BARBARA MANDRELL

Country Music Hall of Famer Barbara Mandrell retired from music two decades ago, but the Grand Ole Opry still feels like home to her.

Country Music Hall of Famer and Grammy winner Barbara Mandrell retired from music more than two decades ago, but the Grand Ole Opry still feels like home to her. Mandrell, 73, made a rare public appearance on Saturday night at the Opry to celebrate her 50th anniversary of being an Opry member. “Here we are at home again,” Mandrell told The Associated Press in an interview backstage at the Opry House before the long-running radio and TV program.

Ralph Emery, who became known as the dean of country music broadcasters over more than a half-century in both radio and television, has died.

Drummer Kenny Malone, an in-demand session player who played on hits by Dolly Parton, Dobie Gray and more, has died.

FILE - Musician Mac Davis performs at the Texas Film Awards in Austin, Texas on March 6, 2014. Davis, a country star and Elvis songwriter, died on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020 after heart surgery. (Photo by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP, File)NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Country star Mac Davis, who launched his career crafting the Elvis hits “A Little Less Conversation” and “In the Ghetto,” and whose own hits include “Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me,” has died. He was named 1974’s entertainer of the year by the Academy of Country Music and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “A small town boy who’d achieved the greatest kinds of fame, he remained a good guy, a family man,” said country star Kenny Chesney.