely focused on that. I didn’t know this, but the crowd was full of friends and family. Some of my in-laws, my dad was there. My wife was there. All my management team. They had all kinds of stuff cooking all around me, and I was just focused on guitar parts. So the surprise was pulled off very well.

What did it mean to you that Vince Gill was the one to induct you?

Having gotten to know Vince so well, he’s been such a mentor and friend to me, and was always my hero. He’s still the one I always hoped. It’s just a really special thing.

It’s a great affirmation to be around him and to recognize that here’s somebody who’s had every accolade you can imagine — he’s an Opry member, he’s in the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Eagles — and at the end of the day, what I see him doing is surrounding himself with musicians who inspire him. He’s doing it because that’s what he loves to do. And he’s still going out there every night trying to get better: Trying to play better, trying to sing better, going for a new idea on a solo. So to me that’s a great affirmation that the reason I’m doing this is valid, because that’s kind of my goal, too. To be creative, to be inspired, to be challenged.

Was it scary to leave your record label to make Once Upon a Second Time Around? 

I can see how it would be. I’ve always had a great relationship with the folks at Warner. What really happened is, I had a heart-to-heart with [Warner President] Cris Lacy. She, as a friend, said, “We can keep rocking the way we have been. We can record a few songs at a time. And you should also know that here’s the deal…Your contract’s 12 years old, it’s from a completely different iteration of the music business, and we’ve spent all this money, so we’re in the hole by this much. Until we see you pop and have a viral moment, we can’t pull these levers for you. And if you do have a moment where you pop off, which you’re gonna have to come up with yourself, you’re gonna start to see money flow in — and in this deal, all that money goes toward paying off this debt. Whereas if you’re independent, you’ll see money quickly, even from a little bit of popping off.”

It made sense immediately. I have been given this amazing home I can make records at for over a decade. I got to work with bucket list producers and songwriters and musicians. And grow into my own, learn about making records. And then I got to take this running leap as I parted ways with Warner, and it was actually just kind of freeing and exciting.

How much did the foundation of community you’ve built in Nashville contribute to your ability to make this record?

I think a big part of it was the community. I also think back to when I first moved to town, and I was so fortunate to always have a community. I mean, when I first moved to town, it was the band Kingbilly, which for me, growing up as an only child, it was all the big brothers I never had. And friends that I made in Boston while I was at school, like Eric Masse, who is a co-producer on the Parker McCollum record that won CMA Album of the Year. Eric was my pal. When one of us got a gig, all of us got a gig. That’s been a common thread through my journey.

Tell me the story behind the title track on Once Upon a Second Time Around.

My life right now, my professional life in Nashville, feels a little bit like halftime — and I’m the last person that should be using sports analogies. I’ve been in Nashville two decades, I’m 40 years old, it’s halftime. I’m in the locker room right now. I get to look back at the first half of this game and assess how I played it.

And the just so many crazy — I call them “coinci-God” moments, in this season of my life…how many people can say in a sense they get a second first record to make? And our daughter, our second child, was born in the midst of me making this project. All of these wild circumstances of life were showing me, “Hey, you get another swing at the bat here.”

Even that song got a second chance. I remember the day I wrote it, I was tickled about it, I loved it. And as I turned it into a publisher that I knew would love it, I also had the voice in my head going, “This’ll never see the light of day. No one’s ever going to record it because that’s not what people are recording these days.”

Then [a couple of years later, my publisher was] playing me outside songs but he was also playing me songs I’d written, and I knew immediately what the song was when he started. He goes, “You’ve got longtime fans, you need to put a song on this record for them. A Charlie song.” It immediately became what I thought was sort of the cornerstone of the record in terms of theme.

Lainey Wilson sang “They Never Do” as a duet with you, and she also co-wrote the song.

I was well aware of how busy Lainey is, but [when I decided to do it as a duet] I thought, “I’d maybe want the first right of refusal.” So I just reached out and was like, “Obviously no pressure here, it’s only if you wanna do it, but you’re a co-writer and you get to say no before anybody else.”

She said yes and she came in. It was the last day of work for her that year, I think maybe it was 2024. But she had been doing her documentary, and the crew was with her that day and filmed it. And I look up about a year later and the documentary’s out in the world, that song’s featured in the documentary and the scene’s featured. It’s featured where the credits roll. It’s also just this beautiful thing of, man, I can’t wait to play this movie for my daughter. What a beautiful inspiration [Lainey is] for anyone, but certainly for a young woman.

Why did you include “Wrap My Front Porch Around” twice — including as an extended bluegrass version with The Travelin’ McCourys?

It’s a tip of the hat to two of my favorites: Vince Gill and Dierks Bentley. Vince Gill put a record out in the late ’90s called High Lonesome Sound, and he recorded two versions of the title track. This full-band, modern-country version with a blistering Telecaster solo, and then at the end of the record, he enlists Alison Krauss and Union Station and does a bona fide legitimate bluegrass version.

A lifelong student of Vince myself, I knew Vince had that legitimate bluegrass background that was a big part of his early days…so I just admired the way he honored his bluegrass roots even at a time when he was hosting the CMA Awards and had a stack of Entertainer trophies at home. Now, I called the Travelin’ McCourys, not that I don’t love Alison Krauss and Union Station, I certainly do. But I spent those four summers with Dierks Bentley more recently, and played on Dierks’ records, and he cut songs of mine and I know Dierks shares a deep love of bluegrass with me. When Dierks makes his records, he tends to call on the McCourys, and he’ll often put a bow on his records with a bluegrass tune.

So it was a chance to honor both of them, and my bluegrass heart. We cut the bluegrass version at Vince’s, which was a treat. I grabbed one of his great acoustic guitars to play on the track, and it was just an awesome day.

What have you learned about what success means to you?

I struggled for a long time to, as I call it, learn how to be the right size. It’s easy to think either, “I’m the greatest thing in the world that’s ever happened to music,” or, “I have fooled people and they’re gonna find out I’m a fake.” But being in the middle of all that is, like, “I’ve got something to offer.”

That subtle, quiet, slower-to-arrive affirmation finally hit me, or made its way into my heart….there’s a peacefulness and an acceptance that was hard-earned, that is a part of this record’s narrative.

I think for young people getting into this business, that’s an important thing to hold onto. If you are getting signed by a label, the only way that label can define success, technically speaking, is — you’ve gotta sell out the Enormo-Dome. You’ve gotta have platinum hits. And that’s great. That’s a great version of success. And there are also as many versions of success as there are colors in the Deluxe Crayon box.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.